MANILA, Philippines - Bambanti (Scarecrow), written and directed by Zig Dulay, won Best Film at the inaugural Festival International du Film de Bruxelles (Brussels International Festival of Films) which ran from Nov. 17 to 21 in Belgium beating feature films of Reza Mirkarimi of Iran (Today), Lotfi Bouchouchi of Algeria (Le Puits), Yuzo Asahara of Japan (The Pearls of the Stone Man), Mohamed Mouftakir of Morocco (The Orchestra of the Blind) and Quentin Reynaud and Arthur Delaire of France (Paris-Willouby).
Brillante Ma. Mendoza (rightmost in photo with other honorees), one of the film’s producers (along with Wilson Tieng) received the trophy on behalf of Dulay during the closing ceremony held in UGC De Brouckère.
Set in the Province of Isabela with its abundant green rice fields as backdrop, the film revolves in the search for a missing watch that instigates the painful quest for the truth in Belyn’s (Alessandra de Rossi, who won Best Actress in the 2015 Sinag Maynila Film Festival) and her son’s life, Popoy (Micko Laurente). Bambanti is an Iloko term which means alay-ay in Filipino, or scarecrow.
Meanwhile, Laurente won the Golden Elephant trophy for Best Actor in the Asian Panorama of the 19th International Children’s Film Festival India (ICFFI) in Hyderabad, Nov. 14 to 20.