Brillante Mendoza

Brillante Mendoza is a Philippine director and producer. He is the first Filipino to receive the Best Director award at Cannes for his film Kinatay in 2009. He is also the only Filipino to receive France's "Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres" (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) in 2014. He was born on October 30, 1960, in San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines. He studied Advertising Arts at the University of Santo Tomas. He worked in advertising, and became a production designer. He was in his forties when he directed his first film, Masahista, which won the 2005 Locarno International Film Festival's Golden Leopard (video competition). His films have received awards and nominations in major competitions in Venice, Berlin, Cannes, San Sebastian, Cairo and others. His film Mindanao in 2019 received the Henry Barakat Best Artistic Contribution and Best Actress awards. In 2018 his film Alpha: The Right to Kill took home the Special Jury Prize in the San Sebastian Internation