Brillante Mendoza, the director who bagged the Best Director in this year’s Cannes International Film Festival has done it again. This time in the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) held at Madinat Jumeirah in the open city of Dubai, Arab Emirates. Congratulations Dante Mendoza! Thank you for making us all proud to be Filipinos.
Here’s an excerpt of the news article I found in gulf news today:
It’s evident that this year’s Cannes Best Director winner, Filipino filmmaker Brilliante Mendoza, doesn’t bow to pressure.
His gritty dramas such as the Cannes winner Kinatay (”Butchered” in Tagalog) may have earned him the title “gore-hound” and evoked extreme reactions among festival-goers, but the 49-year-old is unfazed.
Five minutes into our interview, he lets me on to a secret.
“Two years ago, I was asked by the Dubai International Film Festival director to take out some scenes which contained nudity and some dialogues that were scandalous from Slingshot [Tirador]. But I told them ‘I cannot do that and if you are inviting me then you should invite the film in its totality’. I don’t edit scenes for a festival — it’s unfair to the audience, no matter which country you are coming from… In the end they showed the film,” says Mendoza.
You can read the full article here
“His gritty dramas such as the Cannes winner Kinatay (”Butchered” in Tagalog)”
Errr.. Kinatay is the Tagalog while Butchered is the English translation.