Tarantino is a big fan of Filipino movies

Quentin Tarantino

One of Hollywood's most celebrated maverick directors is a big fan of Filipino films.

It's been 15 years since Quentin Tarantino's first film, Reservoir Dogs, exploded onto screens at the Sundance Film Festival. And it's been 13 years since Pulp Fiction took the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Tarantino also collaborated with director Robert Rodriguez on films like From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City and the hit films featuring Uma Thurman, Kill Bill 1 and 2.

The 44-year-old filmmaker is in Manila to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Cinemanila Festival. He met up with the press to discuss his trip to the Philippines and his love for local movies.

Question: Is this your first time here in the Philippines?

Tarantino: Very first time, very first time. I've been wanting to come here since I was a kid. And now I'm finally here.

Question: You get so many invites to so many film festivals around the world every year. Why did you choose this one?

TARANTINO: Oh, I've always wanted to go to the Philippines. And also I've become friendly with Cirio H. Santiago, and knowing that Eddie Romero was going to be here, and we're going to be talking about Philippine cinema, which I've been a big fan of, it's going to be great.

QUESTION: What Philippine films have you enjoyed?

TARANTINO: Oh, there's a lot of them I like. Cirio Santiago's The Mothers. I love Eddie Romero's war films, The Ravengers, Leyte Gulf, all right? Walls of Hell is terrific. I love the Blood Island movies with John Ashley. Bamboo Gods and Iron Men, that's a terrific movie.

QUESTION: Congratulations on the Lifetime Achievement Award. Apart from receiving this distinguished award, what are your other activities.

TARANTINO: I know. That's really cool to be getting that here, yes. I'm also doing a panel, I think, on Filipino action and horror cinema.

QUESTION: We hadn't noticed any explicit connection between your movies and Filipino B-movies, but we figured that it was only a matter of time...

TARANTINO: Even in Kill Bill, the Hattori Hanzo character that Sonny Chiba plays, there's a little bit of that based on the character in The Last Samurai — not the Tom Cruise movie, but the Cirio H. Santiago movie with James Englehart, there's these two Japanese soldiers on the island? I kind of based a little bit of their relationship on those two characters from Santiago's film.

QUESTION: Have you had a chance to check out any younger Filipino directors or more recent films made here?

TARANTINO: No, I haven't. So this will be a good chance, at the Manila film festival, to check out some of their films.

QUESTION: Do you see yourself as an influence on Asian filmmakers today, just as Asian cinema has had such an impact on your films?

TARANTINO: Well, that's for them to tell me. (Laughs)

QUESTION: How did you and Tikoy meet?

TARANTINO: I had actually sought out Cirio H. Santiago myself, to introduce myself, because I'm a big fan, and after that introduction, and from another friend of mine, Tiffany Limos, I got the invitation for the Cinemanila Film Festival, and I took (Tikoy) up on it right away.

QUESTION: Any advice for aspiring young Filipino filmmakers?

TARANTINO: Yes. Come up with a story that you want to tell, that you have to tell, and tell it well.