What’s the MMFF up to?

A few weeks ago, the Executive Committee of the 2005 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) invited knowledgeable industry people (directors, scriptwriters, etc.) for some brain-storming on how to avoid mistakes in past MMFFs (such as the row last year on the number of entries each producer was entitled to, etc.) and thresh out ways on how to run this year’s MMFF more smoothly.

The industry people made a few recommendations, including a change in one of the criteria based on judging (possible) entries through submitted scripts and instead focus on the finished product (the proof of the pudding is in the eating, remember?).

Said one director who was in that brain-storming session, "You can’t judge a film based on the script. A scriptwriter writes by his lonesome while a director works on the actual setting faced with a thousand and one problems. A script may be good but something in its execution (by the director) could go wrong. There are directors (such as Hong Kong’s Wong Kar Wai, of the acclaimed In The Mood For Love and 2046, its sequel) who shoot without a script and look what beautiful movies they come up with!"

Agree!

Another recommendation was to limit each producer to two entries at most, especially companies with sister companies, with the total number of entries pegged at 10 (seven as official entries and the remaining three to be released starting Jan. 1). Also, that a director is entitled to only one entry.

Yesterday, a director-member of that "bull" session told Funfare that the MMFF "might" disregard the recommendations after all. Meaning, back to square one?

Anytime now, according to the (disgruntled?) director, the MMFF execom will announce that the entries will be judged still based on scripts submitted (for the seven official entries, with the remaining three slots reserved for finished movies), and that a producer may submit as many entries as he/she wants to.

"That brain-storming session has amounted to nothing," said the director.

Oh, well, let’s wait and see what the MMFF is up to.

More good news for RP films abroad

Meanwhile, here’s some good news from Funfare’s Toronto-based "international correspondents" Ferdy Lapuz:

It has been a year since Mario O’Hara’s Babae sa Breakwater (Women of Breakwater) produced by Entertainment Warehouse Inc. made big waves at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. I was just reminded by this after receiving this wonderful e-mail from the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festivals. To quote them, "I’m pleased to tell you that we finally saw Woman of Breakwater in the HKIFF, and we’re deeply impressed by the film! We sincerely would like to invite this excellent film to our festival. Furthermore, the direction of Mario O’Hara in Woman of Breakwater truly conquered our heart. May we have some preview tapes of Mr. O’Hara’s films for our selection?"

I just want to share the big impact of the Directors’ Fortnight on the film. It has two public screenings one of which was at the prestigious Theatre Noga Croisette at the Noga Hilton, the official residence of the Fortnight. There was also a press conference where film producers Edgar and Arlene Aguas, actors Katherine Luna and Kristoffer King were interviewed by members of the foreign press. FDCP chair film director Laurice Guillen and IFFCOM member Carlos de Leon were also present.

Right after the press screening, Babae was invited to compete at the Brussels International Film Festival last July where it ranked seventh out of 25 films, most of which were Cannes entries. This is different from the Brussels Independent Film Festival every November where Nora Aunor and Sharon Cuneta tied as Best Actress.

From then on, there was no stopping Mario O’Hara’s masterpiece. It gave Katherine two international Best Actress awards, from the Cinemanila International Film Festival and the Festival of Asian Cinema in New Delhi. Directors’ Fortnight artistic director Olivier Pere was a member of the jury.

After Cannes, New Delhi and Brussels, Babae competed in Vesoul, France; Bangkok, Thailand and Fribourg, Switzerland. It was also screened as an official selection at festivals in Vladivostok, Russia; Hamburg, Germany; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Pusan, Korea; London, United Kingdom; Vancouver, Canada; Tokyo, Japan; Adelaide, Australia; Hong Kong; Hawaii; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and in Auckland, New Zealand next week. I just got two new invitations one in New York and another one in Argentina again.

Philippine cinema will always be grateful to the late Lino Brocka for bringing Pinoy movies to Cannes which started with Insiang (1978) in the Directors’ Fortnight and later with Bona (1981). His films Jaguar (1980) and Kapit sa Patalim (1984) were in the official competition while Orapronobis (1989) was an official selection out of competition. Mike de Leon did his share with his twin bill in the Fortnight in 1982 with Batch 81 and Kisapmata.

I also would like to encourage short filmmakers to submit their films to Cannes for possible consideration. Who knows, they could follow the big honor of Raymond Red’s Anino (Shadows) which was awarded the Palme D’Or award in 2000. We always tend to overlook Red’s great success in Cannes but this was the official return of Philippine cinema to Cannes after Brocka’s death.

After winning in Cannes, Anino was acquired by Atom Films for worldwide distribution. Atom Films is one of the major distributors for short films in the world.

Briefly noted

MTV guest VJ KC Concepcion is back in Manila where she is rehearsing for Atlantis Productions’ and Globe Gizmo Prepaid’s staging of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. KC will be playing the lead role of Belle (with Karel Marquez alternating). Limited run opens at the Meralco Theater on June 16.

KC will sing songs from the Broadway version of the Academy Award winning film including Belle, Something There and a brand-new song recently inserted in the stage musical titled A Change In Me.

How Belle tames the unfortunate beast and the ultimate transformation into a handsome prince continues to enthrall audiences on Broadway nightly. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is currently still playing on Broadway, and is the sixth longest-running Broadway musical of all time.

Joining KC in the cast are rock star Jett Pangan as the Beast, balladeer Calvin Millado as Gaston and singer-actress Pinky Marquez as Mrs. Potts. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is directed by Bobby Garcia.

(For tickets, call Atlantis Productions at 892-7078, 840-1187 or Ticketworld at 891-9999.)

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