Philippine focus at Czech film festival

MANILA, Philippines - On its 11th year of presenting dynamic Asian cinema to the Czech audiences, 2015 FilmAsia — the Czech Republic’s premier Asian film festival — is putting Filipino cinematography in focus for the very first time.

Initiated by Czech Embassy in Manila in cooperation with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), this year’s FilmAsia premieres six Filipino feature films, old and new. Among the films brought to Prague are the recently rediscovered and restored classic Genghis Khan (1950) directed by Manuel Conde which opened the festival last Dec. 4, and the acclaimed political family drama Dekada ’70 (2002) based on acclaimed novel by Lualhati Bautista — a film which mirrors similar, though different, experience of the Czechs, who were also fighting for their democracy in the ’70s and ’80s while during the communist rule.

“As only a single Philippine film, The King of Sulu and the Emperor of China by Eddie Romero, ever entered the Czech film distribution as long as a quarter a century ago, and not more than a dozen — often independent — films have been screened at Czech film festivals in recent years, this very first Philippine selection will be a unique glimpse into otherwise unknown cinematography in my country,” said Czech Ambassador to the Philippines Jaroslav Olša Jr.

The core of the Philippine focus is the three independent Filipino films namely, Lihis (2013), Sonata (2013) and Badil (2013), which are all co-produced by the FDCP. And to give the Czech audiences a glimpse of Philippine superhero films, iconic Darna will get the opportunity to fly over Prague with the Czech premier, starring Vilma Santos.

“As the only Asian film festival in the Czech Republic, FilmAsia offers Czechs a glimpse of the best of what Asian cinema can offer,” said Karla Stojáková, festival’s director and producer having long history of cooperation with Asian filmmakers. “Therefore, I was happy to share the idea of Ambassador Jaroslav Olša Jr. to present Filipino cinematography for the very first time in our country. Our festival is entering second decade this year and so it is symbolic and opportunity for our film enthusiasts to discover another Asian cinematography.”

Year by year, FilmAsia features award-winning works by notable directors in the Asian region, among them are Park Chan-wook, Kim Ki-duk, Hou Hsia-hsien, Johnnie To, Wong Kar-wai, Tsai Ming-liang and Takashi Miike.