Jun Robles Lana is Best Director at Estonia filmfest

Jun Robles Lana won the Jury Prize for Best Director for his black and white feature Kalel, 15, at the 23rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on Nov. 30 in Estonia in Northern Europe. He received a Golden Wolf trophy and 5,000 Euros cash prize or around P280,000.

The filmmaker’s citation read: “Working with a large cast of mostly very young actors, he has made a film which feels deeply-rooted in the everyday lives of its characters. It’s a passionate and concerned film about lives we never see in the West.”

Kalel, 15, also written by Lana, is a social drama that addresses several issues at the same time: The stigma surrounding HIV, the carelessness with which the youth in the Philippines approaches sex, the heavy-weight consequences of growing up with a troubled parent and the Christian double moral. It stars Elijah Canlas, Jaclyn Jose and the late Eddie Garcia.

“From the time I presented this project at the 2014 Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, the story has evolved into a more complex narrative. After years of research and interviews, what started out as a mere tale of secrets and scandal became an examination of youth culture, particularly young people in peril, and a society that cares so little about them,” direk Jun said.

“On the surface, the movie is about a young boy’s struggle to belong and embrace life’s complications. But on a deeper level, it is about all of us, our search for meaning in a world where the very institutions we are supposed to look up to are weighed down with hypocrisy, dishonesty and deception,” he added.