Lav Diaz nominated in ‘Oscars of Asia’ for historical drama

Internationally acclaimed Filipino director Lav Diaz is among the nominees for Best Director at the ninth incarnation of the Asian Film Awards scheduled on March 25.

Diaz is one of the five directors picked by a 14-man jury from nine countries, including experts from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival.

Known for "Norte, the End of History" and "Batang West Side," among others, Diaz was nominated for "What is Before," a haunting drama set in the 1970s.

In "What is Before," Itang and Joselina, an autistic woman thought to have a connection with a healing spirit, serve as healers in a remote village suddenly besieged by a series of unexplained events and a peddler with a grudge against the sisters.

Their village soon comes under attack from the army, who declared the village to be full of "rebels," who were used by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos justify martial law.

One of Diaz's previous films, "Norte," was the Philippines' official entry to the 87th Academy Awards. Although it didn't win, the four-hour reimagining of Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" won the coveted Golden Leopard award at the Locarno film festival in Switzerland and earned critical praise worldwide.

Hailed as the "Oscars of Asia," the Asian Film Awards recognizes all films produced and released theatrically in the Asian region.

It was held at Hong Kong for seven years before moving to Macau and may soon be held in different parts of Asia to reflect its goal of promoting the region's entertainment industry. —KBK, GMA News

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