About

Please note: This screening has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. The film will be replaced by Bunso: The Youngest 2005 AGES 18+. The second session of Kinatay will proceed on the 23rd of March.

'Brillante Mendoza's devastating new movie generated as much controversy at Cannes (where it won the Best Director prize) as the Lars von Trier and Gaspar Noé movies did, but Kinatay is not at all an exercise in shock-for-shock's-sake. Soon after police cadet Peping marries his partner Cecille – they already have a newborn child – he's pressed into joining an after-hours plain-clothes raid led by a renegade sergeant. The target turns out to be a bargirl/hooker known as Madonna, seized and driven to the gang's safe house. As they drive through Manila's mean night streets, though, Peping realises with mounting horror that he's about to become an accessory to murder.' Institute of Contemporary Arts

'I wouldn't say that Kinatay is a horror film, but it does have some elements in common with that genre. I made the crime happen unexpectedly and not at the very beginning, which is a common practice of the horror genre. I also introduce slowly the horrors which the woman goes through to evoke the emotion of fear. The formulaic intention of a horror film is generally simply to scare the audience. My goal with this film was to take the audience to the next level of fear – to fear not only what they recognize as danger, but also the dangers that they're not aware of.' Brillante Mendoza

Ages 18+