As a result of successful showings at the recent Cannes Film Festival, organizers of the Brussels Film Festival have invited the producer, director and cast of Bagong Buwan and Dekada’70 to participate in the Brussels filmfest in Belguim this November.

Lawyer Espiridion Laxa, Metro Manila Film Festival Philippines (MMFFP) executive committee member, stated this in a recent report to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando, who is the over-all chair of the MMFFP. Laxa led the Philippine delegation to Cannes, which included Claudine Barretto and sister Marjorie, Cesar Montano and Piolo Pascual.

Belgian film journalist Robert Melangreau, an organizer of the film festival, invited Laxa following the good reviews the movies garnered from world critics on May 20.

World filmmakers adjudged Bagong Buwan and Dekada’70—two of the six Filipino quality films that participated at Cannes’ "All Cinemas in the World" competition—as "cream of the crop," along with Panaghoy sa Suba and two other short films, all from the Philippines.

Laxa, in his report, said the rave reviews from the prestigious Cannes festival should encourage Filipino filmmakers to produce better-quality films and participate in future Cannes film festivals.

"The accolades bestowed on our films should bolster the efforts of Filipino film producers to send their films and the corresponding promotional materials to Cannes for purposes of competition and marketing," he recommended, adding that this could be part of the solution to the consistent downturn of the annual output of the local film industry.

Bagong Buwan topbills Cesar Montano and Director Marilou Diaz Abaya; Dekada ’70, Vilma Santos, Christopher de Leon and Director Chito Roño; Milan, Claudine Barretto, Piolo Pascual and Director Olive Lamasan; and Panaghoy sa Suba, Cesar Montano both as lead star and director.

The two local short films exhibited in the competition were Liyab by Director Socorro Fernandez and Batang Trapo by Director Ramon de Guzman.

One of the productive aspects of the Philippine delegation’s visit to Cannes was the discovery of Thailand’s "Movie Town" amendment to the Board of Investment Law, which exempts movie producers from all taxes on machineries and equipment and exemption from payment of corporate tax for eight years.

As such, the film mogul underscored the need for the Philippine Board of Investment to pattern its film policy after Thailand.