Slingshot

Colour, DIGIBETA
Philippines, 2007, 86 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

In the Manila district of Quiapo, an approaching holiday sends petty thieves – called “tiradors” in local slang – into the streets. They have their own customs and tattoos, territories and rules that are not worth the cost of breaking. They must survive by any means possible: and thus 15-year-old Odie replaces his deceased father in the thieving business, 45-year-old Zeny looks on helplessly as her children scuffle with the rules of the street, Rex, a drug addict, is trying to get milk for his little girl, 18-year-old Gani runs afoul of the law because of school bullies... The dream of a better future can only be found in the ardent promises of local politicians. This film by experienced director Brillante Mendoza is a dynamic group portrait of dark, consuming rawness. In order to heighten the sense of realism, the film was made in 11 days in an authentic environment using hidden digital cameras and non-actors in some of the roles. Slingshot won the awards for Best Film and Best Director at this year’s Singapore International Film Festival, the Special Jury Award at the Marrakech IFF and the Caligari Film Award at the Berlinale.

About the director

Brillante Mendoza (b. 1960, San Fernando, Philippines) studied at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila and worked for ten years as a stage and set designer. He also worked on television commercials. In 2005 he debuted with The Masseur (Masahista), a feature-length drama with a homosexual theme that was filmed on video and won him a Golden Leopard in his category at the IFF in Locarno. This was followed by the drama Summer Heat (Kaleldo, 2006), which came away from the IFF in Durban with an award for leading lady Cherry Pie Picache, the medium-length documentary The Teacher (Manoro, 2006) that received the CinemAvvenire award at the IFF in Turin, Pantasya (2007), a homosexual portmanteau fantasy about men in uniform, the social drama Foster Child (2007) examining the Manila orphans trade and screened at the IFF in Karlovy Vary last year, and the drama Serbis (2008), which was in competition at this year’s Cannes IFF.