Honor Thy Father
New York Asian Film Festival 2016
June 22 - July 9, 2016
Erik Matti won Best Director at the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival for this immorality tale of a father who must revisit his dark past in order to protect his family from the insidious benevolence of an extortive Christian church. A gripping thriller that doubles as a social-issue drama.
John Lloyd Cruz will be presented with a Star Asia Award.
After the 2013 hit-man thriller On the Job, Erik Matti turned down offers from Hollywood to shoot the seemingly very local Honor Thy Father, about the corruption at the heart of religion, capitalism, and broader society in the Philippines. Life imitated art when it was disqualified from the Best Picture category of last December’s Metro Manila Film Festival, leading to hearings in Congress that exposed corruption at the heart of the festival itself. The film is an immorality tale about a father who sheds the skin of civility he has dressed himself in when his savings are lost in his in-law’s pyramid scheme, his family is besieged by mob violence, and his daughter is kidnapped by creditors. With no hope of sanctuary from an uncharitable church, he returns to the violent criminality of his former life. Featuring a career-best performance by John Lloyd Cruz, the Philippines’ most popular movie idol, here revealing his own darker depths.
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