Dear Friends,

3 x Brillante is a mini-retrospective of the works of a Philippine filmmaker, Brillante Mendoza. The audiences and film critics around the world have been divided over his controversial films. He is an astute observer of people and their manners, an able sculptor combining naturalistic, almost documentary pictures of the life in Philippines with appropriate film stylization. In Cannes his films have been applauded by audience and juries (e.g. Sean Penn, Quentin Tarantino), in his home country he’s been struggling with censorship. At the beginning of his career he worked as a stage designer producing the set for many feature films, television productions and theatre plays. He made his debut five years ago with the film Masahista which was awarded at the festival in Locarno.


3 x Brillante section will be initiated by  SERBIS. The film, qualified for the Main Competition at the International Film Festival in Cannes in 2008, was the first Philippine production since 1984 to have entered this competition and the third film from this country in the whole history of the festival. It’s a story about two sides of human morality, leading the spectators into a dark and mysterious world of an old cinema owned by the Pineda family. We see that apart from screening films, they run a completely different business. 


Mendoza was the first Philippine filmmaker who have received the Best Director Award at the International Film Festival in Cannes in 2009 for„Kinatay”, a shocking film based on true events. It’s a very intense and emotional journey into a DIFFERENT WORLD of life. The main hero, a student of criminology who wants to become a policeman, is working for the mob extorting protection money. The film received a great deal of recognition at the festival in Cannes. It can be similar at TWO RIVERSIDES Festival.


Mendoza’s newest film, „Lola” , a beautiful and moving picture with Anita Linda in the leading role, was presented in the Main Competition at the Film Festival in Venice last year. It was awarded many prizes e.g. in Dubai, Las Palmas and Miami. The word ‘Lola’ means grandma. She is the main heroine of the film which is a tale about dignity, family ties and human solidarity in the city chaos.


Thanks to films and meetings with artists the audience of TWO RIVERSIDES Festivalwill have many chances to travel to a DIFFERENT WORLD.


Rigoberto Perezcano, a young Mexican director who made his debut with NORTHLESS (Norteado), will be our guest this year.  In his film we are carried to a world of Mexican immigrants trying to cross the Mexican-American border. A well-known theme receives a new original, dramatic  and even comical look in Perezcano’s film.  The picture was awarded many times at important film festivals and received 10 nominations to Ariel Awards (the Mexican version of the Oscar), including the nomination for the Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress Awards. In Michel Franco’s DANIEL AND ANA we are taken on a completely different emotional journey, though the action is set in the same country. The director was inspired by a true story that took place in Mexico. We meet Daniel and Ana in crucial moments of their lives: she is going to get married, her brother is discovering his sexual identity. One day both are kidnapped and forced to have sex in front of the camera. This shocking event makes them confront their desires with fears.


Come to Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec by the Vistula River and Puławy between July 31 and August 8, and take the journey with us.