LAV Diaz’s “Ang Panahon ng Halimaw” (The Season of the Devil) was named Best Picture at the Bildrausch Film Festival held in Basel, Switzerland.
The film’s official Facebook page announced their victory yesterday morning.
“Lav Diaz’s latest masterpiece wins another international award,” the post reads.
Bildrausch Film Festival started in 2011 founded by the Le Bon Film under the direction of Nicole Reinhard and Beat Schneider.
According to its official website, the festival focus on “cinematic quality, on the pleasure of visual expression and the art of telling stories in a new way.”
The international jury awards the best film with a prize of 5,000 Swiss Francs with a Bildrausch Ring of Cinema Arts.
This is also the second best film prize for “Ang Panahon ng Halimaw” after it won the Best Film under the “Gems” category during the Cartagena Film Festival in Colombia last March.
According to the Bildrausch Film Festival’s website, aside from Diaz, Lucrecia Martel’s “Zama” from Argentina also received the same award.
Quoting the website, the two films “equally and magnificently defend and advance cinema on its possibilities, and hence life itself.
Although aesthetically quite distinct from one another, each is an utterly unique creation of cinematic geniuses. These two films confront the histories of their countries that have forsaken and scorned their own.”
“Ang Panahon ng Halimaw” is a rock opera film about the Martial Law era, the darkest period in the Philippines. It is set in barrio Ginto, which is run by the military and a two-faced “chairman.”
The film is headlined by Piolo Pascual and Shaina Magdayao, who play Hugo and Lorena, respectively.
Hugo is a poet, activist and teacher while his wife, Lorena is a doctor who opens a clinic for the poor.
Other stars in the film are Pinky Amador, Bituin
Escalante, Hazel Orencio, Bart Guingona, Joel Saracho, Angel Aquino, Lilit Reyes, Don Melvin Boongaling, Noel Sto. Domingo, and Ian Lomongo.
The film is produced by Bianca Balbuena-Liew.