Pinoy film Busong wins international critics' prize

Filipino filmmaker Auraeus Solito has had another wish fulfilled with his dream film Busong. Busong, the first Palawanon indigenous film, recently won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) International Critics Prize at the Eurasia International Film Festival (EIFF) held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Solito, accompanied by his actor, accepted the award on September 23. "I was telling my actor Dax Alejandro that of all the prizes I have never won a FIPRESCI before. And I wished for this award. And the Universe gave it to me," Solito said upon accepting the award. "I would like to thank the FIPRESCI for honoring my tribe's stories, for this is the first Palawan indigenous film. I would like to thank the guiding spirit of my shaman ancestors. Rahkmet!," said Solito, thanking the audience in Kazakh. Solito had earlier said that Busong is his "dream film." Busong premiered to a standing ovation at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight last May. Busong, titled after the Palawan concept of fate or instant karma, focuses on how people's disrespect towards nature and fellow humans gets nature's instant reaction. Alessandra de Rossi, the film's lead star, played a grotesquely diseased Palawanon who must be carried in a hammock everywhere. Also in the film are Clifford Banagale, Rodrigo Santikan, Bonivie Budao, Vincent Magbanua, and Mina Tesorio. Last July, Busong premiered locally in the Directors Showcase of Cinemalaya, which partially funded the film and permitted its world premiere at Cannes. Solito's first feature film, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, won 15 international awards, and has brought Solito to Montreal, Toronto, Okinawa, Utah, Berlin, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, New York, Las Palmas in Spain, Sydney, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Warsaw, and London. The feature film was also named one of the Ten Best Films of the Decade (2000-2009) by Gawad Urian. Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros was followed by Tuli (2006), Pisay (2008), and Boy (2009). Now on its seventh year, the EIFF is the only major film festival representing Eurasian cinematography. It is registered in the International Federation of Film Producers' Associations. The FIPRESCI is headed by Russian critic Andrei Shemiakin, who has been the leading researcher of the Department of Contemporary Russian Cinema at the National Research Institute of Cinema. — LBG, GMA News