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Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s harrowing domestic abuse drama is now available on Virtual Cinema and VOD.

Joy and her six-year-old daughter Angel live in Manila, with her husband, Dante, a small-time criminal. As so often in the past, Dante comes home drunk at night and brutally beats Joy. This time, he also hurts Angel. Joy grabs her daughter and flees to the local police station, to finally get him sent to jail. But Joy is to discover that the search for justice comes at a price. Her case, obstructed by corruption, bureaucracy and seemingly indifferent officials. Lacking witnesses to support her case, and her husband released back onto the street, Joy starts to feel that she and her daughter are increasingly under threat.

This remarkably confident debut feature is extremely real, at times, blood-boilingly infuriating, and demands to be seen

“Verdict” was the official Philippine entry to the International Film...

Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s taut drama shows a Filipino legal system more concerned with expediency than justice as a woman takes her violent husband to court

Justice is not delayed but could still be denied in this arresting Filipino movie, which tracks a case of domestic abuse with such conviction, it is often easy to forget it’s staged drama rather than documentary. The first half-hour is especially frantic and immersive as it begins with the assault in question. Hard-up Manila mother Joy (Max Eigenmann) is preparing supper for her young daughter, Angel, in their cramped, cluttered little apartment. Her husband Dante (Kristoffer King) returns home drunk. A violent argument quickly erupts, in which Joy is brutally beaten and Dante slashed on the arm with a knife. As the police and women’s protection services intervene, we’re pitched almost in real time through the Manila night: down streets, through homes,...

Sovereign is proud to announce the release of writer/director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s harrowing domestic abuse drama, on 12th March, across streaming services.

Joy and her six-year-old daughter Angel live in Manila, with her husband, Dante, a small-time criminal. As so often in the past, Dante comes home drunk at night and brutally beats Joy. This time, he also hurts Angel. Joy grabs her daughter and flees to the local police station, to finally get him sent to jail. But Joy is to discover that the search for justice comes at a price. Her case, obstructed by corruption, bureaucracy and seemingly indifferent officials. Lacking witnesses to support her case, and her husband released back onto the street, Joy starts to feel that she and her daughter are increasingly under threat.

Verdict was the official Philippine entry to the International Film Category for the Oscars in 2020 and the deserved winner...

Pilipino drama marks the feature debut of Raymund Ribay Gutierrez.

Award-winning Pilipino drama Verdict has been secured for the UK and Ireland by Sovereign Film Distribution, in a deal with Films Boutique.

The feature debut of Raymund Ribay Gutierrez premiered at Venice in 2019, where it won the special jury prize in the Horizons strand, and went on to screen at Telluride, Toronto and Busan. It was also the Philippines submission for the Academy Award.

Sovereign is planning a day-and-date release for Verdict on March 12, with any theatrical element dependent on an easing of pandemic restrictions.

The story centres on a battered wife,...

The topic of domestic violence is usually a tricky one. Luckily, Filipino director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez picks the right approach: the straight one for his feature debut “Verdict”. The film premiered at Venice, in Orizzonti competition and its universal appeal of domestic drama combined with procedural about the faulty state of the country’s bureaucracy should assure its vibrant and long festival life.

“Verdict” is Screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

The film opens at home with Joy Santos and her daughter Angel (Jordhen Suan). Their evening routine is suddenly interrupted when Joy’s husband and Angel’s father Dante comes back home violently drunk and angry about some miscommunication between him and Joy. As the argument gets more and more heated, he gets physically violent toward his spouse, even hitting their child who gets in between. After slashing him with a kitchen knife in an obvious act of self-defense,...

The film is directed by Saudi Arabian filmmaker Shahad Ameen.

Saudi Arabian filmmaker Shahad Ameen’s Scales, about a young girl who defies chauvinistic traditions to prove her worth, took the best film prize at the Silver Screen Awards of the 30th Singapore International Film Festival.

It was a unanimous decision by the jury who found it “a very original and strong film from a first-time filmmaker who speaks about patriarchy with the simplicity of a fable”.

Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap served as jury head, with Malaysia’s Amir Muhammad, Hong Kong’s Pang Ho Cheung and Indonesia’s Nia...

The late Kristoffer King’s powerful — and final — role as an abusive husband in the Philippines’ Oscar hope Verdict won the best performance prize at the Singapore International Film Festival Silver Screen Awards.

At Saturday's ceremony, held at the National Museum of Singapore, Verdict director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez paid an emotional tribute to his friend and leading man, who died in February at age 36 after complications due to diabetes.

“After all the violence in the film Kristoffer King would always try to laugh with the other actors afterwards. He was a very gentle man,”...

The late Kristoffer King’s powerful — and final — role as an abusive husband in the Philippines’ Oscar hope Verdict won the best performance prize at the Singapore International Film Festival Silver Screen Awards.

At Saturday's ceremony, held at the National Museum of Singapore, Verdict director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez paid an emotional tribute to his friend and leading man, who died in February at age 36 after complications due to diabetes.

