Cannes Film Festival: Filipino Movies Get Global Spotlight, “Country Has Emerged As A Filmmaking Force To Be Reckoned With”

The Cannes Film Festival gave Filipino movies the glittering international spotlight. With three new features and one restored classic making their way in the world’s most prestigious film festival this year, Clarence Tsui of the Hollywood Reporter said that, “the country has emerged as a filmmaking force to be reckoned with.”

Eric Matti, a pre-eminent mainstream Filipino filmmaker was surprised – first for having landed a berth at one of the world’s most prestigious festivals, and second because his film, “On The Job,” would appear in the left-of-center Director’s Fortnight sidebar.

Matti said, “We made On the Job mainly for our domestic market in the Philippines; but, of course, getting into the Director’s Fortnight was a welcome gift for all the hard work we poured into the making of the film – not to mention almost four years of finding a way to get it produced."

Matti’s arrival at Cannes is indicative of the rise of the Philippines as a diversified filmmaking force, as visible by the various Filipino films on show at the festival this year.

Together with “On the Job” are two entries from the Philippines with aesthetics very different from Matti’s film. “Death March,” which premiered Sunday, directed by Adolfo Alix, Jr. is an eerie black-and-white piece about U.S. and Filipino POWs being maimed and murdered by Japanese soldiers during World War II. “Norte, The End of History” is a four-hour film about injustice, focusing on a simple-minded man jailed for a murder he didn’t commit.”

“Norte” was directed by the Philippines’ king of long takes and films, Lav Diaz.

The presence of Matti, Alix and Diaz at the Cannes Film Festival in the same year marks a seismic shift in how Filipino films are regarded internationally: as more than just a source of avant-garde, independent movies intended for art houses.

 “We are very happy that in the past six years there has been a constant presence of Filipino films in the film festival circuit,” said Alix, who first appeared in Cannes with “Manila,” a jointly-directed effort with Martin, and who screened two films (“Wildlife” and “Mater Dolorosa”) at Rotterdam earlier in the year.

Alix said, “The diversity of films being shown in the festivals shows the range of Filipino filmmakers in general. I think that it is a testament that there is vitality and movement in the Filipino cinema and the renewed interest is there.”

It makes it appropriate that when the three new Filipino features are making their way in Cannes, it coincided with the release of “Manila in the Claws of Neon” as an official selection in the Classics section.

The movie was directed by iconic Filipino director Lino Brocka, the first Filipino director to be selected for Cannes with “Insiang” (1978). Brocka is recognized as an expert in producing gritty, social-critique drama.

The director’s style fuses what was known in his home country as commercial cinema with the art house sensibility recognized by international filmmakers.

“Manila in the Claws of Neon reflects both a contemporary social reality – the repression of the Marcos dictatorship years – and an enduring artistic ambition that together appealed to audiences and is still relevant today,” said Roger Garcia, a veteran film critic-programmer and the executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

The filmmakers are hoping for greater success in the international film circuit, with the hopes of luring private financing for Filipino films that is beyond what is deemed mainstream in the country.

Despite international attention and success in recent years, Filipino independent films remain under-acknowledged. Funding for actual film productions remain low and all the government does is subsidize the travel expense of directors to film festivals.

Erik Matti’s hope is that his entry to the Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight will open door for him and his fellow filmmakers.

“By expanding the market internationally with higher revenues, hopefully we can now attempt films that we wouldn’t normally be able to do in our small local market. With more resources come bigger themes and a bit more ambitious filmmaking.”