From films to int’l pageant: Brillante Mendoza is Miss Universe Bahrain’s artistic director
MANILA, Philippines — From directing award-winning films to now an international pageant, direk Brillante Mendoza went, as he put it, “outside of my comfort zone” to helm the reality show-type staging of Miss Universe Bahrain 2023.
The Cannes Best Director for his 2009 film Kinatay is “very happy to be part of the wonderful group” of the Miss Universe Bahrain 2023 council, which is manned by an all-Filipino team. The latter is composed of national director Josh Yugen; actress and Miss International 2016 Kylie Verzosa as head of empowerment; host and TV personality Raymond Gutierrez as fashion director; serial entrepreneur Lorenzo Vega as head of innovation; and TV executive and film producer Joey Abacan as senior executive consultant. Reigning Miss Universe Bahrain Evlin Khalifa is the head of culture.
“Actually when Josh approached me and asked me to be part of the council, I (was) just kinda nervous. At the same time, for me, this is quite a challenge,” direk Brillante acknowledged in a recent press conference. “It’s so different from what I’m doing, so different from the films I’m doing, being in the pageant council like this.”
“But I am excited to learn and at the same time, I am excited to share what I know of in storytelling and in visual presentation, being a production designer myself. So yeah, I’m very excited to be part of and to do something different, something that is out of the box, something that I don’t usually do (and) something that is outside my comfort zone.”
“I don’t want to look at it in that aspect lang na it’s just pageantry and it’s about these beautiful women and all,” he continued. “But it’s more like what I said a while ago, how can a pageantry like this be more relevant in the times that we have right now, especially with our setup now in the Philippines? So, how do you make that relevant?”
“How do you make the pageant in a country like ours and at the same time, you have something new to offer. You have a new story to tell that’s more important to us as Filipinos,” he said.
During the press event, Kylie likewise expressed her interest to work with direk Brillante again. They collaborated before in Viva Films’ Sisid (2022).
“I wanna do more award-winning material(s). I think, for me, that has to be drama and as much as I love watching mga rom-com and everything, my heart, parang mas masarap talaga kapag drama and I would love to do a film with direk Brillante Mendoza again,” said Kylie, whose dramatic performance in The Housemaid won her Best Actress at the Distinctive International Arab Festivals Awards in 2022.
“But definitely I would want more drama, something in the psycho-thriller genre.”
The filmmaker in response described Kylie as a “very committed and collaborative artist. She is willing to learn and a good listener.” And yes, Brillante said he is also open to collaborate with The Housemaid actress again and added that the best material for Kylie is a psychological thriller.
When further asked by this paper about his reaction on the turnout of cinemagoers at the recently-concluded Summer Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), he raised some valid points.
“I think No. 1, the tickets are very expensive,” he pointed out. “And with what happened to us from the past two years, with the pandemic and all, medyo na-expose na tayo sa streaming.
“So we get comfortable watching films in our own free time and in our homes,” he added. “And then, going outside and paying as much as there are cinemas that charges P750 for one ticket. So that’s really very expensive.”
Direk Brillante continued, “Second, well, in the past kasi whenever we show a film after the Holy Week usually talaga yan blockbuster. Kumikita (It would make money). But that was a thing in the past. Maybe times have changed.
“They (people) have priorities I think, especially it’s a long, long weekend. So it’s like people prefer to go outside, be with the family but not to watch film together where it’s gonna be very expensive.
“So if you are like, there are three or four of you in the family, and then, you go to cinema, you’ll be spending more than P2,000. Gagamitin mo na lang yun pang-beach.”
He believes, however, that there wasn’t any problem with the Summer MMFF entries.
“I’m talking about all the films that were shown. I think we have good selection for films. There’s no problem with that,” he stressed.
“I think the best (thing to do) is to encourage people to watch (in cinemas) first by, maybe, the government. They need to step in,” he offered. “Because I think as a film industry medyo mahihirapan pa kami. We cannot really rely on the industry itself to help para ma-sustain yung interest ng mga viewers sa mga pelikula.”
Nevertheless, direk Brillante was satisfied with the performances of his actors in his Summer MMFF entry Apag, which won Best Original Theme Song and the Best Actress award for Gladys Reyes.
He has two upcoming projects that will be shown in Philippine cinemas, hopefully, this year — Pula starring Coco Martin and Julia Montes; and Bangsamoro featuring Piolo Pascual and Baron Geisler.
Meanwhile, direk Brillante’s Center Stage Productions and Viva Films held a private screening last Wednesday night for their soon-to-be-released Vivamax film Sandwich. The sexy-drama will be streamed in advance on Vivamax today, May 13, with a world premiere starting May 19. It is directed by Jao Elamparo and stars Kat Dovey, Nico Locco, Andrea Garcia and Luke Selby. Brillante and Viva Films boss Vic del Rosario are the executive producers of the movie.
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