Lav Diaz’s ‘Norte’ to screen at Ayala Center Cebu tonight

CEBU, Philippines - After making the rounds of international festivals to rave reviews, Lav Diaz’s “Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan” has returned home for a series of special screenings this month, including Cebu.

Ayala Cinemas has agreed to show the four-hour film once a week. Tonight at 6:30, the Lav Diaz-directed film will screen at Ayala Center Cebu and will next hit selected Ayala Cinemas in Metro Manila. 

Loosely adapted from “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Norte” tells the story of Joaquin (Archie Alemania), who is imprisoned for murder that he didn’t commit. On the other hand, the real perpetrator of the crime Fabian (Sid Lucero) — an intellectual left embittered by his country’s perpetual cycle of betrayal and apathy — goes free. The convict is a simple man who finds the situation more tolerable when strange things happen to him.

“Norte” had already screened extensively abroad following its world-premiere at the 2013 Cannes Filmfest (under the Un Certain Regard section) where it was one of the highest-rated films. The film has since scored distribution deals in the US, UK and France. The film is close to sealing a deal with a German distribution company.

According to producer Raymond Lee, “It’s a breakthrough because it’s the first Lav Diaz film that has been picked up for distribution.” The distribution company in the US is The Cinema Guild which is known to be a very discriminating film distribution house that even got the award-winning indie filmmaker “shocked.”

Lee added, “Lav is very modest. He found it hard to believe that The Cinema Guild picked it up because it’s one of the most picky in the US. The fact that it will be shown in cinemas (later this year) in the US, UK and France is an achievement because it’s a film that some people think is very hard if not impossible to release because of the length.”

Its running time of four hours was one reason why “Norte” initially faced difficulty in securing a playdate in its home country. Lee said that they even mulled over trimming the length for the Filipino audiences.

“We’re pragmatic and we’re sobered from our experience dealing films locally. We know the reality and the difficulty releasing local films. So we really thought that maybe we needed to make a shorter version, or a version under three hours. We were open to that. We were ready. But everyone who had seen and reviewed the film told us, no, you have to show it in its entirety,” said Lee, who is one of the owners of Origin8media, the artist-run film distribution and production company behind the 2011 sleeper hit “Zombadings.”

The running time has proven to be inconsequential given Norte’s much-cited gorgeous cinematography and compelling storytelling.

Time Out New York critic David Fear hailed Norte “a movie that approaches (a) marathon-length running time yet still makes you wish it were twice as long.” Wesley Morris, a Pulitzer prize-winning critic, described it as “an honest-to-goodness masterpiece,” which gave him an unforgettable cinematic experience: “The lights went down, the movie came up, and I sat there. Two-hundred-fifty minutes later… I stood with tears in my eyes, and clapped as loudly as I ever have for any movie in my life.”

“Norte” has also made it to global polls naming the Best Films of 2013. It ranked 9th on the 2013’s Top 10 Films list by the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound, sixth on La Internacional Cinefila and 1st, 7th and 9th by three of the five critics polled by Artforum.

For James Quandt, senior programer at the Toronto International Film Festival and Artforum contributor, “Norte” is the best film of 2013, adding that amidst the influx of cinematic gems from the country, “Lav Diaz’s Dostoyevskian mini-epic… may prove the greatest work of the Philippine New Wave.”

“Norte” marks several firsts for Diaz as well. It was his first Cannes entry and his first time to do a feature film wherein the idea of the story didn’t come from him.

“All of his projects, he was the one to initiate. The original idea came from a true story about a prisoner whose wife stops visiting him. Every Christmas, he would make a parol, and through the years, the parols he made piled up. It was our starting point,” said Lee, who actually started out in the industry as a screenwriter for Star Cinema, whose impressive portfolio includes “Milan,” “Kailangan Kita,” “D’Anothers” and “Tanging Yaman.”

To expand the story, Lee was joined by Rody Vera (“Death March,” “Niño,” “Boses”), who became Norte’s writer, and Michiko Yamamoto (“Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros,” “Magnifico,” “On the Job”) for a brainstorming. 

They initially considered Mario O’Hara to helm the film, but then he passed away in 2012. The filmmaker who next came to mind was Diaz, who has been working outside the mainstream cinema but has had brought honor to the country and attracted a cult following overseas with internationally-acclaimed, socio-politically-themed works like “Batang West Side” and “Ebolusyon ng Isang Pilipino.”

“I remember pitching the story to Lav in Dumaguete during a workshop at Siliman University. He loved it,” said Lee. “We wanted Lav to direct the film because we loved his films. I’m a fan of Lav. I hope this film will introduce Lav Diaz to much, much more Filipinos and the young generation. He really wants his work to be seen here.”