Lav Diaz’s “Melancholia” and Francis Xavier E. Pasion’s “Jay” have been invited as official selections in the Venice event, which runs from Aug. 27 to Sept. 6.
Pasion’s participation also marks the first time that a debut work by a filmmaker from the Philippines screens at the festival on the Lido.
“Jay” will screen as the first feature in competition on Friday, Aug. 29, while “Melancholia” will close the competition on Saturday, Sept. 6.
Diaz, who is closing the Orizzonti two years in a row, is known for his audacious, marathon films such as “Batang Westside” and “Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino.” He got the distinction last year with his entry in the sidebar’s documentary section, “Kagadanan sa banwaan ning mga Engkanto” (“Death in the Land of Encantos”).”
This time, Diaz is in competition in the narrative category. The Venice screening marks “Melancholia’s” world premiere.
Diaz won the Orizzonti’s Special Mention prize last year for “Kagadanan sa banwaan ning mga Engkanto,” which runs for nine hours.
Madness in this world
“Long live Philippine cinema!” Diaz proclaimed in his acceptance speech at the awards night in 2007. “In spite of all the madness in this world, it’s still a nice place to live in. We still have cinema ... we have the Venice Film Festival. I would like to thank all the people who worked so hard for this film for nine months.”
Pasion’s debut feature, “Jay,” recently won the Best Full-Length Feature Film in the 4th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. Baron Geisler, who plays a gay television reporter in the film, took the Best Actor plum.
Paolo Bertolin, who is in the selection committee of the Venice Film Festival, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer via e-mail, “We in the selecting committee were all enthusiastic with the two Filipino entries we selected. Just to give you a measure of this, we invited ‘Jay’ as soon as all the members had seen the film, way before the announcement of the Cinemalaya awards.
“‘Jay’ is also one of only two films that were invited to the Horizon sidebar despite not being a world premiere (the other being a Russian film that premiered in another festival in June).”
Bertolin explained why the committee liked the two Filipino films: “‘Melancholia’ proves once again the enrapturing and mesmerizing power of Lav Diaz’s cinema, a spell that captures you from the very first frames and carries you throughout the film’s fluvial length (this new feature clocks in at almost eight hours), by enveloping the viewer in political dramas of great emotional and lyrical resonance. We admired ‘Jay’ for its skillful construction of the script and mise-en-scène, its ability to question the nature of images in an often hilarious yet always thought-provoking manner. The film is a very convincing and promising debut for newcomer Francis Pasion.”
Named as members of the international jury of the Orizzonti, where “Melancholia” and “Jay” will compete with other entries from around the world, are Chantal Akerman (president), Nicole Brenez, Barbara Cupisti, José Luis Guerin and Veiko Õunpuu.
Last year, Diaz and the cast of “Kagadanan sa banwaan ning mga Engkanto,” including Roeder, Perry Dizon, Amalia Virtucio and production supervisor Laurel Penaranda walked on the festival’s red carpet prior to their entry’s official screening.
‘It’s really cool’
“Wow, man,” Diaz reacted to the news of another film of his making it again to the Venice Film Festival. “I don’t know what to say,” he told the Inquirer via e-mail. “It’s really cool, especially for Philippine cinema. A lot of people really worked hard on this film. Five got sick in Sagada. The heavy rains of Laguna destroyed my camera.
“We’ll try to get some travel grants from the Film Development Council of the Philippines and the NCCA to be able to go,” Diaz added.
“Melancholia” stars Angeli Bayani, Perry Dizon, Roeder Camanag, Raul Arellano, Dante Perez, Malaya and Soliman Cruz.
Diaz, a true Filipino film auteur, has direction, cinematography, screenplay and editing credits in the film which is a production of Sine Olivia Pilipinas. He shares music credits with The Brockas.
Diaz said he was grateful to his crew, which includes Kristine Kintana, Nina Dandan, Dante Perez, George Vibar, Sultan Diaz, Willy Fernandez, Joel Ferrer and Jay Ramirez.
Diaz wrote that his movie asked the following questions: “Why is there so much sadness and too much madness in this world? Is happiness just a concept? Is living just a process to measure man’s pain?”
Synopsis
He provided the following synopsis: “Alberta, Julian and Rina struggle hard to find answers to those questions. To be able to fight pain, they assume different personas as a coping exercise. Julian still listens to the voice/songs of his dead wife; Alberta is still looking for the body of her husband; Rina eventually gives up.
“Deep in the forest of a desolate island, Renato and his comrades fight fiercely the military machine that has pursued them relentlessly. They are trapped. In his notebook, Renato writes: ‘I now realized the lyrical madness to this struggle. It is all about sadness. It is about my sadness. It is about the sorrow of my people. I cannot romanticize the futility of it all. Even the majestic beauty of this island could not provide an answer to this hell. There is no cure to this sadness.’”
“Burn After Reading,” written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, who wrote and directed “No Country for Old Men,” which won the 2007 Oscar award for Best Picture, opens the main part of the Venice festival. The members of the jury in the main competition are Wim Wenders (president), Juriy Arabov, Valeria Golino, Douglas Gordon, John Landis, Lucrecia Martel and Johnnie To.
