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Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — Cinematheque Centre Manila recently held a five-day retrospective on the National Artist for Film Lino Brocka, called “Lino Brocka: Citizen with a Movie Camera.” Aside from screenings of three restored films, "Insiang," "Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag," and "White Slavery," an exhibit was also held featuring photographs of the director, a talk given by Martial Law survivors, and a culminating symposium with the director’s brother, Danilo.

Brocka is known for his gripping takes on the lives of the overlooked and marginalized sectors of society: blue collar workers, prostitutes, bar dancers, security guards, and slum dwellers. During the Martial Law era, Brocka was actively depicting the state of the nation in his films, working on both commercial and arthouse films that spark conversations about what being a Filipino is. Here, we spotlight “Insiang,” which has the distinction of being the first Filipino film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978. It was later restored in 2015 and was screened at the Cannes Classics section of the film festival in the same year, along with other restored classics such as Orson Welles’s “Citizen Kane,” Carol Reed’s “The Third Man,” and Louis Malle’s “Elevator to the Gallows.” The restoration was done in partnership with the National Film Archives of the Philippines, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, and Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project/The Film Foundation.

The world of “Insiang” is as much bewildering as it is suffocating: the makeshift shelters of the slums are put together in a claustrophobic and inescapable fashion. What unfolds before our eyes is an environment too unhindered — a wild beast that grows limbs on its own and swallows the weakest. Houses are stacked beside each other; drunks pass the time in storefronts, beaten down by their own economic constraints; and noise is a constant presence, a reminder that hell can be a place on earth as it is a mythical afterlife full of torture and misery.

And yet, “Insiang” almost plays like a macabre fairy tale: a supposed victim learns how to stand up on her own using cunning tricks to bring the downfall of her oppressors. It helps that Insiang (a gripping performance by Hilda Koronel) appears saint-like: toiling every day to make ends meet, defending her relatives against her mother’s frequent verbal abuse, a virginal lover to Bebot (a cherubic Rez Cortez), her only hope to having a life outside the four walls of her home. Insiang’s fate is a dead-end street, this she knows as much as the miserable existence she has been consigned to, and in time, she realizes that the only way to survive is to become a monster herself.

The film’s lone tyrant is Insiang’s mother, the customary evil witch, with a predatory macho man as her right hand. Brocka’s distrust of the regime is apparent in the film’s setting. The police, counting a brief appearance in the film, is useless. There is no sense of order around these parts, no semblance of a country being governed. No wonder then First Lady Imelda Marcos was against sending the film to the 1978 Cannes Film Festival since it didn’t depict her idea of “the true and the beautiful” Philippines. The film’s producer, Ruby Tiong Tan, recalled to the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) the struggle to bring “Insiang” out of the country in time for the film festival’s deadline. “Because of the social realities depicted in the film, they [the Board of Censors] did not want it to go to Cannes. It was banned because it wasn’t showing the beautiful parts of Manila. They delayed the censoring process just so that it wouldn’t make it for the Cannes deadline.”

The much-talked about opening scene is a thinly veiled depiction of the plight of the Filipinos under the Martial Law regime: a line of pigs waiting to be slaughtered by the butcher, thrown into boiling water so they can easily be skinned, their squeals of pain echoing inside the theater. Insiang is almost always framed against a window, a prisoner tightly guarded by her crone of a mother, Tonya (the superb Mona Lisa) who only wants her to stay at home, do the laundry, and not lock eyes with any guy on the street. Her mother treats her like a disgraceful reminder of her father, who left them for another woman. “Pareho kayo ng tatay mo! Mahilig!” she yells at Insiang. Tonya tells her daughter it is her duty to serve and work for her because she fed and raised her. And when Insiang buys a new pair of slippers because her old ones are worn out, her mother berates her “Nakakahiya! Ang sabihin mo nagpapaganda ka para mapansin ka ng mga lalake!”

Sex is a valuable weapon in this film, a lethal ammunition that Insiang learns to wield on her own. Tonya’s younger lover Dado (Ruel Vernal), the town thug, keeps her on a leash by habitually satisfying her sexual appetite, even flirting and canoodling in front of Insiang as if to tease her of something she can never have.

Men in this film justify their libidinal tendencies frequently, that part of being a man is submitting, seemingly against their will, to their carnal desires every time they see a girl walking past. “Lalake ako eh? Ano magagawa ko?” Bebot tells Insiang after she refused to have sex with him. Later, after Insiang repeatedly brushed off his advances, Dado rapes her. When Insiang tells her mother, Dado turns things around and tells Tonya that Insiang was the one who seduced her. He tells Tonya, “Alam mo ba kung ano ang ginagawa ng anak mo kapag wala ka dito? Naliligo ng nakahubad! Nakatihaya sa kwarto! Lalake lang ako Tonya, sinong hindi ma-de-demonyo?”

