Albert Martinez and Sheron Dayoc vie for Asia New Talent Award

Two Filipino films are included in the category for Asia New Talent Award (ANTA) at the Shanghai International Film Festival that's happening on June 11 to 19, 2011.

First one is Albert Martinez's Rosario which was last year's entry in last year's Metro Manila Film Festival where it won Second Best Picture and the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Memorial Award. It was also recognized as Best Film and Martinez was awarded Best Director by the Gawad PASADO.

Here's Albert Martinez's CV:

An accomplished and well-respected actor in the Philippines, Alberto P. Martinez, more popularly known by his screen name, Albert Martinez, has done more than 100 movies before he ventured into directing his first full-length feature film, "Rosario".

In 2007, he and his partners organized Cinemabuhay, an independent production company that aims to help aspiring filmmakers in penetrating the local mainstream movie business. Under Albert's leadership as executive director, Cinemabuhay was able to produce three independent movies: "Numbalikdiwa", "Cul de Sac", and "Slow Fade". But Albert's real passion is directing movies and he fulfills that dream—and makes that bold first step—in "Rosario".

The second one is Sheron Dayoc's Halaw (Ways of the Sea), which was 2010 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival's Best Film. Halaw won a Special Mention from the NETPAC at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival.

Sheron Dayoc's CV:

Sheron Dayoc is a Mindanaon Filmmaker and a Visual Artist. He comes from a Protestant family, educated in a catholic institution, and raised in a Christina-Muslim inhabited city – Zamboanga. Halaw (Ways of the Sea) is his first feature length film that won him a Special mention, NETPAC at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival and competed in Pusan, Tokyo, Milan, and other festivals in Asia and Europe. The film also won best film, best director, best actor, and best editing at the 2010 Cinemalaya Independent Film festival, known as the " Sundance of the Philippines." His second film project "SATRA" has been selected for the June 2011 Sundance Film Institute Script Lab.

Other films competing for the award are:

Sun Beaten Path (China) – Song Taijia
The Day Goes and the Night Comes (Iran) – Omid Bonakdar and Keivan Alimohammadi
Kaasan Mom's Life (Japan) – Syoutarou KOBAYASI
Return Ticket (China) – Yung-Shing TENG
TD DASAN STD VI B (India) – Mohan Raghavan
The Devil Inside Me (China) – ZHANG Qi
Birth Right (Japan) – Naoki Hashimoto