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Press Release
Dr. Patrick Alcedo’s Film “They Call Me Dax” Bags Best Short Documentary at the Cannes Indies Cinema Awards
2021-07-14
PR-2021-35
14 July 2021, Toronto, Ontario – The Philippine Consulate General in Toronto is pleased to convey its congratulations to Filipino Canadian Dr. Patrick Alcedo’s short documentary film “They Call Me Dax” for winning the Best Short Documentary at the Cannes Indies Cinema Awards.
“They Call Me Dax” is a documentary on a 15-year-old student in the Philippines who is trying to survive as a ballet dancer. The film is now an official nominee in another online festival, Phoenix Shorts in Toronto wherein the jury selects the winners of each category through private screenings. To date, Dr. Alcedo has directed, written, and produced nine (9) films. “They Call Me Dax” along with his two (2) other new documentary films — the full-length film “A Will to Dream” and the short film “Am I Being Selfish” — were all funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant and the Canada Council for the Arts. “A Will to Dream” is an official entry in the Chicago Indie Film Awards.
The short documentary titled “They Call Me Dax” won the Best Short Documetary at the Cannes Indies Cinema Awards. Filipino Canadian filmmaker, Dr. Patrick Alcedo (right), has written and directed other award-winning films as A Piece of Paradise, Dancing Manilenyos, Ati-Atihan Lives, among others.
Cannes International Indies Cinema Festival is an independent online film festival dedicated to celebrating and awarding indie films of all genres. It supports independent filmmakers and screenwriters of all genres who are inspired by the language of cinema and seek breakthroughs in their career in order to make it to important film festivals such as Cannes. It is inspired by the importance of Cannes Film Festival hence naming their festival after the most important cinematic place in the history of cinema and film festivals. It believes that in this new era of filmmaking, film festivals need to be more creative in order to create programs which support indie artists and film projects. The festival selects and awards films for various categories of each edition.
During this year’s celebration of the 123rd Anniversary of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence, the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto featured its Quincentennial Awardees during the virtual program on 12 June 2021, which included Dr. Alcedo. The formal presentation of the award was held on 9 July 2021. He was given the award in recognition of his invaluable and continued support to the Filipino community and the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto. Dr. Alcedo was the Artistic Director in the Consulate General’s “INDAK” Dance and Musical Concert on 23 June 2018 and his film “A Piece of Paradise” had a Special Screening at the Consulate General on 8 March 2019 in celebration of National Women’s Month and International Women’s Day. His other film “Dancing Manilenyos” was featured during the Consulate General’s Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa activity in August 2020.
Dr. Alcedo was born and raised in Andagao, Aklan in the Philippines to a family of dancers and musicians and a graduate of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. Dr. Alcedo is the director, writer, and producer of six documentary films. His feature-length film, A Piece of Paradise, received support from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and in the 2017 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, bagged both the “Centennial Best Canadian Film Award” and the “National Bank First Feature Film Award”—the first film in the festival’s 20-year history to have garnered such back-to-back win.
Officially selected at 2 international film festivals, including the Ethnografilm in Paris, France, his other film, Dancing Manilenyos, a 20-minute documentary about the plight of underprivileged ballet dancers in Manila, won an Impact Doc Award, a Spotlight Documentary Film Award, and a Hollywood International Independent Documentary Award. Dancing Manilenyos was also selected to be screened at the Raleigh Studios in Hollywood.