Kalayaan wins NETPAC Award In Warsaw Film Fest

The award was given last Oct. 20 at the 28th Warsaw International Film Festival, four days after  Adolf turned 34. This year’s Warsaw International Film Festival ran from Oct. 12 to Oct. 21.
 
The award-winning director made the big announcement via his Instagram account by posting a photo of the actual award stitched together with photos of a few scenes from the film.
 
The NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Jury composed of Alberto Elena, a professor and critic from Spain (Spain), Jongsuk Thomas Nam, Puchon Fantastic Film Festival of Korea’s artistic director and Janusz Wróblewsk, a critic from Poland chose “Kalayaan (Wildlife)” out of 250 films in competition.
 
According to Alix, the film was selected due to “the director’s impressive vision of a dark journey into the bottom of human soul accompanied with outstanding cinematography…”
 
NETPAC is a worldwide organization of 29 member countries. Created as the result of a conference on Asian cinema organized by Cinemaya, the Asian Film Quarterly, in New Delhi in 1990. The NETPAC Award is given at select international film festivals to promote Asian cinema by spotlighting exceptional films and discovering new talents.
 
“Kalayaan” on the other hand tackles the monotonous and challenging life of military men assigned at the Spratly Islands, better known as Kalayaan Group of Islands.
 
Headlining the film were hunk actors Zanjoe Marudo, Luis Alandy and Rocky Salumbides together with Thai actor Ananda Everingham (“Shutter”).
 
“Kalayaan” was first shown under the Directors’ Showcase category of the 2012 Cinemalaya Film Festival last July where it bagged the Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound awards.
 
Early this month, “Kalayaan” was among three Filipino films that premiered at the 17th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which ran from Oct. 4 to 13 in South Korea. The other two were Mes De Guzman’s “Diablo” and Lawrence Fajardo’s “Posas (Shackled).”