You would think Lav Diaz would get all the necessary support from the government after his eight-hour opus Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis won the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year.
Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
In an interview with Bayani San Diego of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Diaz said he had to beg for support from the government when Ang Babaeng Humayo got in the main section of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.
According to Diaz, former Film Development Council of the Philippine chair Briccio Santos last month “promised support” so he and his entourage can attend the film festival in Venice, Italy.
But FDCP executive director Ted Granados, Diaz said, later told him the agency can provide half of the promised grant and via a “reimbursement process.”
“That means the filmmaker would have to use his own money first and later surrender all the receipts for liquidation,” Inquirer reports.
So Diaz “begged for support” from the Quezon City local government and the Senate. But the government agencies did not respond.
Diaz and his entourage still managed to attend the Venice International Film Festival, and trip was more than worth it — Ang Babaeng Humayo, which stars Charo Santos Concio and John Lloyd Cruz, won the Golden Lion for Best Film in Venice last week.
The Venice International Film Festival is considered as one of the big three film festivals in the world, along with the Berlin and Cannes International Film Festival.
Diaz told Inquirer that he is not complaining. When he accepted the Golden Lion in Venice, the director even dedicated the award “for my country, for the Filipino.”
But he asks, why do filmmakers like him have to beg for support?
“Pag-beauty contest, nababaliw ang Palasyo at Kongreso!” Diaz quipped.
(The Palace and Congress go crazy when it comes to beauty pageants!)
In the same report, current FDCP chair Liza Dino said she is “currently requesting for an incentive” for Diaz.
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