Filipino poet, journalist, editor, translator, and
screenwriter Jose "Pete" Lacaba receives the Aruna Vasudev Lifetime Achievement
Award for Writing on Cinema during the 10th Osian's-Cinefan Film Festival. He is
also the recipient of the Centennial Honors for the Arts for his significant
contributions to culture and the arts in the twentieth century. The awarding
ceremony is set to take place today, July 11, in New Delhi, India.
Pete Lacaba left the Philippines on July 10 to accept the lifetime achievement award that he shares with Mrinal Sen, India's well-known filmmaker and a pioneer of the alternative cinema movement. Mr. Sen receives the Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Cinema in the said film fest.
According to the Osian's-Cinefan website, "the Lifetime Achievement honor is given to an author, critic, or scriptwriter for distinguished contribution to cinema." Mr. Lacaba is currently the executive editor of Summitmedia's YES! magazine, the sister publication of PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal).
Sir Pete (as he is often called) has written the screenplays of award winning feature films that have been shown at various international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice and Toronto. His screenplay credits include Jaguar, Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim, Orapronobis, Sister Stella L., Eskapo, Segurista, and Rizal sa Dapitan.
Jaguar, which was his collaboration with another award-winning screenwriter Ricky Lee, competed at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1980. Bayan Ko, the Lino Brocka opus written by Sir Pete, also competed in Cannes in 1984. Another work of his titled Orapronobis was screened out of competition in 1989.
He also authored six poetry collections in Filipino and a collection of English essays on the First Quarter Storm of 1970 titled Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage. He is also the editor of a number of books, including The Films of ASEAN and his late brother Emmanuel Lacaba's Salvaged Poems and Salvaged Prose.
In a statement released by Osian's-Cinefan joint festival director Latika Padgaonkar, he says, "We are delighted to honour two eminent personalities from the world of cinema. Both have contributed in a seminal way to the seventh art and both have placed on their works an individual and creative stamp."
Two Filipino movies will compete in this year's edition of Osian's-Cinefan, which concludes on July 20. These are Jim Libiran's movie about street gangs in Tondo titled Tribu and Jerrold Tarog and Ruel Dahis Antipuesto's mockumentary titled Confessional. During the 9th Osian's-Cinefan, Cherry Pie Picache won as Best Actress for the Brillante Mendoza film Foster Child.
The Osian's-Cinefan is considered one of the world's largest festivals of Contemporary Indian, Asian and Arab cinema.