Veteran Actress Judy Ann Santos and Brillante Mendoza are coming together for a movie entitled “Mindanao” that will be premiering at the 24th Busan International Film Festival on October 3-12, 2019.
The Film Festival will be held in Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea in the non-competing category called “ICONS” where Brillante Mendoza is a part of alongside Lav Diaz, Werner Herzog, Bruno Dumont, Xavier Dolan, Bong Joon-ho, Ken Loach, Marco Bellocchio, Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Pedro Costa, Olivier Assayas and Bertrand Bonello.
“Mindanao” is about Saima (Judy Ann Santos) who spends the final days of her sickly daughter Aisa at the House of Hope in Davao City while waiting for her husband Malang (Allen Dizon), a combat medic, to come back home from an offensive operation in the province of Maguindanao. Saima witnesses how other patients have triumphed over cancer while some did not. Malang witnesses how death awaits on the battlefield as he tries to save the wounded soldiers where some survived and some did not.
Saima mirrors the harrowing life in Mindanao by retelling the epic tale of Rajah and Sulayman to Aisa – a story of two warrior brothers who fight against the dragons, Ginto and Pula. The crayon images of the tale interweaves the battle realms of Malang and of Aisa.
Despite the bleak circumstances, Saima remains hopeful that both daughter and husband escape the impending death.
The movie is is Directed by Brillante Mendoza, Screenwriting by Honee Alipio and Creative Consultation by Armando Lao.
