From left: Rustica Carpio, Brillante Mendoza and Anita Linda. Both actresses have the title role in Medoza’s film “Lola”, which recently won Best Film in the Muhr Asia Africa category at the Dubai International Film Fest. This photo was shot last October in Cinemanila which had “Lola” as the opening film.

My first front page story was about Dante Mendoza, Thank you direk!

(Happy Birthday to Direk Brillante Mendoza on July 30, 2010. He is significant in my own career. His win at the Cannes film fest last year was my very first front page story for Manila Bulletin–back when I was working for them. Kaye Villaomez co-wrote the article with me. When I personally gave him a copy during a screening at the NCCA a couple of months later, he autographed the front page for me. And I almost lost that autographed copy recently. So I decided to shoot it and share it here. In the nature of the newspaper business, not all stories are published. The one I wrote here last December on direk Dante is one of them. And that’s the beauty of this blog. I can post an old story here and write a back story like this with it.)

Kaye Villagomez co wrote the great news w me

Text and photos

By Jude Thaddeus L. Bautista

After winning Best Director in Cannes for “Kinatay” earlier this year,director BrillanteMendoza has done it again. This time his latest film “Lola” won Best Film in the Muhr Asia Africa category at the Dubai International Film Fest last December 16. He arrived in Manila with the trophy in tow the following night. He also received $ 50,000.00 U.S. as a cash prize for the category which features the best African and Asian films. Another Filipino film, “Himapapawid”, by Raymond Red had a special screening in the film fest but was not in competition.

Direk autographed it for me. Righton the pic of Cong. Manny Pacquiao visiting Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejiajiva at the Govt. House in Bangkok

Less than six hours after his arrival, he’s on a 4am flight to Taiwan for the 53^rd Asia Pacific Film festival. “Kinatay” represented the Philippines in a competition which includes entries from Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Iran, Indonesia, Thailand, MalaysiaVietnam, India, and Australia. He also presented an award together with director John Woo.

Jury President Bahman Farmanara from Iran praised “Lola” saying, “It was a great film under a great film maker.” The film is a story of two grandmothers trying to survive the ‘Venice’ like environs of Malabon. In what seems to be a prophetic visual message, people navigate town streets by boat. It was wrapped a month before the wrath of typhoon Ondoy. The scene was recreated in most of Metro Manila as the city was hit with one of the worst flooding in its history.

Direk Brillante poses with the Best Film trophy from the Dubai International Film Fest upon his arrival.

Although Mendoza has a track record for winning international film fests he insists that they are “bonuses” for the effort he has put in his work. He explained, “The recognition I receive from abroad, in a way helps uplift the taste of Filipinos in cinema. And as a film maker I am able to promote the country in a positive light.”

The support of the Filipino community according to the successful director was a big encouragement. ‘Lola’ screenings were scheduled at 10 pm and would end at 1 am and they would be packed. And during the award ceremonies our ‘kababayan’ became a strong cheering squad. They came out in such high numbers that the organizers were considering the distribution of Filipino films in Saudi Arabia.

The sixth edition of Dubai International Film Festival honors the finest acting and cinematic talent from the Arab world, Asia and Africa. It was attended by His Royal Highness,King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. Celebrity guests included actor Gerard Butler.

In all, 28 prizes were distributed for excellence in acting, cinematography, editing, music and scriptwriting in addition to the jury general excellence awards. The entries were from more than 62 nations across Asia, Africa, the Americas, Australia and Europe in three categories -documentaries, short films and feature films. DIFF received more than 900 entries from the Arab world, Asia and Africa for a total of US$575,000 in prize money.