A drum spilling with water mirrors the pent up emotions inside Insiang. The sexual maladies, the torment of living, and the Machiavellian manipulations of her own mother lead her to a path that is both self-actualizing and self-destructive. In the end, Insiang triumphs, yet she is transformed, overwrought by her own infernal machinations. The innocent, like a lamb to the slaughter, is a prey easily corrupted. “Insiang” is allegorical in many ways, something that still rings true today, almost 40 years later, as our own society is still plagued by tyrannical forces bent on overpowering the weak and the poor.

Hitting his stride in the late '90s, 25 years into his career, the director of 'L.A. Confidential,' 'Wonder Boys' and '8 Mile' was an unpretentious all-rounder touched by occasional genius.

A late bloomer by fate, an all-rounder by necessity, Curtis Hanson (who died Tuesday at age 71) began his filmmaking career as a high-school dropout and Venice Beach surf bum. The future director of L.A. Confidential never went to film school, finding his way into Hollywood by a more scenic route that included decades of false starts and dead ends. But Hanson was persistent, and his dogged dedication finally paid him back. It makes a poetic kind of sense that he was drawn to stories about people "trying to find better versions of themselves," as he's been widely quoted as saying.

He first entered the outer fringes of the film industry by writing and editing his own movie magazine, Cinema. This brought him into personal contact with his directing heroes, single-minded American mavericks from an earlier age like John Ford, Howard Hawks and Don Siegel. "They had an independence about them," he once explained in an interview for The New York Times. "They weren't pretentious. They survived."

READ MORE: Curtis Hanson, Director and Oscar-Winning Writer on 'L.A. Confidential,' Dies at 71

Resilience was certainly key to Hanson's early career, which was hobbled by setbacks and scandals. Like so many of his generation, he started in movies by writing and directing pulpy quickies for Roger Corman's legendary low-budget outfit AIP. Greater opportunities seemed to knock when Roman Polanski, hot from his success with Chinatown, signed on to direct Hanson's adaptation of French novelist Romain Gary's anti-racist allegory White Dog. But the film fell apart when Polanski was charged with statutory rape and fled the country.

Paramount later revived White Dog as a collaboration between Hanson and his directing hero, the legendary Sam Fuller. However, the studio got cold feet again, suppressing the film's U.S. release in 1982 over fears it could be misinterpreted as racist. White Dog finished off Fuller's American career, though it later earned a cult following, and he remained on good terms with Hanson until his death in 1997.

Hanson's juvenile writing and directing efforts are mostly faceless genre exercises, but one early pointer to future greatness is his screenplay to Daryl Duke's The Silent Partner (1978), a Canadian heist thriller starring Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer and Susannah York. Reviewers likened this taut crime caper to vintage Hitchcock and, indeed, Gould later screened it privately for the master of suspense himself. Hanson was aggrieved not to be invited, but placated when he heard that Hitch loved the movie.

Notable solely for launching Tom Cruise's career as a leading man, the lame sex comedy Losin' It (1982) was one of Hanson's handful of journeyman directing credits in the 1980s. But as before, he stoically persisted until his career-making break finally arrived with The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), a roaring rampage of female revenge starring Rebecca DeMornay, Annabella Sciorra and Julianne Moore.

Further box-office success came with The River Wild (1994), a kinetic backwoods thriller starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. Grossing around $90 million each, these two films gave Hanson the financial leverage to move into more mainstream Hollywood fare, though both still stand on their own merits as superior and rare female-driven action vehicles.

The stars finally aligned for Hanson in his early fifties when he co-wrote, co-produced and directed his magisterial adaptation of James Ellroy's sprawling retro-noir novel L.A. Confidential (1997). Featuring an all-star ensemble cast, this sumptuous symphony of sleaze takes place in a meticulously recreated 1950s Los Angeles of treacherous fantasies and thwarted dreams.

Shooting in 45 locations, Hanson was obsessively keen to capture the precise texture of the post-war Los Angeles he remembered from childhood, a city of rapid urbanization and rampant corruption, where detectives were not Hollywood pretty boys but hard-drinking, chain-smoking, big-shouldered World War II veterans. He inspired his cast and crew by screening noir-era classics including Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly, Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, and Don Siegel'sThe Line-Up. He later called L.A. Confidential "my most personal movie."

