Kintsugi

When Harue, the heiress of a pottery factory, suddenly goes home unannounced to her hometown, Saga, Dante, a Filipino laborer, finds himself helplessly attracted to her. One day, Dante meets an accident and breaks the prototype of a new design being developed at the factory.

Harue saves him from getting reprimanded by his supervisor and repairs the broken bowl through a process called kintsugi where broken pieces are attached using lacquer and the cracks are painted with gold.

Harue gives the restored bowl to Dante and their relationship blossoms into something beyond the confines of the workplace. However, Dante, all of a sudden, needs to fly home for a family emergency and Harue discovers that her father is setting her up for an arranged marriage.

When Dante returns, he must admit the real reason for his leave and Harue must make a difficult decision to either fulfill her filial duties or choose her personal happiness.

Lawrence ‘Law’ Fajardo is a film and television director, producer, editor and writer known for fast-paced action films that focus on the Filipino people’s hard experiences, often connected to the struggles of workers and the character’s uplifting. Many of his works also tackle fear of the known and the unknown. His works have competed in important international festivals and have been screened in South Korea, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, USA, Canada and Italy.

A theater actor and a student of the late Peque Gallaga, he is a graduate of Mass Communication and hails from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental—recognized as an important center of the Philippines’ culturati and sugar industry. His latest film Kintsugi (Broken) in 2020 is screened at the Osaka Asian Film Festival and is a finalist at the Sinag Maynila Film Festival and Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino. He directed the Philippine remake of the Korean action film A Hard Day, an entry to the 2020 Summer Metro Manila Film Festival.

In 2005 his short film Kultado made him a stronger name in the film industry, winning the Special Jury Prize at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, and was shown in Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival (France) and Pesaro International Film Festival (Italy). This was followed by his debut feature film Raket ni Nanay which won Best Sound and Editing at the Cinema One Originals. Among his prominent works is Amok (2011), a finalist in the New Breed Category of the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival which also won Best Sound and Editing in the Gawad Urian in 2012; it bagged the Special Prize of the Jury Award at the Detective Fest in Moscow, Russia in the same year. It was also screened in festivals like the Busan International Film Festival (Korea) and Edinburgh International Film Festival (Scotland UK). In Cinemalaya, Posas (2012) won Best Film in the Director’s Showcase Category; it successfully represented the Philippines in 12 festivals in 5 different continents around the globe including the Busan International Film Festival (Korea), Cairo International Film Festival (Egypt), Focus on Asia International Film Festival (Japan), Kolkata International Film Festival (India) and the 20th Festival International des Cinemas d’Asie (France), winning Best Film at the Hanoi International Film Festival.

Returning to his theater roots in 2013, Fajardo’s Imbisibol was staged at the Cultural Center of the Philippines as part of the Virgin Labfest 9 and 10. In 2015, Imbisibol made its onscreen debut as an entry to the first ever Sinag Maynila, sweeping 7 awards such as Best Director, Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Actor and Best Actress. It was shown in festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival (Canada) and Tokyo International Film Festival (Japan).

The City of Bacolod also recognized Lawrence’s achievements and contributions to the film industry. He continues to share his knowledge and experiences around the Philippines through workshops like the Palawan Protégé Project, the pioneering filmmaking summer workshop in Palawan and others.