Excellence
De Leon is just the latest Filipino to shine in the spotlight of world cinema because there’s Lav Diaz, the Filipino filmmaker who’s been winning big-time in international film festivals
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Daily TribuneDe Leon is just the latest Filipino to shine in the spotlight of world cinema because there’s Lav Diaz, the Filipino filmmaker who’s been winning big-time in international film festivals
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News of Dolly de Leon as the first Filipino to be nominated to the Golden Globe Awards is just the latest in a series of moviemaking milestones for the Philippines.
Without a doubt, De Leon's recent achievements — all due to her compelling performance as a lowly toilet cleaner-turned-desert island amazon in Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund's Triangle of Sadness — bring collective pride to Filipinos.
Following the movie's clinching the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, De Leon started drawing attention from the international media. The buzz was loud enough for the veteran theater/film/TV actor to land at No. 10 on Variety's predicted nominees' list for Best Supporting Actress at the 95th Academy Awards on 28 March 2023.
On 12 December, her nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture at the 80th Golden Globes came on the same day the Los Angeles Film Critics Association gave her the Best Supporting Performance award.
The following day, De Leon issued a statement acknowledging the recognition that LAFCA, one of the most prestigious award-giving bodies in the United States, has given her: "I'm honored to be finally seen."
She's offering the citation "to the country," she added, "to every Filipino at home and overseas fighting it out every day, to those who are losing hope. I am not all by myself. We're in this together."
On her Golden Globes nomination, she said, "I'm not used to it," but added, "it feels great, and she wished more Filipinos get similar recognition because many of us deserve it."
We say De Leon is just the latest Filipino to shine in the spotlight of world cinema because there's Lav Diaz, the Filipino filmmaker who's been winning big-time in international film festivals. In fact, his latest film, Kapag Wala Nang Mga Alon (When the Waves Are Gone), has just won a Special Jury Prize, the Silver Peacock at the 53rd International Film Festival of India.
Curiously, the lead actor in Alon, John Lloyd Cruz, has likewise appeared in previous Diaz movies which have received global acclaim.
The matinee idol underwent a metamorphosis as an actor when he played Hollanda — a gay character in Diaz's Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left), which won the Golden Lion, the highest prize at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival in 2016.
A Daily Tribune report said: "In the same year, Diaz released Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (Lullaby of the Sorrowful Mystery), where Cruz played the El Filibusterismo character Isagani, who figured in long scenes with another heartthrob, Piolo Pascual (as Simoun/Crisostomo Ibarra). The film won the Silver Bear (second prize) at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival — whose jury head, Meryl Streep, famously referred to Diaz: 'This film. This guy. He changed the molecule system in my body.'"
And then there's another Pinoy director, Erik Matti, whose movie, On the Job: The Missing 8, premiered in 2021 at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where it entered the Main Competition for the Golden Lion and won the Volpi Cup Best Actor for John Arcilla.
It has been selected as the Philippine entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.
Certainly, these are no flukes. These are concrete examples of excellence in Filipino artistry.