“After all the violence in the film Kristoffer King would always try to laugh with the other actors afterwards. He was a very gentle man,”...

“Scales” (aka “Sayidat Al Bahr”), directed by Saudi Arabian first-time filmmaker, Shahad Ameen, was named as the best film in the Asian feature competition at the 30th edition of the Singapore International Film Festival.

The tale of a young girl who defies her village’s harsh and chauvinistic traditions to prove her worth, collected the festival’s Silver Screen Award on Saturday at a ceremony held in the National Museum of Singapore.

The blue carpet event welcomed local figures Boo Junfeng, Royston Tan, and Tan Pin Pin, as well as film industry officials Joachim Ng, and Howie Lau. Chinese acting star Yao Chen and Japanese director Miike Takashi were also present to pick up special awards. Yao spiced up proceedings, with a throw-away comment: “recently I have been able to play several characters who found the strength to go after the love and sex that they wanted.”

Anthony Chen, whose...

Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s debut feature Verdict has been selected by the Philippines for consideration for the international feature film category at the 2020 Oscars.

The film was executive produced by Gutierrez’s mentor Brillante Mendoza — Cannes winner for Kinatay (2009) — and focuses on the issue of domestic violence in the Philippines. It stars Max Eigenmann and the late Kristoffer King.

Verdict was selected for screening in the Horizon section at this year’s Venice festival, and it went on to win the Special Jury Prize. It has also screened at Telluride and Toronto.

The 26-year-old Gutierrez’s first short Imago (2016) ...

Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s debut feature Verdict has been selected by the Philippines for consideration for the international feature film category at the 2020 Oscars.

The film was executive produced by Gutierrez’s mentor Brillante Mendoza — Cannes winner for Kinatay (2009) — and focuses on the issue of domestic violence in the Philippines. It stars Max Eigenmann and the late Kristoffer King.

Verdict was selected for screening in the Horizon section at this year’s Venice festival, and it went on to win the Special Jury Prize. It has also screened at Telluride and Toronto.

The 26-year-old Gutierrez’s first short Imago (2016) ...

The topic of domestic violence is usually a tricky one. Luckily, the Filipino director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez picks the right approach: the straight one for his feature debut “Verdict”. The film has just premiered at Venice, in Orizzonti competition and its universal appeal of domestic drama combined with procedural about the faulty state of the country’s bureaucracy should assure its vibrant and long festival life.

The film opens at home with Joy Santos and her daughter Angel (Jordhen Suan). Their evening routine is suddenly interrupted when Joy’s husband and Angel’s father Dante comes back home violently drunk and angry about some miscommunication between him and Joy. As the argument gets more and more heated, he gets physically violent toward his spouse, even hitting their child who gets in between. After slashing him with a kitchen knife in an obvious act of self-defense, Joy, pretty beaten up, runs...

Fathom for a moment the unknowable number of domestic violence victims around the world. It’s a distressing notion, considering that even in the age of Time’s Up, countless cases in which women and children suffer at the hands of male rage go either dismissed or unreported. With sharp-eyed empathy and a disciplined sense of pacing, writer-director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez defiantly sets out to confront this reality in a cramped corner of Manila, drawing attention to one such tragic incident in his reflective feature debut “Verdict.” , where nightmarish bureaucracy gobbles up compassion and the urgent needs of the survivors take a backseat in a grueling Kafkaesque circus.

And yet, the case in question — fictional, but based on long-standing truths in the contemporary Philippines according to a statement from the filmmaker — could not be any simpler, backed by indisputable evidence every step of the way. We meet its key players...

Coming back to Cannes Film Festival after last year’s Taklub in the Un Certain Regard section, Filipino director Brillante Mendoza will return to the main competition line-up with Ma’ Rosa. His first time back in the section since he picked up Best Director in 2009 for Kinatay, the first trailer has arrived today for the intense-looking drama.

According to the official synopsis, the plot follows “Rosa, mother of four, owns a small convenient store in the slums of Manila. To make ends meet, Rosa and her husband, Nestor, sell narcotics on the side, until the police comes to arrest them. Their children have to trade the little they have left to pay off the police.”

Check out the trailer below for the film starring Jaclyn Rose, Julio Diaz, Felix Roco, Andi Eigenmann, Kristofer King, Mercedes Cabral, Jomari Angeles, and Maria Isabel Lopez.

Cannes 2016 begins on May 11th.

Armando Lao's Ad Ignorantiam can be divided into three unequal parts. The first part, tediously shot real time, details one afternoon in a busy city intersection where a hapless victim (Ina Feleo) of purse snatching, and her friend (Kimmy Maclang) confusedly scour nearby nooks and alleyways for the snatcher. They end up accusing a man (Kristoffer King), who was at the wrong place in the wrong time, of the crime. The second part, which serves to frame the first part within the structure of a court proceeding, displays an methodical and undramatic depiction of what happens inside courtrooms, where the frazzled characters, who are now litigants, of the first part are now joined by lawyers (Racquel Villavicencio and Allan Paule), a judge (Archie Adamos), and...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...