Official Selection - Out of Competition 2016 / Kapatiran / Philippines, Singapore 2015
In a film essay dedicated to his hometown of Manila, the writer-director contemplates the breakdown of Philippine society. Erasing the border between fiction and documentary, this ambitious film submits a fascinating and harrowing portrait of a social order determined by tribal groupings.
This fascinating film essay offers up a portrait of the crumbling social order in the Philippines today, especially the capital Manila. Behind the official structures and hierarchy lurks a system of useful acquaintance, tribal groupings, and private connections that offer those involved the possibility of breaking widely established rules without consequences. It is a world that exclusively serves the initiated while perniciously influencing the rest of society. In his third film, Pepe Diokno returns to burning issues in the contemporary Philippines; his artistically ambitious probe into disturbing social tendencies eliminates the border between fiction and documentary, thereby creating an unusually vibrant and convincing portrait of the capital and its inhabitants. More than an engaging moviemaking effort, this drama is an exceptionally personal and powerful treatise by a director attempting to see behind isolated acts of aggression that point to phenomena symptomatic of society at large.
Hubert Poul
85 min / Color, DCP
International premiere
Director Pepe Diokno
/ Screenplay Lilit Reyes, Pepe Diokno, Benjamin Tolentino
/ Dir. of Photography Ruel Antipuestpo, Geric Cruz
/ Music Johann Mendoza
/ Editor Benjamin Tolentino
/ Art Director Benjamin Padero, Carlo Tabije
/ Producer Bianca Balbuena
/ Production Epicmedia Productions, Inc.
/ Coproduction Potocol
/ Cast Menggie Cobarrubias, Matt Daclan, Daniel Medrana
/ Contact Epicmedia Productions, Inc.
Pepe Diokno (b. 1987, Manila) is a leading figure among the young generation of independent Filipino filmmakers. He is the grandson and namesake of Filipino Senator Jose W. Diokno, who fought for human rights under the dictatorship of former president Ferdinand Marcos. He made his directing debut at age 22 with Clash (Engkwentro, 2009); after taking the Luigi De Laurentiis Award and the Venice Horizons Award at the Venice IFF, the film went on to tour the festival circuit. The director followed up this success with Above the Clouds (2014), a feature screened at the international festivals in Singapore and Tokyo. Brotherhood (2015) is his third film, and it confirms its creator as an emerging star of Philippine film who is drawn to themes and issues plaguing his homeland.
Epicmedia Productions, Inc.
Block 20 Lot 4, Camella Homes, Mercedes Ave, 1600, Pasig City, Metro Manila
Philippines
Phone: +63 917 620 8253
E-mail: [email protected]
Pepe Diokno
Film Director
Bianca Balbuena
Producer
Benjamin Tolentino
Film Editor, Screenwriter
Benjamin Padero
Production Designer
Carlo Tabije
Production Designer
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