Canadian film festivals

The Montreal World Film Festival wrapped last September 7 and the People’s Choice distinction went to "Planta 4a", from Spanish director Antonio Mercero who also got the best director prize. Plant 4a refers to a special "block" in a Spanish orthopedic ward of children’s hospital, where patients (mostly young children) have various forms of cancer. The central character is an adolescent boy who copes in the hospital environment by defying his micro world ruled by men and women in white coats with acceptance and optimism.

At the tail end of the Montreal filmfest is the Toronto International Film Festival (September 4 to 13). It was in full gear with opening nights of American films about to be released commercially world-wide with high-profile stars in their publicity bid to promote their new products. There’s no doubt that the Toronto event has become an annual tourist destination for the world’s filmmakers and stars, second to Cannes and the same level as Venice.

There’s a glut of glamour and a surprising revival of edgy sex films, a lotta skin exposure, even the aging Meg Ryan in a bid to salvage her sagging career. As if making up for surviving SARS, tainted beef and West Nile mosquitoes and the American war and terrorist scare, Torontonians were in a celebration mood. They welcomed this year’s edition of films that are laden, laced with fears of sex, aging, dying, death and wide open spaces.

TIFF is star-driven and that’s why I favor Montreal’s movie-driven festival. I don’t go to film festivals to gawk at stars who all dressed-up as if going to a shopping mall opening, that’s too pedestrian. Film festivals is a path away from commercial American productions for more urbane, grown-up cinematic pleasures from around the world. Meg Ryan, Nicole Kidman, Nicolas Cage, Denzel Washington, Denicio Del Toro and other American listers made the festival shine and Toronto front-page news.

Overall, it is good for Canada because Toronto is the preferred entry into the North American market. It has positioned itself as the major film event of the year with Cannes as the major spring festival of the year.

All kinds of people go to Toronto because it is a reliable launching pad for fall releases, award season and acquisitions by big-time buyers.

The two Filipino films at the TIFF (contemporary world cinema section) selected by programmer Steve Gravestock are not to my liking. They are:

Erik Matti’s Prosti which is yet another elaborate exploration on Pinoy prostitution. The storyline of pimp and prostitute has been done to death by European filmmakers. Gravestock’s fine review is enticing and was able to intellectualize the skin flick melodrama. Prosti demystifies and de eroticizes the workings of a cathouse and underscores the economics that drive it." From the description, it acts the bed for frisky sex sequences.

The second is Joel Lamangan’s Ang Huling Birhen Sa Lupa (The Last Virgin). Again, the central character is a prostitute with a young sister. While Lamangan has some memorable tearjerkers in the past, I find his style too shrill with over-kill scenarios that can be extremely melodramatic. All told, Filipino low life are back on Toronto’s screens. In retrospect, the past choices were in the same genre. There must be a guideline to programmers to search for kinky stuff from the exotic Orient.

Some of the lackluster Tagalog films that I saw in Toronto include Tatlo (about lesbianism), Curacha (prostitution), Gangland (violence and youth gangsterism), Diliryo (obsessive sex or nymphomania), Ligaya ang Itawag Mo Sa Akin (prostitution again) and Ang Lalaki Sa Buhay Ni Selya (homosexuality and rape victim). The list can go on and on. Let’s hope more Filipino directors will focus on the brighter side of Philippine life that’s inhabited with more winners and less losers.

The Barbarian Invasions, Quebec filmmaker Deny Arcand’s much-praised sequel to his Decline of the American Empires won the Toronto-City Award for best Canadian feature film. The film is a reflection of the intergenerational changes going on in Quebec society today.