MANILA, Philippines— (UPDATE) Filipino filmmaker Brillante “Dante” Mendoza was proclaimed best director in this year's Cannes Film Festival in France for his work "Kinatay" (Butchered), besting the likes of acclaimed directors Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar, Jane Campion and Quentin Tarantino.

Calling from France, Mendoza told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he "is very happy" about the honor bestowed on him even after his gritty film received mixed reviews from critics.

Some critics called the film "unwatchable" but others admitted that while they cringed at the film's blunt realism on violence, they could not look away.

A few days before the start of the premier festival, Mendoza wrote in an e-mail: “Ako lang ang walang pangalan.”

“I feel humbled and privileged to be in competition for two consecutive years and to be alongside the giants and the biggest names in the film industry,” Mendoza said in an earlier interview.

Mendoza bared in the earlier interview that just days before Cannes was set to open, he was still finishing the post-production work on “Kinatay” in Paris.

He shared his frenzied, last-minute adventure to finish “Kinatay.”

“I’m still in Paris, trying to finish my post production for the film. I’m with Mike Idioma, my sound designer, and my daughter Angelica,” Mendoza said.

“I had my final mix at the Malakoff Studios. Mike finished at 2:00 this morning, checking the sound with the guy from Dolby Digital. Tonight, I will check the audio together with the visuals at LTC laboratory Paris, which is processing and doing our prints. Tomorrow, I will check the subtitle at TITRA. The prints should be ready on Friday, May 15. Then we will hand-carry the prints by train to Cannes, hopefully in time for the press and official screenings on that weekend,” he said.

Dante pulled a tremendous upset victory since, in addition to Tarantino, Campion and Von Trier, he won over established filmmakers, including Michael Haneke, whose “The White Ribbbon” won the Palme d’Or, French master Alain Resnais, Oscar winner Ang Lee, Ken Loach, Gasper Noe and Johnnie To.

As the first Filipino to win the Best Director prize in Cannes, he joins the list of revered filmmakers who have won the coveted prize, including Martin Scorsese, Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut, Luis Buñuel, Robert Bresson, Costa Gavras, Bernard Tavernier, Werner Herzog, Robert Altman, Joel Coen, Pedro Almodovar and Gus Van Sant.

Tikoy Aguiluz, Cinemanila International Film Festival director, reported in an e-mail that Tarantino himself liked “Kinatay.”

Tarantino, whose Brad Pitt starrer “Inglorious Basterds” was also in competition, told Aguiluz about his admiration for the trailblazing Filipino filmmaker when they recently met in Cannes. Mendoza’s earlier triumphs include an award in the 2006 Cinemanila Digital Lokal.

Just like “Serbis,” his competition entry at Cannes last year, “Kinatay” also drew hisses and applause during its screenings.

“Serbis,” however, went on to gain critical acclaim in other international film festivals and during its release in many countries, including the United States.

With Mendoza’s win, “Kinatay” is poised to gain further accolades in the international film scene.

"Kinatay" notably features corrupt cops hacking a prostitute to pieces with blunt kitchen knives.

Still determined to portray the social reality around him, Mendoza in "Kinatay" traces 24 hours in the day of a trainee policeman, happily beginning with his wedding in the morning to close with the young man's first outing at night with a band of corrupt colleagues.

To his surprise, fear and anguish, they pick up a prostitute accused of betrayal and wind up torturing, raping, killing and hacking her before disposing of the body parts across Manila.

"This is not just entertainment, these kinds of stories are real," Mendoza said at Cannes.

Last year's "Serbis" was set in a Manila porn-theatre with long close-ups of festering boils and overflowing toilets, as well as the poverty and distress on the streets.

Last year was the first time since 1984 the Philippines had a film competing for the top prize at Cannes, the Palme d'Or. With reports from Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Bayani San Diego Jr.