PiFan unveils Spotlight on the Philippines

The Puchon International Film Festival (PiFan)’s industry program, the Network of Fantastic Films (NAFF) has announced its selection for this year’s Project Spotlight: the Philippines.

“The Philippines have had a strong presence in genre cinema for some time, but for some reason, it never had outside exposure until maybe very recently. So we thought it would be worthwhile to show not just their films, but also the potential of the projects through this year’s Spotlight so they can hopefully find co-producers and/or funding at NAFF,” says Thomas Nam, NAFF managing director.

The seven projects in the Spotlight will compete for a total of $50,000 in cash awards and three post-production support awards.

Mondomanila director Khavn De La Cruz [pictured] will be turning his 62nd Berlinale-selected short film, Ruined Heart? Another Love Story About A Criminal And A Whore, into a feature film while director Peter Eduria III, who has worked on Cannes-awarded Brillante Mendoza’s films, will bring his thriller project Hotline.

Amable ‘Tikoy’ Aguiluz, director of Segurista and Manila King, will bring Dance Of Death, a story about a warrior prince who must avenge his massacred family by entering the Gates of Hell. Richard Somes, who directed Yanggaw and Corazon, will bring end-of-the-world action fantasy film Thy Kingdom Come.

Ato Bautista, whose Neighbor No. 13 was a 2009 NAFF IT Project selection, will be returning with a bloody action thriller called Bad Blood, while director of Beneath The Cogon, Rico Maria Ilarde is bringing slasher horror film Tusok.

Producer of The Grave Bandits, Vanessa Ulgado, a NAFF 2012 Fantastic Film School alumna, is partnering with US-based director Tyrone Acierto once more to bring a fantasy live-action/animation film A Boy Who Roamed The Sky.

With support from the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), NAFF is inviting the projects’ filmmakers to have one-on-one meetings, a “Pitching & Luncheon” event and a special reception showcasing both the projects and films screening in the fest.

NAFF has also announced its Fantastic Film School (FFS) Asian Filmmakers’ Lab lecturers to include Superman Returns producer Chris Lee, American Film Institute senior lecturer and former Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox exec Barry Sabath; John Heinsen, CEO of Bunnygraph Entertainment and a vice-chairman of New Media Council at Producers Guild of America (PGA); Anderson Le, a producer and the Hawaii International Film Festival’s program director, and hit Korean director Kim Ji-hoon Kim (The Tower).