THE Philippines will have a strong presence at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in Germany as four Filipino filmmakers will participate in the 21st edition of the Berlinale Talents program.
They are actor Bong Cabrera, director Demie Dangla, production designer-screenwriter Eero Francisco, and director-cinematographer Martika Escobar.
They will join 200 other participants who were selected from 3,295 applicants from 125 countries.
Berlinale Talent is an annual summit and networking platform under the Berlin International Film Festival that invites talented creatives in the film industry for a development program that “explores the how and why of movie making.”
The next edition will take place from February 18 to 23 during the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in Germany.
The Philippines is a consistent Berlinale Talent. It had two participants in 2022, three in 2021, two in 2020, and four in 2019.
Participants in the Berlinale Talent program come from various industries such as acting, cinematography, directing, distribution, film criticism, production, production and digital set design, screenwriting, sound design, film composition, film editing, and audience design.
The Berlin International Film Festival, also known as Berlinale, is one of the biggest public film festivals in the world. It is also considered one of the “Big Three” along with the Venice Film Festival in Italy and the Cannes Film Festival in France.
The Berlinale Talent is one of the anticipated activities for the Berlinale. It features “public talks, discipline-specific workshops, project development labs, and networking events.”
PH delegates in Berlinale 2023
Bong Cabrera
He is an award-winning film and theater actor known for Sa ilalim ng tulay (2011), The Guerilla Is a Poet (2013), EDSA XXX: Nothing Ever Changes in the Ever-Changing Republic of Ek-Ek-Ek (2014), Born Beautiful (2019), and Leonor Will Never Die (2022).
Cabrera is also a 2010 Asian Cultural Council Fellow who teaches theater classes in De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, and the Philippine High School for the Arts.
Demie Dangla
She is an independent documentary filmmaker and director based in Manila. Before pursuing her film-related endeavors, Dangla worked as a writer, photographer, and producer for various alternative and mainstream media.
Her works include documentary films Magnetic Letters (2023) and Hijabs and Hopes in Quiapo (2019).
Eero Francisco
He is an award-winning production designer and screenwriter of Babae at Baril (2019) and Leonor Will Never Die (2022).
Francisco has designed for an assortment of local films, including Suntok sa Buwan (2022), Mighty Robot V (2020), Arisaka (2021), Putol (2021), Dead Kids (2021), and Between Maybes (2019).
Martika Escobar
She is the first Philippine director to win an award at the Sundance Film Festival with her debut film Leonor Will Never Die (2022).
Escobar is prominent for her works Living Things (2020), Anatomiya ng Pag-ibig (2015), and Pusong Bato (2014).
Other Berlinale Talents
Included in the 21st Berlinale Talent delegates are prominent film figures from different countries, such as Ukrainian director Christina Tynkevych. She became famous due to her debut film How is Katia that tackles the social power dynamics in her home country.
The Little Women by Greta Gerwig star Eliza Scanlen is also a participant in the Berlinale Talent and is set to debut as a director in the said program. Scanlen won Best Actress in a Leading Role in the Australian Film Award for the 2019 film Babyteeth.
Director Aboozar Amini is also included in the list of Berlinale talents. He is known for his internationally-acclaimed cinema documentary Kabul, City in the Wind (2018).
