Mendoza retrospective in Manchester, England Sept. 28

A retrospective of Dante Mendoza’s nine films will be held in Manchester, England, from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3, including (in chronological order) Masahista, Manoro, Kaleldo, Tirador, Foster Child, Serbis, Kinatay, Lola and Prey.

This was disclosed to Funfare Update by Dante last Saturday, a day before he left for Paris to do post-production work on Prey, his latest film about the Abu Sayaff with French actress Isabelle Huppert as lead star. The film is bound to touch sensitive nerves because it tackles a controversial subject (the kidnappings, etc.).

Dante will be back in time for the press preview of his yet untitled “debut” in Charo Santos-Concio’s Maalaala Mo Kaya (MMK), which is about a blind environment activist from Palawan, set for airing on Oct. 1 (Saturday).

He will rush to Manchester the next day to attend the opening of the retrospective.

These days, Dante has been concentrating on conducting lectures around the country, with mostly students as audience.

“I enjoy it,” said Dante who helped jumpstart the current interest in indie films.

Asked why he hasn’t been joining the annual Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, Dante said, “It has become too commercialized. The artistic vision is lost.”

Is he entering Prey at an international film festival, maybe Cannes where he won Best Director (for Kinatay) two years ago?

“I haven’t decided yet,” said Dante. 

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