Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2015: #70. Brillante Mendoza’s The Embroiderer

The Embroiderer

Director: Brillante Mendoza // Writer: Zig Dulay

Brillante Mendoza, one of the most notable directors working in the Philippines, has had constant output since his controversial win as Best Director for Kinatay at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival (he’d received previous murmurs of international renown for titles like 2008’s Service and 2005 debut The Masseur. He’s been quiet since the underwhelming experimental horror film Sapi in 2013, while other titles, like 2012’s Thy Womb, are often delayed considerably before reaching the US. While 2014 was absent a new Mendoza title, earlier in the year it was revealed that his latest project, The Embroiderer, had received funding (along with a documentary he was simultaneously working on). While the film concerns an 83-year-old woman whose embroidery business is on the verge of bankruptcy, we wonder if Mendoza’s regular muse Mercedes Cabral will play a part somewhere in the mix.

Cast: Not available.

Productions: Center Stage Productions

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available.

Release Date: Though details have been slim, Mendoza often works very quickly and doesn’t seem attached to festival glory, so if the item isn’t ready yet, it might pop up this fall in Venice or most likely TIFF, where the director’s work is almost always programmed.

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