(From left) Direk Brillante Mendoza, Mercedes Cabral, Coco Martin, Maria Isabel Lopez, co-producer Ferdy Lapuz and French co-producer Didier Costet formed the delegation of Kinatay at the Cannes Film Festival.

The terno of Mercedes Cabral was designed by Angeles City designer Joey Feliciano.

American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino (left) described Brillante Mendoza's film Kinatay as "extraordinary."

Cinemanila festival director Amable "Tikoy" Aguiluz VI (right) met with Tarantino in this year's Cannes. Mendoza bested 19 other filmmakers for the prize, including Tarantino and his Brad Pitt starrer Inglourious Basterds. 

Mercedes Cabral wore a terno gown exclusively designed for her by Angeles City designer Joey Feliciano on the red carpet of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival.  Coco Martin (left) and Kinatay co-producer Ferdinand Lapuz were supposed to wear their Barong Tagalog but they were advised to wear tuxedos instead.

Maria Isabel Lopez (wearing red) plays the woman who is butchered in the film Kinatay. Coco Martin (second from right) is a witness to the crime while  Mercedes Cabral (rightmost) is Coco's wife. 

Aside from Maria Isabel Lopez, Mercedes Cabral and Coco Martin, Kinatay also stars (not in photo) Julio Diaz, Jhong Hilario, Lauren Novero and John Regala.

The delegation of Kinatay posed for the international press during the photo call at around 10 am last May 17. The red-carpet world premiere took place on the same day at around 4:30 pm.

Direk Brillante Mendoza (left) shows the Best Director certificate that he received from the Cannes jury headed by Isabelle Huppert. The Filipino filmmaker is joined by Kinatay French co-producer Didier Costet (right) in this photo.

During the press conference of Kinatay in Cannes, Direk Brillante told the international media, "I thought of using in my previous films the use of real time in treating this kind of genre. In this kind of psychological thriller or drama, I may say. Prior to filming this movie, I've seen other films by other masters and if I be doing this kind of film, I'm going to treat it differently because I want the audience to have a different kind of experience."

Audiences became curious about the practice of mass weddings in the Philippines because the character of Coco Martin got married to Mercedes Cabral this way.

Aside from starring in Kinatay, Mercedes Cabral was handpicked by Korean director Park Chan-Wook to star in another Cannes entry titled Bak-Jwi (Thirst). Incidentally, Bak-Jwi also won the Jury Prize along with the United Kingdom film  Fish Tank directed by Andrea Arnold.

The annual Cannes Film Festival is held in the resort town of Cannes, located in southern France.

During the press conference of Kinatay, Direk Brillante Mendoza revealed that he got the idea for Kinatay when he was doing research for his 2007 film Tirador (Slingshot). He interviewed a student who had interesting encounter with a gangster, providing a springboard for the story of Kinatay.

2006 Cinemanila Digital Lokal winner Brillante Mendoza (flanked by actor Coco Martin and actress Maria Isabel Lopez) received audience applause after the screening of their film Kinatay.

Fellow main competition entrant Quentin Tarantino (far left, back to camera) defended the film from critics. The American filmmaker went to Manila in 2007 to receive his Lifetime Achievement Award during the Cinemanila International Film Festival. 

 

Coco Martin has been a constant figure in Brillante Mendoza's films starting with his directorial debut titled Masahista (2005). It was then followed by Kaleldo (2006), Tirador (2007) and Serbis (2008).

Cinemanila winners Arleen Cuevas and Raya Martin (third from left) premiered their film Independencia at the Un Certain Regard section of the recently concluded 2009 Cannes Film Fest.

Above, they are joined by Cinemanila Festival director Tikoy Aguiluz (wearing shades) and Cannes Festival programmer Christian Jeune, who chaired the Cinemanila Jury in 2006.  Jeune helped program Independencia as well as Manila, one of Cuevas and Martin's other films (co-directed with Adolf Alix, Jr.) at Cannes this year.

Independencia star Sid Lucero (left) met with Coco Martin and Mercedes Cabral at the airport of France upon their arrival last May 16, 2009.

Brillante Mendoza, whose film Serbis was also in the main competition last year, is the first Filipino to win a Best Director award at Cannes.

Previously his films have won at the Locarno Film Festival (Masahista, Golden Leopard for Video), Berlin Film Festival (Tirador, Caligari Prize) and Cinemanila (Manoro, Lino Grand Prize, Digital Lokal).

Brillante Mendoza (left) won the Digital Lokal Grand Prize for his film Manoro during the 2006 Cinemanila International Film Festival.

Cinemanila festival director Tikoy Aguiluz joined the Philippine delegation of Kinatay when the group had a five-hour stopover in Dubai.