Lino Brocka's Bona Is Coming to Cannes This May
After more than 40 years, the 1980 movie returns to Cannes as a restored film.
(SPOT.ph) Once thought as lost, it's been found, restored and screening in the biggest film festival in the world this May. The restored version of Bona, the 1980 film classic that National Artist Nora Aunor produced and starred in at 27 years old is officially part of this May’s Cannes Film Festival. The Lino Brocka-directed movie made it to the Cannes Classic program of the annual film fest. The program is celebrating its 20th year and also marking the landmark anniversaries of such films as Jean-Luc Godard's Scenarios, Wim Winders' Paris, Texas, and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.
It is the first time the restored version of Bona will be screened in public, and it is presented by Kani Releasing and Carlotta Films, a film distribution company focused on world classics. According to the festival website writeup, this new version is “restored in 4K by Carlotta Films and Kani Releasing at the Cité de Mémoire laboratory (Paris) from the original 35mm image and sound negatives preserved by LTC Patrimoine.”
What is Bona all about?
The one-hour, 26-minute film revolves around Bona (Aunor), a young woman in Manila who becomes dangerously infatuated with a movie bit player named Gardo (Phillip Salvador). Despite at the very onset displaying the qualities of a jerk—he is a drunk, a serial womanizer, is abusive—Bona leaves her family for him, joins him in his shack in the slums, fetches water for him, prepares his warm baths, and basically devotes her life to this good-for-nothing lothario.
To set the tone of his movie about blind devotion and idol worship, Brocka begins Bona with his central character attending the Black Nazarene procession in Quiapo.
This is actually the second time the film is being screened at the prestigious festival—it had its Cannes debut back in 1981 at the Directors Fortnight program.
In the Philippines, it was originally released during the 1980 Metro Manila Film Festival. The movie gave Aunor a Best Actress award from the Manunuri, the group of Filipino film critics, the year after. The New York Times, in a 1984 review of the movie, wrote “Bona is chiefly interesting as an example of Philippine film making and for its glimpses of life in the neighborhood where Bona and Gardo live.”
SPOT.ph asked Carlotta Films founder Vincent Paul-Boncour how his outfit and Kani Releasing found their way to restoring Bona, and he had this to say:
"In 2023, Carlotta Films and Kani Releasing acquired the rights to the film from its producer and actress, National Artist of the Philippines Nora Aunor. This rediscovery of Bona is made possible thanks to the work of Professor José B. Capino (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) who, as part of his research, interviewed the late Pierre Rissient, champion of Filipino cinema. During this 2017 interview, Rissient entrusted Capino with information on the location of the elements of several Lino Brocka films, including Bona. Concerned with their preservation and exhibition, Rissient had the original negatives deposited at the LTC Lab in Paris (now Cité de Mémoire). Capino shared this information with Kani Releasing and Carlotta Films who confirmed the location of the original elements."
Kani Releasing posted this on its social media pages following the announcement of Bona's return to Cannes: "Groundbreaking singer, actor, and producer Nora Aunor works with director Lino Brocka to subvert her stardom at the height of her fame. Brocka, following the success of MANILA IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT (1975) and INSIANG (1976), takes her up on the challenge and sets Aunor against the familiar backdrop of Manila’s slums, yet steers clear of making poverty the sole focus of the film. Instead, BONA unfolds as a thrilling drama about blinding adoration and its stranglehold on both the lover and the beloved, set against the bustling industry of the Second Golden Age of Filipino Cinema.”
According to the Cannes Film Festival writeup, Bona will have its French release in September 25 this year. Hopefully, this restored version makes it to local shores sooner.