Brillante judge at Istanbul Fest

MANILA, Philippines - The 2009 Cannes Best Director (Kinatay) Brillante Mendoza (photo) joins the international jury of the 31st Istanbul Film Festival (IFF) to be held in Turkey’s oldest and largest historic city, from March 31 to April 15. The IFF is Turkey’s biggest annual cinema event, a two-week program with more than 200 movies under 20 sections, famous guests, seminars and workshops with expert filmmakers, film classes, master classes and concerts.

Heading the jury is 2008 Cannes Best Director (Three Monkeys) and Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, with other members such as actor Hiam Abbas, journalist Elcin Yahsi and Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu, among other celebrities. At stake is the Golden Tulip Award for Best Film of the festival and a cash prize of 25,000 euros or over P1M.

Romania’s Porumboiu won the 2006 Cannes Camera d’Or (Golden Camera) for his first film feature, 12:08 East of Bucharest, an official selection at the Director’s Fortnight or International Critic’s Week.

Like Mendoza, jury chair Ceylan is also a recipient of various international film festival awards, including the 2011 Cannes Grand Prix for his film Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (a finalist in the recently-concluded Hollywood Oscars for the Best Foreign-Language Film won by Iran’s A Separation), 2003 Cannes Grand Prix (Distant) and the Caligari Film Award (Small Town) at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1998.

Ceylan has also won the Lino Brocka Award for his film Distant in the 2003 Cinemanila International Film Festival, the very same festival chaired by Tikoy Aguiluz that gave Mendoza’s Manoro the Best Film (Digital Lokal) and Best Director in the same cinema event in 2006.