Rotterdam fest to screen ‘Kapag Wala Nang mga Alon’ as Lav Diaz gears up for jury duty

Multiawarded indie filmmaker Lav Diaz’s “Kapag Wala Nang mga Alon” (When the Waves are Gone), which stars John Lloyd Cruz, is currently participating at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2023 (IFFR) in the Netherlands, where Diaz is also a member of the jury in the main competition category.

IFFR 2023 runs until Feb. 5.

In “Kapag Wala Nang mga Alon,” Cruz plays police investigator Hermes Papauran, who is at a moral crossroads. After witnessing firsthand the brutal antidrug campaign that the police is implementing, Papauran catches a severe skin condition as a result of anxiety and guilt. As he tries to heal, a troubled history that haunts him eventually comes back for a reckoning.

“Rotterdam is, arguably, the most hardcore art house film festival in the world. It’s one of the first film festivals that embraced my works wholeheartedly,” Diaz told Inquirer Entertainment on Thursday.

“The complete length of ‘Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino’ (Evolution of a Filipino Family) was shown there first. The festival’s Hubert Bals Fund funded ‘Heremias’ ($8,000) and ‘Death in the Land of Encantos’ ($8,000). The amounts were minuscule by majority of production standards, even in the Philippines, but I was shooting alone, anyway, so they were a big, big help. ‘Florentina Hubaldo, CTE’ premiered there, too, while the full-length version of ‘Isang Salaysay ng Karahasang Pilipino/Servando Magdamag’ (14 hours) will premiere there next year,” Diaz added.

Lav Diaz

When asked whether or not doing jury duty still excites him, the indie director said: “The excitement comes with the chance, in fact, a privilege, to get to watch new works. There are 15 art house films in the main competition of Rotterdam this year, and I’d get to watch all of them.”

The Brockas

Meanwhile, his band, The Brockas, which also features filmmakers Khavn dela Cruz and Rox Lee, performed at the festival, too. It had its vinyl album launch at the Theater Rotterdam on Jan. 28.

“The band is a profoundly serious dirty-finger performance act,” Diaz pointed out. “We don’t rehearse, we just do it. In most of our performances and recordings, we just see each other in the studio, on the set or onstage, then we look at each other and decide on what key to start, and then larga na! The hardest part was always how to escape the beat and the rhythm because, at some point, during our jamming session—which usually runs for 40 hours—gumaganda na, at ayaw naming gumanda.”

Incidentally, Dela Cruz’s two new films, “Nitrate: to the Ghosts of the 75 Lost Philippine Silent Films 1912-1933” and “National Anarchist: Lino Brocka,” will also have their premiere screenings at the IFFR. INQ

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