The critically-acclaimed indie film director, Brilliante "Dante" Mendoza, speaks up on the issues thrown at him on the June 26 episode of The Bottomline with Boy Abunda.

From a simple production designer to an art director in the '80s, Mendoza has now become one of the most notable independent film directors in the country. His career as a director flourished in 2005 because of his films that indeed made waves in the international filmmaking scene namely Masahista, Kaleldo, Tirador and Serbis. His turning point was when he was hailed as Best Director in the Cannes Film Festival for his film Kinatay.

Now that he earned a name in the industry, Mendoza has been stoned by a lot of intrigues and issues: His film Kinatay garnered negative feedback from movie critics saying that "the darkness of the film was not thematic," "Kinatay was the worst film ever screened in Cannes" and a lot  more. As a director, what is his stand?


A panel will discuss the questions to be posed to the Filipino director and one of them is PEP reviewer Fidel Antonio Medel. He previously wrote reviews for Mendoza's films Kinatay and Lola.


According to Mendoza's friends and colleagues, he was a victim of crab mentality and jealousy. What can the indie film director say about the people pulling him down? Is it true that Bing Lao, the writer of Kinatay, is also the real director of the said movie project? What is the real story behind Coco Martin's decision to leave his side? Was there really a breach of trust between him and Coco because of the actor's accidental frontal nudity in the film Serbis? People are saying that Mendoza is the "purveyor of poverty porn" in the Philippines, what is his take on this?



All these and more as Brillante Mendoza takes the hot seat this Saturday, June 26, on The Bottomline with Boy Abunda after the primetime telecast of Banana Split on ABS-CBN.