Cannes Winner ‘A Useful Ghost’ Takes Top Honors at QCinema in Philippines

Thai debut feature “A Useful Ghost,” which won the grand prix at Cannes Critics’ Week earlier this year, continued its festival success at the 13th QCinema International Film Festival in the Philippines. Directed by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, the film won the Asian Next Wave best picture and the artistic achievement award for production design.

“A Useful Ghost,” which tells the story of a wife’s spirit reincarnated as a vacuum cleaner amid themes of environmental and family struggles, was also the festival’s closing film. The jury — comprising Filipino actor John Arcilla, Karlovy Vary programmer Martin Horyna, Epic Media’s Bianca Balbuena-Liew, and journalist Liz Shackleton — praised the film “for seamlessly weaving together all the elements of cinema with its playful balance of emotional ambiguity and visual consistency.”

Other major winners included Chie Hayakawa’s “Renoir,” which took best director, while Yui Suzuki won best lead performance for her role as 11-year-old Fuki Okita. Fujimoto Akio’s “Lost Land” received the grand jury prize, and Janus Victoria’s “Diamonds in the Sand” earned best screenplay.

In the New Horizons section spotlighting daring debut films, Tan Siyou’s “Amoeba” was named best film. Sophy Romvari’s “Blue Heron” earned the Netpac jury prize, and Reza Rahadian’s “On Your Lap” took best Asian first film.

RainbowQC, the festival’s LGBTQ competition, recognized Divine Sung’s “Summer’s Camera” with a special mention, Diego Céspedes’ “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo” as best LGBTQ film, and Jaume Claret Muxart’s “Strange River” with the jury prize.

Artistic director Ed Lejano talked up the awarded films as “a reflection of QCinema’s continued thrust as a platform of discovery. From among the 18 titles in our three feature competitions, debut films or second-features certainly dominate this year’s line-ups.”

In QCShorts International, JT Trinidad’s “Honey, My Love, So Sweet” won best short film. The Serrano Sisters’ “Surface Tension” was named best Filipino film, Lin Htet Aung’s “A Metamorphosis” received the jury prize, and Dale’s “Si Kara: Ang Babaye Nga Nag Daba Daba” was honored for gender sensitivity.

Quezon City, the festival host, was recently designated a UNESCO Creative City for Film, becoming the first city in the Philippines and joining Asian peers like Yamagata and Busan in this distinction.