Paulo Coelho, author of international bestselling books The Alchemist, The Winner Stands Alone, and most recently, Hippie, praised the Brillante Mendoza 2009 indie film Kinatay, tweeting:
Coco Martin, who played the lead role in the gritty, suspenseful movie shared the author’s comment via his Instagram account on December 28.
The award-winning Filipino director replied to the bestselling author, saying:
To which Paulo congratulated him:
Kinatay was the 62nd Cannes Film Festival Prix de la Mise en Scene winner, and Brillante was the Best Director at the Spanish Sitges International Film Festival. Locally, it won the Best Film at the 33rd Gawad Urian, where Brillante was also awarded Best Director. Coco won Best Actor at the seventh Golden Film Award.