MACAO—Can you imagine the latest film by legendary auteur Terence Malick playing side-by-side in the same festival as Shaun The Sheep? Or acclaimed French actress Juliette Binoche getting the same headliner status as Korean pop star Suho of the sensational K-Pop boy band EXO? Or even Filipina actress Bea Alonzo being honored with the same award as Asian girl group sensations from Japan, Korea and Thailand?
At the International Film Festival & Awards – Macao (IFFAM), anything and everything is possible.
With an eclectic serving of 50 international films plus six short films and an impressive lineup of talent ambassadors, popular international stars and Asian honorees gracing its red carpet, the 4th edition of the increasingly popular film festival is off to another rousing start.
Easily among the most anticipated films in this year’s event include Taika Waititi’s Nazi-themed comedy, Jojo Rabbit which opened the festival on Thursday, December 5; Malick’s A Hidden Life; Rupert Goold’s Judy Garland biopic; Judy; Robert Eggers’ mystery drama, The Lighthouse; Todd Haynes’ legal thriller, Dark Waters and A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmaggedon, the sequel to the animated stop-motion film spawned by the equally popular children’s TV series.
There’s also Wet Season, the latest from Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen, who helmed the thoughtfully-made OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) drama, Ilo Ilo.
Among the films in the international competition, the ones that seem to be drawing the most attention are Gitanjali Rao’s animated feature, Bombay Rose; Rodd Rathjen’s human trafficking drama, Bouyancy; and Kirill Mikhanovsky’s fast and furious freewheeling comedy, Give Me Liberty which reportedly got a 10-minute standing ovation when it was screened at Cannes.
“We maintain to be a boutique festival with not too many films but each film in the programme is curated with much care and thought of what are amongst the best films out there for the audiences in Macao and the region as a key priority,” Lorna Tee, IFFAM head of festival management said in a recent interview with BusinessMirror.
During previous years, formidable Oscar contenders such as Manchester by the Sea, I, Tonya and last year’s Best Picture winner, Green Room were among the most well-received in IFFAM. This year, the festival continues to parade Academy-worthy contenders with the inclusion of Judy and The Lighthouse.
“We aim to bring a good mix of films and showcase some of the best of the year and inevitably, Oscar contenders will fall into the mix. We’ve been lucky to have programmed films which went on to win Oscars but we love all the other non-Oscars films as well. Variety and diversity of quality films, from all over the world are more crucial than Oscars but there is no denying that Oscar contenders are very much of media and public interest, in Macao as it is everywhere else,” Tee pointed out.
As for Filipino films, Macao has not been an easy festival to penetrate. Except for Erik Matti’s Seklusyon, which had its world premiere in the festival’s maiden staging in 2016, no other Filipino film has been selected for competition or exhibition here since. Tee qualified that the case is “neither by design nor desire.”
“We saw many Filipino films this year and personally, I had admired a number of films but sometimes, a film has to fit into the big scheme of things, and with limited slots, and it did not work out this year. We do have two Filipino projects in our Project Market or Industry Hub.”
Those two films, Dodo Dayao’s cosmic horror Dear Wormwood and Phyllis Grande’s coming-of-age drama, Everybody Leaves will compete with 12 other selections from all over the world for four cash awards namely Best Project Award, Best Co-Production Award, Creative Excellence Award and Macao Spirit Award that will help pave the way towards their eventual realization.
The Philippines is more consistently represented in IFFAM’s annual Asian Stars Up Next award which the festival will co-present with Hollywood bible, Variety magazine when it concludes on December 10. Bea Alonzo is the lone Filipina winner of said award this year which has also honored Anne Curtis and Piolo Pascual in the festival’s last two installments.
One aspect of IFFAM that remains particularly strong is star power. In past editions, the festival has been graced by the presence of globally famous actors and filmmakers like Jeremy Renner, Joan Chen, Michelle Yeoh, Sharlto Copley, John Woo, Giancarlo Esposito, and Nicolas Cage.
This year, Juliette Binoche, Lily James and K-Pop superstar Suho are among the big names that IFFAM will spotlight throughout its six-day run.
Even so, the festival is still not without its own share of birth pains. As IFFAM is only on its fourth year, Tee acknowledges that there is still plenty of room for growth and improvement.
“Every year, we try to see how things work with the programme, industry, audience and also feedback from the media, to improve on what can be done better. Macao has a young and small film industry [so] the long-term goal is to not just screen films and bring the industry together, but through the efforts of the festival and many other local initiatives, the Macao filmmakers and audience will grow into a more significant aspect of Macao culture and community,” Tee concluded.