A major critical and commercial success, L.A. Confidential won two Oscars, one for Hanson's joint screenplay with Brian Helgeland and another for Kim Basinger's indelible supporting role as the emotionally wounded femme fatale. The film also put Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce on the Hollywood map. Hanson brought these relative unknowns on board without informing producer Arnon Milchan that they were Australian.

Inundated with juicy offers after L.A. Confidential, Hanson's next project was Wonder Boys (2000), another all-star novel adaptation, this time Michael Chabon's bittersweet portrait of a washed-up English professor in a small New England college town. Michael Douglas gained weight and took a hefty pay cut to play the lead role alongside a stellar supporting cast including Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes and Tobey Maguire.

Wonder Boys performed poorly at the box office, but the reviews were almost universally positive, and Bob Dylan's theme song won an Oscar. It remains a classy piece of work, wise and compassionate, with the same exacting eye for character and location as L.A. Confidential. At the very least, it proved Hanson was no one-hit wonder boy himself.

In an incongruous career swerve, Hanson then tested his lucrative flexibility once more by helming 8 Mile (2002), a lightly dramatized Eminem biopic which scored both critical and commercial success. With Eminem at the peak of his infamy, directorial input was largely incidental to the film's box-office haul of over $240 million. Even so, Hanson elevates a rote rags-to-riches plot with high levels of artistry, capturing the urban fabric of Detroit in typically forensic detail. It is a rare kind of hip-hop movie, after all, that opens with a quote from John Updike. 

Hanson's later films became steadily less sure-footed, effectively returning him to his roots as a versatile but faceless journeyman for hire. In Her Shoes (2005) is a formulaic but enjoyable dramedy starring Cameron Diaz and Toni Colette as squabbling siblings. But the strained Las Vegas gambling drama Lucky You (2007) was panned by critics and died at the box office.

Produced for HBO, Hanson's financial crisis drama Too Big to Fail (2011) is a solid and serious effort that picked up multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. But his final directing credit, the teenage surfing drama Chasing Mavericks (2012), is an indifferent swan song that was overshadowed by bad luck and bad timing. The veteran British director Michael Apted was forced to finish the film when Hanson bowed out for health reasons.

A single-minded director for more than 40 years, Hanson's best work is full of heart, humanity and fine-grained Americana. He leaves us with at least one certified masterpiece, a few excellent dramas and a handful of superior experiments in genre. A late bloomer, yes, but when he finally bloomed it was worth the wait. 

READ MORE: Hollywood Remembers Writer-Director Curtis Hanson

"I'm deeply saddened by the passing of my friend Curtis Hanson. He was such a gifted filmmaker and writer, his knowledge and deep love of film history, including his passionate involvement in film preservation, was extraordinary. Back in the days when we were fighting for the legitimacy of preservation, Curtis was always right there and ready to help in any way he could. He was an active member of the board of The Film Foundation. He taught film at UCLA, where he was chair of the department. Anyone that had Curtis as a teacher should consider him or herself lucky."

"I first became aware of Curtis in the 1970s when he was the editor of an excellent magazine called Cinema. He was so knowledgeable, so insightful, and had so much love for the art of cinema. You could feel it in his writing, interviews with great directors, and in his own pictures, particularly L.A. Confidential, where he was able to deal with his other great love, the city of Los Angeles. Curtis's dedication to film never wavered. His passing is a great loss to us all."

- Martin Scorsese

The organization, which presents the Golden Globe Awards, announced the donation at a banquet hosted by Jamie Lee Curtis.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the annual Golden Globe Awards, handed out nearly $2.4 million in grants at its annual Grants Banquet, which was held tonight at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Host Jamie Lee Curtis opened the event saying, "This is my favorite party to go to. I like a party where they invite you, they feed you, and then they give away two million dollars. My kind of a party." 

Multiple celebrities stepped forward to announce a series of donations to a range of non-profit, entertainment-related organizations, foundations and scholarship programs. Justin Timberlake, Hugh Grant, Gina Rodriguez and Simon Helberg were among the A-list presenters.

Warren Beaty was on hand to talk about Martin Scorsese's film restoration program and filmmaker-activist Nate Parker handed out the a prize to Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, which helped him make his film The Birth of a Nation.

Emma Stone presented a cash grant to the Young Musicians Foundation and talked about her time as a young stage performer saying, "It was obviously incredibly exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. And it laid this amazing foundation, that there was this incredible outlet for me to express myself at a young age and it genuinely changed my entire life."

