The QCinema International Film Festival celebrated its 12th edition by honoring a new slate of winning films in Quezon City, Philippines.
Taking the top prize in its main competition, Asian Next Wave, was “Viet and Nam” from Trương Minh Quý. The Vietnam-set film which premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard is produced by Epic Media and is co-production between the Philippines, Vietnam plus other European countries.
The jury, composed of Babyruth Villarama, Gabor Greiner, Ming-Jung Kuo and Nguyen Le, cites the film for “conjuring the haunting presence of trauma and memories that are embedded within the landscape, and tenderly following a romance that unfolds deep within the coal mines”.
Another Vietnamese filmmaker, Dương Diệu Linh, won the Grand Jury Prize for her debut, “Don’t Cry Butterfly”. The film tells about a middle-aged wife who discovers her husband is having an affair and embarks on a mystical journey to seek a better life elsewhere.
“Mistress Dispeller”, won the Best Director award for Elizabeth Lo, and was commended by the jury for her “exceptional ability to fuse authenticity with artistry, sets a new benchmark for documentary storytelling in our festival’s history”, heralding the first documentary entry in the Asian Next Wave competition.
Artistic Director Ed Lejano commended the main competition filmmakers, which this year had as festival theme, “The Gaze”. “We were most excited to have programmed this diverse line-up of new, Asian directors whose singular visions help amplify our theme, by offering a kaleidoscope of gazes, filtered through their own distinctive lenses.”
The Best Screenplay award was given to “Happyend” by Neo Sora from Japan. The Artistic Achievement Award for Production Design was given to Marcus Cheng and Hsu Kuei-Ting for Pierce.
Filipino actor, John Lloyd Cruz of “Moneyslapper” (by Bor Ocampo in its world premiere), shared the Best Lead Performance award together with Shenina Cinnamonfor of “Tale of the Land” from Indonesia.
New competition sections were also introduced under QCinema’s Special Critics Prize. “Toxic” by Lithuanian director SauléBliuvaité was honored with the New Horizons prize for Best First Film while “Cu Li Never Cries” by Pham Ngoc Lân from Vietnam garnered the New Horizons NETPAC Award for Best Asian First Film.
It was indeed another triumph for Vietnamese cinema with its three wins in different categories, continuing its winning streak from other major festivals in recent years.
The other new competition, RainbowQC Prize, the festival’s distinctive section celebrating the LGBTQ experience, awarded its Best Film prizes to two titles, “Baby” by Marcelo Caetano from Brazil and “Sebastian” from British-Finnish director, Mikko Mäkelä. Special mention went to Hiroshi Okuyama for the Japanese entry, “My Sunshine”.
For its QCShorts International competition, the Best Short Film went to a QCinema-produced title in its world premiere, “Kinakausap ni Celso ang Diyos” by Gilb Baldoza and the Jury Prize to WAShhh, from Malaysia/Ireland by Mickey Lai. Are We Still Friends? by Al Ridwan received a special mention. Gender sensitivity award was given to RAMPAGE! (o ang parada) by Kukay Bautista Zinampan.
QCinema Critics Lab 2024 participants also awarded the QCinema Critics Lab Young Critics Prize to Here We Are by Chanasorn Chaikitiporn and Here We Are by Chanasorn Chaikitiporn.
The Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc Award for Film Criticism went to Visayan film programmer Ligaya Villablanca.
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