AFTER all these years, it is still great news to see our films being screened in a major film festival like the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).
Through the official announcement of the 32nd TIFF and the Japan Foundation Asia Center, we have learned about the lineup for Crosscut Asia #06: Fantastic Southeast Asia. The event features genre films ranging from thrillers to romantic horror, which are said to mirror regional characteristics of the entries.
Our very own Lav Diaz will have his first-ever sci-fi thriller, The Halt, showcased in Crosscut Asia this year. The film, which was completed also this year, tackles the theme of global crisis in the dystopian depiction of the Philippines in the future.
Listen to the message of Lav Diaz:
“I was wandering aimlessly by the waters of one of the cities I visited last year [for a film festival that hates Hollywood so much] and I passed by a group of locals listening intently, fondly to their ‘Socrates,’ an old man, and I had my camera and I recorded some parts of his soliloquy. The big waves and the strong wind, plus the wails of seagulls, albeit distracting, created a mix of poignancy and urgency, some dirge:
“Dictators…fascists…despots…mad leaders…they all have a genetic predisposition to telling the world that they have the biggest c–ks; or, they have voluminous bragging tales about their molestations and rapes of women; or, that they are the biggest c–ksuckers in the world, with their plundered millions and billions stashed in their secret bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore and the Bahamas, having perennial delusions and fantasies of ambrosial romantic affairs; or, they profess to actually hearing the voice of God and other mystical creatures from thunderstorms and behind their ears, anointing them as the chosen ones. These incessant blusters extend to the other side of the black hole because this universe is just too small for these megalomaniacs….”
Lav Diaz’s philosopher went on and on. Then Diaz concluded his meditation by telling us that as the crowd dispersed, and the rabid thinker seemed calm as he stared into the ocean, he tried to communicate to the philosopher by saying hello.
Instead of the philosopher asking Diaz about his name, the man asked the question, “What are you?” This initiated the conversation, as follows:
“I said, ‘I am a filmmaker, sir.’
“And the next question came fast: ‘What can cinema do?’”
Continuing, he told the philosopher that he was about to shoot a new film, which is a mix of sci-fi and horror; about the death of a dictator, the death of morality, the death of truth.
Following the narrative of Diaz, the philosopher uttered his “parting words before he was engulfed by the darkness: Don’t trust what you know.”
Shown in Cannes in May this year and opening the Cinemalaya last August, The Halt, which is known as Hupa in the country, was reviewed by Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter. Described as “a portrait of nation in darkness,” the critic writes, “The Halt ranks as Diaz’s most straightforward and politically charged film to date, with his script spelling out everything he wanted to say in the clearest of terms. The president spews polished but delusional nonsense about his entitlement to power, officials dismiss ‘the discourse in truth,’ while intellectuals lament the Philippines’s transformation into a ‘nation of forgetting’ [the title of a book written by one of the characters].”
The cast of Hupa includes Piolo Pascual, Joel Lamangan, Shaina Magdayao and Hazel Orencio.
During the TIFF, there will also be stage appearances and Q&A sessions featuring directors
of selected works. The symposium “The Discreet Charm of Girl’s Horror Talk” will feature Antoinette Jadaone, the director of Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay, which will be screened under Crosscut Asia during the festival; and Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo, director of Untrue, also appearing under Crosscut Asia. The talk will be held on October 29. Mattie Do, director of The Long Walk, will join the two Filipina filmmakers. These three female directors are expected to discuss the horror films of Southeast Asia.
The lineup for Crosscut Asia has another entry from the Philippines: The Entity (known as Kuwaresma in the country), directed by Erik Matti. The cast includes Sharon Cuneta, John Arcilla, Kent Gonzales, Pam Gonzales and Guila Alvarez.
The other films under Crosscut Asia are: Foxtrot Six (Indonesia), directed by Randy Korompis; The Immortal (Vietnam), directed by Victor Vu; The Long Walk (Lao PDR, Spain, Singapore), directed by Mattie Do; and, Sisters (Thailand), International Premiere, directed by Prachya Pinkaew.
The film, Mañanita, directed by Paul Soriano, with the filmmaker also as executive producer/producer, is entered under the Competition Section. Bela Padilla is the lead actress in the film.
In the Asian Future Section, Motel Acacia is the lone entry from the Philippines. Bradley Liew is the director/producer of this film, which stars JC Santos.
Meanwhile, other Filipino films which will participate at TIFF are Mindanao by Brillante Ma Mendoza and Food Lore Series-Island of Dreams by Erik Matti. Come October 28, starting at 3 in the afternoon, I will be a fan as I see myself competing
for the best angle to catch Zhang Ziyi walk the red carpet. The Chinese actress is coming to Tokyo to serve as the chairman of the International Jury for the Competition Section.
Zhang made her feature debut in Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home, which won a Berlin Silver Bear in 2000. She also was part of Zhang’s Hero and House Of Flying Daggers, Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster. For her controversial (both from the Japanese and Chinese perspectives) role as a geisha in Memoirs of a Geisha, Zhang Ziyi received a BAFTA and a Golden Globe nomination.
Zhang Ziyi later starred in Princess Raccoon, Seijun Suzuki’s final film, a role that upped her popularity in Japan and earned her many Japanese fans.
Zhang’s first feature film, The Road Home, will be shown under the Special Program of the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival.