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Khavn De La Cruz, is a prolific Filipino filmmaker, writer, pianist, songwriter and composer. Since 1994 he has directed over 300 films including Squatterpunk (2006), Manila in the Fangs of Darkness (2008) and has collaborated with Alexander Kluge on films such as Orphea (2020) and Happy Lamento (2018), making him one of the most productive filmmakers in the Philippines and beyond. From 2002 to 2011, he was the festival director and programmer for Mov International Film, Music and Literature Festival. He has been a jury member at multiple festivals including the Berlinale and Leipzig Film Festival.

He has exhibited at the MoMA, Maxxi, Guggenheim Museum, Tate Modern, Museo Reina Sofia, National Museum of Singapore, and Venice Architecture Biennale; lectured at the Berlinale Talent Campus, Bela Tarr's Film Factory, Goethe Institute, the Danish Film Institute, and his alma mater, the Ateneo; and curated programmes for the Viennale, the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Sharjah Biennial. Selected retrospectives of...

Balik Taya Trailer — Roman Perez Jr.‘ Balik Taya (2023) movie trailer has been released by Vivamax. The Balik Taya trailer stars Kiko Estrada, Avi Acosta, Angeli Khang, Chesca Paredes, Amor Lapus, Aiko Gracia, Lou Veloso, John Flores, Aaron Concepcion, and Benz Sangalang. Plot Synopsis Balik Taya‘s plot synopsis: A man searches [...]

Continue reading: Balik Taya (2023) Movie Trailer: A Man Searches for His Girlfriend & Finds an Illegal Underground Fighting Ring...

The Japan Foundation Asia Center and Tokyo International Film Festival have uploaded the first of their omnibus film series, “Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections.” This film is in and of itself a compilation of three shorts; industry veterans Brillante Ma Mendoza, Isao Yukisada, and Sotho Kulikar illustrate three tales interrelating Japan to the Philippines, Malaysia, and Cambodia. While their plotlines are disconnected, their political arguments are not. Loosely tied to the theme “Living Together in Asia,” the three films wrest tongue-in-cheek responses to the inherently uneasy power dynamics between wealthy Japan and poorer parts of Southeast Asia. The collection peels back long-standing issues of poverty, servitude, and cross-cultural romance, bringing forth the lingering traces of Japanese (neo)imperialism.

The first and last shorts sing their songs of heartbreak and betrayal the most. The first, Brillante Ma Mendoza’s “Shiniuma Dead Horse,” follows the bleary-eyed amputee Marcial (Lou Veloso), an undocumented...

Expanding on the homonymous short, “Greaseman” presents the comments of the original much more eloquently while adding more, through a presentation that points towards the music video, since there is no dialogue, but the presence of music is constant. The film was shot in one day and premiered at a pop-up outdoor screening outside the infamous Manila Film Center in 2001.

The film focuses on two radically different individuals. The Greaseman is a dirty bump roaming the streets of Manila with no shoes, barely dressed, trying to scrape anything he can to eat, while reading a book or being followed by children who seem to mock him but not being afraid of his terrible appearance. The Yuppie is a well-off man, living in a comfortable apartment, working in an office and spending his time visiting galleries or flirting with shop clerks. One night, however, the radically differently paths of the two men collide,...

After a number of images that seem either inside water or kaleidoscopic, and an intense song with dual vocals, the frame is split in two, with the left showing a rather pitiful, rag-tag man (the Greaseman) on the streets and the right a well-off one (the Yuppie) in his house. This duality also extends to the rest of the narrative, with the singing/narration in English functioning like the voice of the first man and the narration that is heard almost at the same time in Tagalog, seemingly telling a story, occasionally featuring some biblical (?) references.

The film proceeds with juxtaposing the lives of the two radically different men before another, similar with the initial, sequence, functions as a transition to a scene showing just the Yuppie in his car, driving. Eventually, he sees the first man unconscious on the side of the street. Surprisingly, he stops and carries him to his car and eventually,...

Omnibus project Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections forms part of Japan’s drive to build links with Southeast Asia.

Produced by Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) and the Japan Foundation, Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections is an omnibus film with segments directed by the Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza, Japan’s Isao Yukisada and Cambodia’s Sotho Kulikar.

The film, which premiered at Tiff last week, involves characters living in Asia who have some kind of connection to another country within the region. Mendoza’s segment, Shiniuma: Dead Horse, filmed in both Japan and the Philippines, stars veteran actor Lou Veloso as an illegal immigrant in Japan who is deported back to the Philippines and forced to make a new life.

Filmed in Penang, Malaysia, Yukisada’s film, Pigeon, revolves around the bond between a Malaysian careworker (Sharifah Amani) and an elderly Japanese man suffering from dementia (Masahiko Tsugawa). Kulikar’s segment, Beyond The Bridge...

Omnibus project Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections forms part of Japan’s drive to build links with Southeast Asia.

Produced by Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) and the Japan Foundation, Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections is an omnibus film with segments directed by the Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza, Japan’s Isao Yukisada and Cambodia’s Sotho Kulikar.

The film, which premiered at Tiff last week, involves characters living in Asia who have some kind of connection to another country within the region. Mendoza’s segment, Shiniuma: Dead Horse, filmed in both Japan and the Philippines, stars veteran actor Lou Veloso as an illegal immigrant in Japan who is deported back to the Philippines and forced to make a new life.

Filmed in Penang, Malaysia, Yukisada’s film, Pigeon, revolves around the bond between a Malaysian careworker (Sharifah Amani) and an elderly Japanese man suffering from dementia (Masahiko Tsugawa). Kulikar’s segment, Beyond The Bridge...

The Japan Foundation and the Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) announced the main cast for the omnibus film.

Launched in 2014 the Asian Three – Fold Mirror project aims to deepen interactions between neighboring countries within Asia, as well as enriching cultural understanding and providing chance for people to consider their identity and way of life as individuals in Asia.

Lou Veloso – Masahiko Tsugawa – Masatoshi Nagase Sharifah Amani – Masaya Kayo – Chumvan Sodhachivy

The three Asian directors selected, Brillante Mendoza (Philippines), Isao Yukisa (Japan) and Sotho Kulikar (Cambodia) have selected their main cast to appear in their chapters. The acclaimed Filipino actor Lou Veloso will be starting in Mendoza’s episode. Two famous Japanese actors, Masahiko Tsugawa & Masatoshi Nagase along with the Malaysian actress Sharifah Amani will be starring in Yukisada’s chapter. Finally Japanese actor Masayo Kato and Cambodian actress Chumvan Sodhachivy will be appearing in the episode by Kulikar. The protagonist...

Line-up includes Sharifah Amani from Yasmin Ahmad’s Gubra.

Tokyo International Film Festival and the Japan Foundation Asia Center have announced the main cast for their Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016 omnibus to include Masaya Kato from Takeshi Kitano’s Brother and Malaysian actress Sharifah Amani from Yasmin Ahmad’s Gubra.

As previously announced, Brillante Mendoza from the Philippines, Isao Yukisada from Japan and Sotho Kulikar from Cambodia will each a segment.

Filipino actor Lou Veloso is starring in Mendoza’s segment. Japanese stars Masahiko Tsugawa and Masatoshi Nagase are in Yukisada’s along with Amani. Kato and Cambodian actress Chumvan Sodhachivy will star in Kulikar’s.

Each segment features an Asian living in a different country in Asia. The films will shoot in Japan, the Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia.

The omnibus will complete post-production in Malaysia at Imagica South East Asia and world premiere at Tiff (Oct 25 – Nov 3).