PARIS, this morning - One tweet. That’s all I could manage to send from the Cannes Festival’s press conference, the yearly event before-the-event held in a large movie theater at the top of the Champs Elysées. The network (wifi or cellular) quickly crashed, enveloping the event in a blanket of secrecy. After the conference I rushed into a bar nearby so that I could order myself a 7 euro-bottle of ... more >
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62ND BERLINALE – Captive
A new film from Serbis director Brillante Mendoza
Inspired by the 2001 Dos Palmas kidnapping of foreign tourists and missionaries by the Islamic separatist group Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, Philipino director Brillante Mendoza (Kinatay, Serbis) Captive excruciatingly follows the twenty hostages as they are dragged at gunpoint from their hotel, spirited onto a fishing boat and led through various towns and jungles for over a year. Isabelle ... more >
Serbis to come to U.S. in early 2009
Filipino movie making rounds of fest circuit
Philipino director Brillante Ma Mendoza finished editing his film Serbis just days before it was screened at the Cannes Festival as part of the Selection Officielle. It showed--or rather, it sounded, like it was a rush job. A rougher-than-necessary-cut was shown to the press corps including this writer. The street sounds completely overwhelmed the exterior shots (Serbis reads like a Sixties ... more >