Indie director Lav Diaz wins in Toronto fest

Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz’s latest six-hour epic, “Florentina Hubaldo, CTE” won the On Screen Award at the 25th Images Festival in Toronto, Canada on April 21.

According to the festival’s web site, the award “honors the strongest new international film or video.”  Shot in black and white, the film tells the stories of treasure hunters and Florentina, whose father wants to turn her into a prostitute. The jury described the film as “beautiful… sad… a portrait of bare life and suffering… it shows why cinema remains important.” Bayani San Diego Jr.