DAVAO CITY Oct. 19 – The Mindanaoan documentary film “The Crescent Rising” won the 2016 Busan International Film Festival Mecenat Award last October 15.
The documentary helmed by Zamboangeno filmmaker Sheron Dayoc bested other documentary entries from Asia to win the award given to the most exemplary documentary. It is the only Filipino awardee in the 21st staging of the film festival.
The Busan International Film Festival is one of the largest and prestigious film festivals in Asia held in the South Korean city of Busan.
“The Crescent Rising” revolves around three Mindanaoan stories; a man who claims that the Jabidah Massacre is a lie, Moro rebels who believe that Jihad as a way of life and Women caught in the wrath of war.
It premiered in the 2015 QCinema International Film Festival and winning the festival’s best documentary award. It also was the Gawad Urian winner for Best Documentary.
Dayoc is one of the prolific Mindanaoan filmmakers whose works include the Cinemalaya 2010 Best Film “Halaw”, 2015 Cinema One Originals finalist “Bukod Kang Pinagpala” and the QCinema 2016 entry “Women of the Weeping River.” (PIA)