As part of Asian artistic cooperation and mutual trust for the enhancement of regional movie industries, internationally- renowned Filipino filmmakers Brillante Ma. Mendoza and Lav Diaz were recently invited exclusively to the 2002 Malaysia International Film Festival in Kuala Lumpur to share and spread their filmmaking wisdom to both Malaysian young, aspiring and veteran moviemakers.
Brillante was invited to MIFF to hold master classes with contemporary Malaysian filmmakers. Mendoza who won the 2009 Palme d’Or Best Director for the dark film project “Kinatay (The Execution of P/The Butchered)” in the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival was sought because of his expertise in the medium.
Meanwhile, Lav was requested to head the festival jury aside from entries to the fest but for the MIFFest Project Market 2022. A multi-awarded director, Diaz has won the Alfred Bauer Prize, a prestigious honor at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany for the “Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery)” and the Golden Lion plum at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival in Italy for the film “Ang Babaing Humayo (The Woman who Left).” Both films were done in 2016.
At the MIFFest film in development project, “Sunny, Benny and Jenny” from Sunstrong Entertainment won the Best Script Award; “Garek” from Lomo Pictures bagged the Best Project Presentation while “The Depths” took home the Special Mention.
“Good job guys! Thank you to all the official selections, you let us see a lot of awesome and outstanding stories, presentations. Looking forward to seeing them into a film,” greeted the winners in both the MIFF and MGGA (Malaysian Golden Global Award) Facebook pages.
In 2018, Brillante was the jury of the MIFF.