3 PH films victorious in international festivals in Brazil, Italy and India
Manager-producer Ferdy Lapuz (left) with filmmaker Louie Ignacio at the 2022 BIFF
The dramatic piece “Broken Blooms” bagged the Special Jury Prize at the recent 8th Brasilia International Film Festival (BIFF) in Brazil, its director Louie Ignacio told Inquirer Entertainment.
“We got lucky again,” Ignacio beamed. “Out of 3,000 film entries from all over the world, we were lucky enough to have been included in the Top 10 films that competed during the festival. I’m so grateful to our producer, Engr. Benjie Austria, who made me and my manager Ferdy Lapuz fly to Brazil to represent Bentria Productions and the Philippines, even if the flight going there was 40 hours long.”
Ignacio added that it was important that “Broken Blooms” was able to participate in the BIFF—the first Filipino film to do so. “We were given another opportunity to show the film to more people and be recognized,” he explained.
Teri Malvar and Jeric Gonzales in “Broken Blooms”
On his Facebook, Lapuz posted the jury citation for “Broken Bloom,” which features Jeric Gonzales and Teri Malvar as lead. The statement read: “It is a powerful film with a well-constructed narrative. For its artistic value, its aesthetic and technical qualities, for bringing [forth] current themes such as COVID-19 and addressing social matters, as well as LGBTQIAP+ issues, this work provokes us and makes us think about a conception of society.
“[The film] contrasts the collective problems of a poor community with troubled lives and, at the same time, presents the power of solidarity and coexistence between neighbors, friends and family. [It is] woven by an engaging plot—that life follows its course amidst laughter and tears—and it allows the public to embark on a distant yet so close reality.”
Later this month, “Broken Blooms” will be competing in the Discoveries section of the 10th Asian Film Festival Barcelona in Spain, announced Lapuz.
Scene from “Last Day Off”
“Last Day Off”
Meanwhile, Mark Justine Aguilon’s “Last Day Off” has won for him the best director trophy at the recent 2022 Roma Short Film Festival in Italy.
“Winning was a totally unexpected blessing. It was just a dream before, now it’s a reality. I’m so honored and grateful for the recognition,” said the Macau-based Filipino filmmaker.
“Our participation in the festival is a huge deal for me. Aside from the fact that we were given the chance to showcase the film globally, we also got the opportunity to learn from our experience there. It has inspired me to work harder, to improve my ability to share stories through film,” Aguilon added.
“Last Day Off” is produced by Click PH, a film production team run by overseas Filipino workers based in Macau, China.
“Venganza”
The “extended edition” of Joey Agbayani’s short film “Venganza” was given the Jean-Luc Godard Award under the category of horror/science fiction/genre feature film by the international film magazine Cult Critic.
“This was totally unexpected. There were 19 nominees in this category,” Agbayani beamed.
Cult Critic Movie Awards is an international live screening film festival in Kolkata, India. Its goal is to help independent filmmakers by screening their films, awarding them, and providing proper exposure of their films to the global film industry, according to the website hlc-cultcritic.com.
