The 61st Cannes Film Festival opens May 14 with the Philippine entry in competition, Brillante Mendoza's Serbis, screening on May 18. The selection of Serbis is a momentous triumph for the Philippines, being the first since Lino Brocka's groundbreaking participation in 1980 and 1984 with Jaguar and Kapit sa Patalim. Mendoza's Serbis will be competing against Atom Egoyan's Adoration, Fernando Meirelles's Blindness, Steven Soderbergh's Che, Wim Wenders's Palermo Shooting, Charlie Kaufman's Synedoche, New York, Clint Eastwood's The Exchange, among others.
It does appear that the Philippine flag is once again poised to fly proudly in the international cinema scene, especially here in Paris. Much of this can be attributed to the aggressive independent movement in the country, which has revived a movie industry has long been mourned as dead.
Apart from Serbis, 23-year-old Raya Martin's four-hour 40-minute film, Now Showing, has also been accepted for screening at the Director's Fortnight May 22. This was where Brillante Mendoza showed Foster Child to a five-minute standing ovation last year. There are hopes that Raya will follow in Brilliante's footsteps this year.
SERBIS: Overview
Directed by:
Brillante MENDOZA
Country:
PHILIPPINES, FRANCE
Year:
2008
Duration:
90 minutes
Credits
Brillante MENDOZA - Director
Armando LAO - Screenplay
Odyssey FLORES - Cinematography
Carlo TABIJE - Set Designer
Claire VILLAREAL - Film Editor
Gian GIANAN - Music
Benjamin PADERO - Set Designer
Actors
Dan ALVARO - Jerome
Mercedes CABRAL - Merly
Julio DIAZ - Lando
Jaclyn JOSE - Nayda
Kristofer KING - Ronald
Coco MARTIN - Alan
Gina PAREÑO - Nanay Flor
Synopsis:
Morality has two sides-absolute and relative.The Pineda family operates a run-down movie house in a city in the province which shows dated sexy double-feature films. The family has taken up actual residence in the old building as well. The matriarch Nanay Flor, her daughter Nayda, son-in-law Lando and adopted daughter Jewel take turns manning the ticket booth and the canteen. Her nephews Alan and Ronald are the billboard painter and projectionist respectively. Nanay Flor had filed a bigamy case against her estranged husband and is attending the court hearing today when, after a number of years, the decision will be finally handed down. It is within this context that the story unfolds. As the rest of the members go about their daily activities, we get a glimpse of how they suffer and deal with each other’s sins and vices - relational, economic or sexual.
Flashback:
"Anino" directed by Raymund Red won the Palme d'Or for a short film category he was the first filipino short film director to won this coveted award.
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