2 Fil-Ams win top int'l award for indie film

First posted 01:51am (Mla time) Mar 06, 2006
By Ruben V. Nepales
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the Mar. 6, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

SANTA MONICA, California -- Two Filipino-Americans have won the IFC/Acura Someone to Watch Award in the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards for their film "Cavite."

Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana, who were both born in the Philippines and grew up in the United States, received a $25,000 grant with the award handed out on Saturday.

Top honors went to "Brokeback Mountain" for Best Picture and Ang Lee for Best Director.

Presented by Film Independent, the awards have become an annual tradition on the eve of the Oscars (scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. today, Manila time).

In keeping with its aim of honoring films and filmmakers who champion artistic independence and challenge the status quo, the Independent Spirit Awards is a relaxed, informal event held at a beachside tent in Santa Monica.

"Cavite," a film shot for 10 days in the Philippine province, tells the story of Adam, played by Gamazon, who goes home for his father's funeral. A phone call at the airport upon his arrival, telling Adam that his family has been kidnapped, forces him to obey the anonymous caller's orders.

No clue

"I had no clue that we were going to win," Dela Llana told the Inquirer. "Honestly, we didn't want to expect anything. It's an honor to be recognized at this level."

The two filmmakers won over Robinson Devor and Jay Duplass, for "Police Beat" and "The Puffy Chair," respectively.

Filipino-American director David Maquiling was a nominee for the same award in 1992 for his film, "Too Much Sleep."

Asked what they would do with their $25,000 grant, Dela Llana replied, "We'll pay the bills and, hopefully, get another project off the ground."

The two thirtysomething Filipino-Americans have been financing their feature films using credit cards. "Cavite" is their fourth feature film. The grant is considerably more than their entire budget for "Cavite."

Relatives' places

In an earlier interview with the Inquirer, Gamazon said the film's location was chosen because "Neill's relatives live in Cavite. That made everything easier for us to shoot there."

The winners, who have been friends since high school, laughed when asked about their work.

"It was just the two of us," Dela Llana explained. "Camera (pointing at himself) and cast (pointing at Ian)." Both wrote and directed the movie, with Dominique Gonzalez credited as the other actor.

Gamazon added: "But we had the help of our location scout."

Gamazon, whose trip to Cavite was his first since he and his family left for the US, said, "Everything about the Philippines was interesting to me since I hadn't been there since I was nine. I loved it. We're both very inspired to make more films there."

The kidnapping thriller will be shown in the Philippines by Unitel Pictures in June or July. Unitel Pictures also bought the worldwide rights to the film except in North America.

Hardscrabble filmmaking

A portion of a review of "Cavite" by the Los Angeles Times' Kevin Crust echoed what most critics in the US loved about the film:

"Gamazon and Dela Llana use the hardscrabble guerrilla filmmaking to their advantage in carving out a smart film that explores Adam's hard-boiled cultural rebirth as he journeys through the back alleys and dusty villages in this crisply edited suspense story. The resourceful filmmakers also manage to keep what could easily have been a gimmick -- a script in which 90 percent of the dialogue is phone conversations -- fresh and compelling to the end."

The film has won acclaim at several US and international film festivals.

Dela Llana remarked that they would celebrate their victory with "a couple of drinks, do a little wining and dining."

Key awards

The other key awards went to Felicity Huffman (Best Actress for "Transamerica"), Philip Seymour Huffman (Best Actor, "Capote"), Matt Dillon (Best Supporting Actor, "Crash") and Amy Adams (Best Supporting Actress, "Junebug").

The other winners:

Best screenplay: Dan Futterman, "Capote."

Best first feature: "Crash," Paul Haggis.

Best first screenplay: Duncan Tucker, "Transamerica."

John Cassavetes award (for the Best Feature made for under $500,000): "Conventioneers."

Best cinematography: Robert Elswit, "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Best foreign film: "Paradise Now."

Best documentary: "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room."

AMC/American Express producers award: Caroline Baron, "Capote" and Caroline Baron, "Monsoon Wedding."

Truer than fiction award: Ian Olds and Garrett Scott, "Occupation: Dreamland."

WOW! congrats to the winners.

i wanna see 'cavite' now. is it out on dvd/vcd yet?

I saw this at the local international film festival, it was really raw and low budget feel to it, which really added to story and setting.

Cool good to see them get recognized. If you have a chance to see it at a local film festival make sure you do so, it's a damn good movie. Anyone got a direct link to the article?