Dante Mendoza to be honored by Gawad TANGLAW

Brillante "Dante" Mendoza is known for bringing the Philippines back into the forefront of world cinema.

Three decades have passed since an entry from the Philippines has been invited to the official competition section of the Cannes Film Festival. Way back in 1978, Lino Brocka's Insiang was screened at the Director's Fortnight section of Cannes. Two years later, Brocka followed up this achievement with an even bigger honor: his film Jaguar was invited to the official competition section of the festival held annually in France.

Direk Dante's career followed a similar pattern since his Foster Child was included in the Director's Fortnight of Cannes. In 2008, his family drama Serbis was one of the 20 films that competed in the 61st edition of the film fest.

For all these achievements, Gawad TANGLAW (Gawad Tagapuring mga Akademisyan ng Aninong Gumagalaw) has chosen Direk Dante to be the recipient of the Presidential Jury Award for Film Excellence. Aside from helming Serbis and Foster Child, he is cited for the films Masahista, Manoro, Kaleldo, and Tirador.

His works are distinguished for the cinema verite style of shooting, giving the impression that the work is a documentary rather than a fictional work.

The 6th Gawad Parangal of the academe-based group will be held by March 2009. Gawad TANGLAW is composed of film critics, scholars, historians, and professors of humanities.

Another special prize given out is the Chairman's Gawad Tanglaw ng Pelikulang Pilipino. According to Prof. Flaviniano Lirio, they chose to give this award to Robbie Tan for "being active in both mainstream and independent movies." The head honcho of Seiko Films is best known for producing sexy flicks in the past but he has become increasingly supportive of the independent film scene. In fact, he produced Foster Child, which received a five-minute standing ovation from the Cannes audience.

Here is the partial list of winners of Gawad TANGLAW: