The Power of the Underdog: Dolly de Leon and the Filipino of 2022

by Juan Carlos Ojano

WARNING: This article contains mild spoilers on Triangle of Sadness.

2022 has been a year unlike any other for the Philippines. The past year brought an unprecedented amount of Filipino actors to the international film scene. Leading the pack is Dolly de Leon as yacht cleaner Abigail in the Palme d’Or-winning satire Triangle of Sadness. As Abigail, de Leon showed the feisty resolve of an underdog waiting to be unleashed after a disruption in the social order. Together with other films this year discussing class divide like The Menu and Glass Onion, Triangle of Sadness struck a chord with audiences. With a slew of critics’ groups mentions, Dolly de Leon has enters the current Oscar nomination voting period strong: An LAFCA win, a Golden Globe nomination (a first for a Filipina), and a longlist mention at the BAFTAs. Any attention is much needed given a crowded Supporting Actress field.

But De Leon is not the only Filipino actor who enjoyed the spotlight this past year... 

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Directors Guild of The Philippines speaks out on their absence in the Oscar race.

Academy members who volunteer for the nominating committees on Best International Feature Film are currently choosing their favourites from the available 93 films. Voting on this first round closes on the 15th but one country that won't be honored this season, no matter how voting goes, is The Philippines. They didn't submit. That's unusual for them. 

The absence of The Philippines from Oscar voting has prompted a hand-wringing statement from the Directors Guild of the Philippines which reads as follows...

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Top Ten: The Countries Oscar Forgot To Honor

by Nathaniel R

Any discussion of Oscar's Best International Feature Film competition throughout history begins with Italy and France. They dominated the early years and though they rarely win now they can still generate buzz with comparative ease (including this year with Hand of God and Titane). Oscar voters have (virtually) travelled to every continent and every major film market at least once or twice since the birth of the category in the 1950s. Their choices don't always reflect where the hot spots in world cinema are, though -- They notoriously missed the entirety of the Romanian New Wave in the Aughts, the provocative if brief Dogme 95 period in Denmark, apart from Japan they're super stingy with Asian cinema in general to the point where it took an international blockbuster ($259 million globably for Parasite) for them to finally notice what was happening in South Korea. Still, it's a fascinating category both for its triumphs and its failures.

All that said it's also worth repeating that no one is ever truly fair to Oscar in their critiques. It's an impossible sisphyean task to sum up the best of what's happening in non English language cinema throughout history via only five titles each season, especially since you can't control which titles will be in the mix and you cant have more than one per country. 

Here are the 10 admirably persistent countries that keep trying despite Oscar's refusal to acknowledge them. They've submitted the most often without receiving a single nomination. Will their fates change this year?

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Thankful for... Juan Carlos Ojano

This year for our "thankful for" column I'm interviewing the team (well, the non-shy ones) so you can get to know them better and so I can express my sincere gratitude that they're showcased here on the site. Today, JUAN CARLOS OJANO.

Juan Carlos lives in the Philippines and began writing for The Film Experience in mid 2020. We were all trapped inside due to the COVID-19 pandemic at the time. Human connection was scarce so thank the cinematic gods for zoom sessions with Team Experience! Juan Carlos shares our collective TFE passion for actresses + Best International Feature Film. He put the latter into action creating the podcast "One Inch Barrier" where he reviews each year of that competition. He got personal with a Call Me By Your Name piece, revisited Spotlight, wrote numerous odes to The Handmaid's Tale,and just launched a biweekly series on female directors called "Through Her Lens" that I really hope you will obsess over. I'm already wondering which female directors he'll be looking at from the 00s and earlier when they were less frequently honored and discussed.

HERE'S OUR SHORT INTERVIEW...

When did you first fall in love with the movies?

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Cannes Diary #2: New Ozon and old Japanese sensations

by Elisa Giudici

At the premiere of "Everything Went Fine"

The Festival has really begun and I finally discovered where the press room is inside the enormous Palais. Free coffees and soft drinks for journalists are a treat I never experienced at other festivals (so I'm feeling spoiled). The room is lovely with its wooden tables and cream colored seats with a view on the blue sea. The day after Annette, it's still the first question everyone asks: do you like it or not? I've already had interesting discussion about the movie with a couple of colleagues. I am really curious to see how it will be received by broader audience after the "festival bubble" ends.

But on to the day two screenings...

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