Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza and his film “Ma’Rosa” won another award, this time at the 54th Gijón International Film Festival.
Mendoza carried the Philippines’ pride at the Spanish film festival by winning Best Director for the same film that earned the country and Jaclyn Jose the first Best Actress award from the Cannes International Film Festival where the filmmaker also received an earlier Jury Prize for another film “Taklub”.
The Filipino filmmaker was described on the Gijón festival site as”one of the exponents and prolific authors of the current Asian cinema highs” and “as always enjoyed the favor of critics thanks to risky subjects with which reality unfiltered plasma; issues such as incest, bigamy, crime or prostitution.”
Two years ago, the 52 nd edition of the Gijón film fest cited his acclaimed work in over 12 films for which he received a tribute. Mendoza received the tribute to his entire career with the Gijon screening of six of his most prominent films: " Foster Child" (2007), " Serbis " (2008), " Lola " (2009), " The Execution of P " (2009), " Thy Womb "(2012) and" Captive "(2012).
Mendoza made his directorial debut at 45 years old with “Masahista” (2005) for which he received the Golden Leopard for best film of video art at the Festival Locarno.
Since then the director whose first name seems to echo his brilliance in filmmaking, has received many awards for his films shown at prominent festivals such as at Cannes, Venice and Berlin.
Mendoza’s “Ma’Rosa” tells the story of a mother who runs a convenience store and sells drugs on the side with her husband to make ends meet.
