- 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 International Film Festival. In 2016 Ma Rosa was nominated for Cannes' Palm d'Or, and won Best Actress for Jaclyn Jose, the first Filipina to bag it.
His film Taklub, which tackles climate change, was nominated for the Un Certain Regard, and won the Ecumenical Jury Prize in the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Captive, which stars Isabelle Huppert, competed for the Golden Bear at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival. Thy Womb, which was selected for the main competition in 2012 Venice Film Festival also took home the La Navicella, P. Nazareno Taddei and Bisato d'Oro awards; it also won the Best Director award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Lola, in 2009, was the Best Feature Film in Dubai International Film Festival, and was nominated for Venice's Golden Lion. In 2007 Tirador won Singapore International Film Festival's Best Director and Best Asian Feature Award; it also received the Caligari Film Award in Berlin. In 2007 Serbis was the first Philippine film to be nominated for Cannes' Palm d'Or. The same year his film Foster Child was screened at the Directors Fortnight in Cannes, which also bagged the NETPAC Jury award in Brisbane. Manoro in 2006 took home the Cinema for Peace award at the Torino Film Festival.
Mendoza's Amo is the first Philippine crime drama series shown on Netflix. His upcoming films are Resbak, and the Philippine-Japanese co-produced sports biopic Gensan Punch (2020). He produced successful festival films like Kintsugi (2020), Verdict (2019) Pailalim (2016), and Imbisibol (2015); he is also a producer of The Brokers, to be released soon.
- IMDb mini biography by: Brillante Mendoza
- Received the Special Honorary Award at the Cinema One Originals in 2009.
- President of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 26th Singapore International Film Festival in 2015.
- Member of the 'Filmmakers of the Present' jury at the 62nd Locarno International Film Festival in 2009.
- In a 2013 interview he said, that his favorite films are 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), The Child (2005), The Kid with a Bike (2011), Amour (2012) and The Class (2008).
- President of the 'International Competition' jury at the 31st Tokyo International Film Festival in 2018.
- You know The Philippines is the only country with eight local film festivals that gives grants to filmmakers. These local film festivals have also become an avenue to budding filmmakers to showcase their talents; eventually, exposing themselves for more projects. In addition, the spring of amateur and potential filmmakers through the democratization of filmmaking thanks to the advancement of technology creates a significant market for short films in various online platforms especially to younger generations with shorter attention span. With that, I can say that cinema in the Philippines is very much alive. It's just a matter of broadening and developing audiences for alternative cinema through various institutions. [Variety 2015]
- As a juror, I don't critique a film based on intellectualism or technicality. I just want to be surprised and learn something new by seeing things as it is on screen. Basically, I do not follow certain standards. I am just particular on the filmmaker's effectiveness to show what he or she really wants to say in his film without being pretentious. [2015]
- I think the reason why Cannes [Film Festival] likes my films is because they are uniquely Filipino stories that focused mostly on family issues and moralities, but at the same time they have universal sensibilities. [2016]
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