Filipina ‘Serbis’ actress among Cannes ‘red carpet glamour girls’

By BOY VILLASANTA
www.abs-cbnNEWS.com

Filipina actress Mercedes Cabral, who went to the 61st Cannes Film Festival as part of the Filipino delegation and castmember of “Serbis”, the Brillante Mendoza film now in competition for the Palm d’Or and other awards, has been included in the roster of most beautiful women to walk the red carpet in this year’s Cannes.

And, truly, she looks every inch the Filipina beauty in her photo call shot for “Serbis” as can be seen in this gallery.

Cabral was included in an online poll sponsored by Australia’s Daily Telegraph, and is in the running for the most favorite among all the international beauties chosen by papparazzi at the Cannes red carpet events. Read the rest of this entry »

Edgy Philippine drama enters the race at Cannes

A hard-hitting Filipino film about a family living in a porn movie theatre, “Serbis”, enters the running for Cannes gold Sunday in a boost to the country’s struggling independent cinema sector.

The title of the edgy drama by Brillante Mendoza, which in English means “service” refers to male prostitutes who ply their services to the gay cinema-going clients.

It is the first Filipino film with a shot at the top prize since the late Lino Brocka’s “Bayan Ko” (My Country) in 1984.

Mendoza, whose “Foster Child” screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes last year, acknowledged that his latest picture offered a tough look at Filipino life and had only dim commercial prospects at home.

“Moviegoers will go to a theatre to fantasise,” Mendoza told AFP this month.

“They don’t want to see poverty, to see reality. They don’t want to see what they see every day.” Read the rest of this entry »