News:

'Confessional' wins film fest award in India
By Bayani San Diego Jr.
INQUIRER.net, Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 10:49:00 07/20/2008

     MANILA, Philippines--Yet another Filipino independent filmmaker wins in an international film festival.

     "Confessional," directed by Jerrold Tarog and Ruel Antipuesto, won the Best Film in the First Features section of the 10th Osian's Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema held in New Delhi Saturday.

     "Confessional," which tells the story of an amateur documentarian who elicits an explosive "confession" from a crooked politician, won the most number of awards at the Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival last year--including Best Picture, Sound, Screenplay and Director.

     Ronald Arguelles, the film's executive producer and project head of Cinema One Originals, relayed the news of film's Osian's triumph to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) early Sunday.

     "British film critic Tony Rayns is the head of the jury for the First Features section," Arguelles said. "I thought it was only for local audiences, but I'm happy that it was also appreciated abroad."

     According to the Osian's-Cinefan website, Tony Rayns is a London- based filmmaker, critic and festival curator. The two other jurors in the First Features section are Hyderabad-born filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor and Sri Lankan-born filmmaker and journalist Vimukthi Jayasundara.

     "That the film impressed these foreign critics was unexpected," said Arguelles.

     The award also caught filmmaker Tarog by surprise.

     Tarog, who attended the festival which culminated Sunday, told the Inquirer in a text message: "At first, we didn't think the film's culture-specific themes would resonate with [audiences from] from other countries. But, from the wonderful comments we received after the screening, we knew it really [connected with viewers]. It's a great feeling."

     The Osian's victory of "Confessional" comes only weeks after Jim Libiran's "Tribu" won the Youth Jury Prize in the recently concluded Paris Cinema International Film Festival.

     The First Features category in Osian's-Cinefan mainly included debuting film makers; "Tribu" was also in competition in that section.

     The film bested entries from other Asian countries, including noteworthy entries from India.

     Tarog and Antipuesto received $5,000 and an additional Osian's Originating Film Development fund worth $20,000 to bankroll their next feature film.

     Osian's-Cinefan also honored Filipino scriptwriter Jose F. Lacaba with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Lacaba wrote three Lino Brocka films--"Jaguar," "Bayan Ko" and "Orapronobis"â€"that were shown in the Cannes International Film Festival.

     With reports from Gerry Plaza, INQUIRER.net

Source:

Confessional Jerrold Tarog Ruel Dahis Antipuesto