FDCP celebrates Lav Diaz’s Brian Award at Venice International Film Festival 2026

The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) congratulated acclaimed Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz after his historical drama “Makikiraan Po (Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors)” won the Brian Award at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.

The FDCP shared its congratulations in a Facebook post on Friday, Sept. 11, describing the recognition as “another win” for the Filipino filmmaker.

“The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) proudly extends its warmest congratulations to Direk Lav and producer Hazel Orencio, proud grantees of the FDCP International Film Festival Assistance Program (IFFAP), and to the entire team behind ‘Makikiraan Po,’” read the caption. 

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Diaz received the Premio Brian, or Brian Award, during a ceremony in Lido on Thursday, Sept. 10. The collateral award is presented by the Italian Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics to films that promote human rights, freedom of conscience, democracy, pluralism and other values centered on individual freedom and equal opportunities.

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The award takes its name from the 1979 satirical film “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” by Terry Jones.

READ: Liza Soberano joins Golden Globes Impact Prize jury at Venice Film Festival

“Makikiraan Po,” which was screened out of competition at Venice, was recognized for its depiction of Spanish colonial brutality in the Philippines.

Set in 1617, the film follows a group of men who are ordered by a Spanish friar to transport slabs of marble through the jungles and mountains for a church being built during the Spanish colonial period.

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The film stars Bart Guingona, Ronnie Lazaro, Christian Bables, Isabel Sandoval, Yul Servo, Bong Cabrera, Rafa Siguion-Reyna and Amado Arjay Babon.

In a statement to Inquirer.net USA, Diaz said the recognition came as a surprise to him and his team.

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“It was a big surprise when the most radical group at the Lido reached out yesterday to tell Hazel Orencio, our line producer, that after their revolutionary lenses had checked all the works at the fest, they’re giving the gig to us,” Diaz said.

The Brian Award adds to Diaz’s long list of honors at the Venice festival.

In 2016, he won the Golden Lion for Best Film for “The Woman Who Left,” starring Charo Santos-Concio, John Lloyd Cruz and Michael De Mesa. That victory made Diaz the first Filipino filmmaker to win Venice’s top prize.

“Makikiraan Po” marks Diaz’s ninth feature film to be included in the world’s oldest film festival.

Previous recipients of the Brian Award include Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” in 2025, Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door” in 2024, “Tatami” by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi in 2023, “Spotlight” by Tom McCarthy in 2015, “Philomena” by Stephen Frears in 2013 and George Clooney’s “The Ides of March” in 2011.

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The film was produced by Montgomery Blencowe and Bianca Balbuena, with Lovi Poe, Blencowe’s wife, among its executive producers.