Over the course of its history, the HFPA, currently headed by president Lorenzo Soria, has committed more than $25 million in grants, handed out more than 1,500 scholarships and restored more than 90 films.  The largest grants announced this evening included $125,000 to the University of California, Los Angeles for fellowships and institutional support and another $125,000 to Film Independent at LACMA to promote cultural exchange.

The 74th annual Golden Globe Awards, with Jimmy Fallon serving as emcee, will be broadcast live by NBC from the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 8.

A complete list of the 2016 HFPA grants follows:

HIGHER EDUCATION FELLOWSHIPS & INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

·         California Institute for the Arts (CalArts) - $60,000

·         Cal State Fullerton - $25,500

·         Cal State Long Beach - $60,000

·         Cal State Los Angeles - $60,000

·         Cal State Northridge - $60,000

·         Columbia University - $60,000

·         Los Angeles City College - $25,000

·         Mt. San Antonio College Foundation - $10,000

·         New York University - $50,000

·         University of California, Los Angeles - $125,000 

 

HFPA SCHOLARSHIP/FELLOWSHIP ENDOWMENTS

·         American Film Institute - $20,000

·         CalArts - $12,500

·         Cal State Fullerton - $5,000

·         Cal State Long Beach - $5,000

·         Cal State Los Angeles - $2,550

·         Cal State Northridge - $5,000

·         Columbia University - $20,000

·         Los Angeles City College - $4,000

·         Loyola Marymount - $20,000

·         Mt. San Antonio College Foundation - $5,000

·         New York University - $20,000

·         UCLA - $20,000

·         University of North Carolina - $5,000

·         University of Southern California - $20,000

 

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & MENTORING

·         American Film Institute - $30,000

·         Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment - $15,000

·         Exceptional Minds - $25,000

·         Film Independent, Project: Involve - $60,000

·         Independent Filmmaker Project (Brooklyn, NY) - $20,000

·         International Documentary Association - $10,000

·         Motion Picture & Television Fund - $10,000

·         New Filmmakers Los Angeles - $10,000

·         SAG/AFTRA Foundation - $10,000

·         Streetlights - $10,000

·         Sundance Institute - $100,000

·         Women Make Movies - $10,000

 

PRE-PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & EDUCATION

·         California State Summer School Arts Foundation - $25,000

·         Echo Park Film Center - $10,000

·         Ghetto Film School - $30,000

·         GlobalGirl Media - $10,000

·         Inner-City Arts (Downtown LA) - $30,000

·         Inner City Filmmakers (Santa Monica) - $30,000

·         LAUSD/USC Arts & Engineering Magnet - $25,000

·         Los Angeles County High School for the Arts - $25,000

·         The Music Center - $5,000

 

PRESERVE THE CULTURE & HISTORY OF FILM

·         Film Noir Foundation - $25,000

·         Outfest (UCLA LGBT project) - $35,000

·         The Film Foundation - $350,000

·         Toronto International Film Festival - $15,000

 

PROMOTE CULTURAL EXCHANGE THROUGH FILM

·         American Cinematheque - $45,000

·         Film Independent at LACMA, Bring the Noise - $125,000

·         FilmAid International - $60,000

·         Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles - $15,000

·         Library Foundation of Los Angeles - $10,000

·         Los Angeles Conservancy, Last Remaining Seats - $35,000

·         Museum of the Moving Image - $10,000

·         San Francisco Silent Film Festival - $10,000

·         University of California, Berkeley Film Archive - $20,000

·         University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (Ebertfest) - $10,000

 

SPECIAL PROJECTS

·         Children’s Hospital - $25,000

·         Ensemble Studio Theatre - $15,000

·         Gingold Theatre Group/Shaw Festival - $10,000

·         Lollipop Theater Network - $20,000

·         Pablove Foundation - $10,000

·         Young Musicians Foundation - $10,000

·         Young Storytellers Foundation - $10,000

 

ONE TIME GRANTS

Higher Education: Fellowships & Institutional Support

·         Cal State Fullerton - $50,000

·         Cal State Long Beach - $40,000

·         Cal State Los Angeles - $50,000

·         Mount San Antonio College - $30,000

Other Grantees

·         Los Angeles County High School for the Arts - $41,466

·         Motion Picture and Television Fund - $47,665

 

2016 GRANTS FOR NEW GRANTEES

·         Kids in the Spotlight - $10,000

·         Hollywood Heritage Museum - $10,000