Philippines returns to spotlight, awaits incentives uplift at TIFF

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‘Tokyo fest selection a pragmatic, timely mix’

After a rocky few years, cinema from the Philippines is once again bristling with energy and innovation. International interest is rising, and the Tokyo International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2019 selection reflects some of that. The recent launch of two incentive schemes by the Philippines government may help the country’s production become more international.

 The Tokyo festival this year includes a total of eight films and TV episodes from the Philippines across its different sections: “Mananita” in the main competition section; Brillante Mendoza’s “Mindanao” and Erik Matti’s drama “Food Lore Series – Island of Dreams”, in the World Focus section; and Bradley Liew’s “Motel Acacia” in the Asian Focus category.

 Philippines films also dominate Tokyo’s Crosscut Asia sidebar, which this year focuses on Southeast Asian fantasy and genre titles: Lav Diaz’s “The Halt”, Antoinette Jadaone’s “Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay”, Matti’s “The Entity” and Sigrid Andrea Bernardo’s “Untrue”.

 For director Paul Soriano, Tokyo is the world premiere of his “Mananita” in which the heroine is a shooter who served in the military. But after losing her job, she spends her nights getting in a bar – until a phone call changes everything. The festival’s introduction calls it no less than a “superb film (which) turns a series of unassuming shots into an emotional drama.”

Permanent

Mendoza has become almost a permanent fixture at the Tokyo festival. In 2015 the festival gave him a major retrospective “The World of Brillante Ma Mendoza”, and the following year included him as one of three directors working together on the omnibus film “Reflections” that was part of the Asian Three-Fold Mirror series commissioned by the festival. In 2017, Mendoza held a Tokyo master class. And in 2018 he was head of the jury, selecting the winners of Tokyo’s main competition section.

 The Philippines is also increasingly seeking to become part of the global film locations industry and up its role in international co-productions. Earlier this month in Busan, the Film Development Council of the Philippines unveiled a co-production support fund and a locations rebate scheme, both to be operated under the wing of a new structure known as FilmPhilippines.

 Under the Film Location Incentive Program (FLIP), feature films of any genre, television series, and web content are all eligible for rebate, provided that the production is a partnership with a registered Philippine line producer.

 Alternatively, international projects can apply to the just-launched International Co-Production Fund (ICOF), which covers feature length live action, documentary or animation films if they sign a co-production deal with a certified Philippine producer or production company.

 Eligible projects with a minimum production expenditure of $155,000 (PHP 8 million) qualify for the incentives and the fund. Upon approval, between 10% and 40% of qualifying production spend may be rebated through either FLIP or ICOF. There is maximum rebate payment of $193,000 (PHP 10 million).

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LOS ANGELES: Veteran programmer Yoshi Yatabe and his team have steadily steered the Tokyo International Film Festival competition away from the mediocrity of its early years, when even the winners couldn’t get distribution deals in Japan. The 14-film competition line-up for this year’s 32nd edition is a mix of seven world premieres and titles previously screened at Venice and elsewhere, including the Venice Orrizonti grand prize winner “Atlantis”.

“Ideally, all the films in an A-class festival like ours should be world premieres. That may be better for the reputation of the festival,” Yatabe tells Variety. “But I sometimes think it’s a waste not to take a film just because it’s been in, say, Venice’s Orrizonti section. For example, ‘Atlantis’ is a wonderful film that I’m sure our audience will like.” (RTRS)

“I’m always in a dilemma about whether to think first about the audience or the festival’s worldwide reputation,” he adds. “But because TIFF is an Asian festival, we want all of our Asian films to be world premieres.” That is true of both competition films from East Asia – Wang Rui’s “Chaogtu With Sarula” (China) and Paul Soriano’s “Mananita” (Philippines).

Yatabe denies that the lack of films selected from neighbor and cinema powerhouse South Korea, has anything to do with the acrimonious relationship between the Korean and Japanese governments, a discord fueled by controversial historical issues. “The problem is more that the Busan festival takes all the good new Korean films,” says Yatabe. (Held this year Oct 3-12, the Busan International Film Festival also had a strong Japanese line-up, including Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “The Truth”.)

Another question currently facing festival programmers is the status of films from Netflix and other streaming services. Cannes has one answer, the many festivals, including Tokyo, showing Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” have another. (RTRS)

By Patrick Frater

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