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Young filmmaker Pepe Diokno came to Filipino director Brillante Mendoza's defense after the latter was recently accused of lying about his film's inclusion in the Oscar Awards.

“I was a witness to it. Dante Mendoza wasn’t misinforming the public about his film ‘Lola’ as the official choice of the Philippines to the Oscars,” exclaimed Diokno at a dinner held in his honor at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on Wednesday.

Business Tony Boy Cojuangco, Chairman of the Cinemalaya Foundation, hosted the dinner after Diokno's film "Engkwentro" bagged the Luigi de Laurentis Award and Best Debut Film award at the 66th Venice Film Festival.

Diokno was reacting to reports that a lady from the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) accused Mendoza of "spreading misinformation" that his film "Lola" is the Philippine Entry to the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars next year.

Mendoza said the unidentified FAP woman called and asked him why he was pre-empting the FAP's decision by telling everyone at the recently concluded 66th Venice International Film Festival that Lola was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) selection committee that handles the Oscar Awards.

FAP later announced that the film "Ded na si Lolo" by Soxy Topacio is the official Oscars entry, and that "Lola" was shortlisted.

Diokno said Mendoza had never campaigned for his film and that he had not pre-empted the FAP's decision. The filmmaker watched the screening of "Lola" at the Venice film festival last month. Diokno's "Engkwentro" was shown at the Horizons section of the festival, while Mendoza's was screened in the main competition.

“In fairness, Brillante wasn’t saying anything about ‘Lola’ as [the] FAP’s official choice to Oscars. He wasn’t even campaigning before it was ruled out,” he said.

Despite being shortlisted, Diokno said he believes that "Lola" is worthy to be chosen for the Oscar's. He said he "felt bad" that the film was not chosen as the official entry.

“Of course, I found ‘Ded na si Lolo’ is funny. It was a different genre. But ‘Lola’ was very worthy to be in Oscars. I saw it. It was very beautiful. People in Venice loved it so much. Film people there were raving about it,” he said.

Mendoza was awarded Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival this year for the movie "Kinatay."

• ABS-CBN

• Pinoyweb

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