MANILA, Philippines - Pepe Diokno, a 22-year-old UP filmmaking undergraduate, made history by winning the Orizzonti Prize and the Luigi de Laurentiis Lion of the Future award in the recent Venice Film Festival in Italy. The Lion of the Future honor comes with a $100,000 cash award.
Engkwentro (Clash), clocking officially at 61 minutes, which Diokno produced and wrote, is the lone Filipino entry in the Orizzonti section of the festival. It stars Felix Roco, Zyrus Desamparado, Daniel Medrana, Eda Nolan, Moises Mag-isa and Bayang Barrios with special appearances by directors Jim Libiran and Celso Ad Castillo.
A Cinemalaya official selection (given a Special Mention during the awards ceremony), Engkwentro vied with over 22 other films for the Orizzonti Prize.
Diokno bested other first-time directors in the festival for the Lion of the Future award including the directors of the Golden Lion ( Lebanon ) and Silver Lion (Women Without Men) awards.
There was a different set of jurors for each section. The jury for the Lion of the Future Award watched all the first features including those in the main competition. Seventeen of the directors in the official competition were either first or second time directors.
Director Brillante Mendoza (also in Venice with Lola in the Official Competition) and I bumped into Pepe and the Engkwentro team (lead actor Felix Roco, cinematographer Emman Pascual, sound designer Mark Laccay, production associates Bianca Balbuena and Chie Floresca and line producer Amor Olaguer) in front of the Sala Grande after their press and industry screening last Friday. They had very sad faces.
The official screening was at 11:30 a.m. last Saturday. We accidentally saw Pepe at around 2 p.m. in front of the Sala Grande. But this time he was already holding his Orizzonti prize.
Pepe said that there was a separate award ceremony for the Orizzonti section and that the Engkwentro team will attend the official awards ceremony as the Orizzonti winner.
In spite of the Orizzonti prize, Pepe was not satisfied with the official screening because the film’s last 15 minutes were in DVD format but without Italian subtitles.
During the official awards presentation, I saw Pepe stand up to acknowledge the Orizzonti prize. We all thought that was it for him.
When the Corto Cossimo Jury went up to present their awards, there was a long introduction for the Lugi de Laurentiis Lion of the Future award. Since it was in Italian with no English translation, I just heard the jury president mention Pepe Diokno’s name for Engkwentro.
Pepe won $100,000 for the Lion of the Future award. He can soon start his next film.
All winners were told they were getting something but there was no mention of the category. Nobody told Pepe he won a second award.
Until an usherette came up to guide him, it took a while for Pepe to go up the stage. I guess he wanted to make sure he won the award!
It was a brief speech. All I could remember was “If I had known I was going to win this award, I would have worn a better pair of pants!” This drew laughter from the crowd.
The photo session on stage drew more laughter because I could sense Pepe was very nervous. With several photographers in front of him, Pepe didn’t quite know which direction to face.
After that, Pepe was ushered outside just like the other winners for the official photo session and press conference.
That was the last time I saw Pepe that night. He later told us when we were in Amsterdam for a six-hour stop, that the team celebrated with a drinking session which lasted until early morning of Sunday.
The Engkwentro team would like to thank the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) through chairman Jacky Atienza for their support. FDCP executive director Marinella Suzara attended the festival.
We are also grateful to David Almariego and family (Maritess, Kim, Peter and John Luca) for giving the team a home in Venice. Our heartfelt thank you also goes to Peter and Grace van Overbeeke-Esquibil of Amsterdam. They welcomed us in their home during our six-hour stop at Schipol airport.