Cinemalaya

On Tuesday evening I caught a taxi after work to head down to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (itself an interesting building that reminded me of some of the Canberra cultural buildings: http://www.culturalcenter.gov.ph/index.html) to meet up with some of the other AYADs and watch an Italian movie. When we arrived, there was no Italian movie showing as it had been cancelled for the opening night of Cinemalaya, an Independent Pilipino film festival.

As part of the opening ceremony, we were treated to free wine and a performance by a local artist, Grace Nono, and some dancing. After some introductory speeches to open the festival, we then moved into the main screening area to watch 6 short films that were made by new film artists. Most of them were great and showed interesting aspects of Pilipino life and culture. Full length features will also be shown throughout the next couple of weeks culminating in a closing ceremony where winners of the short and full length films will be announced. Here are the short films we watched:

• MANSYON by: Joel Ruiz Short Film CategoryDolores, a housemaid, and her husband Ambo, a gardener, are hired to take care of a large house while its owners are away on a long vacation. Weeks of tedium go by until a small accident sparks a series of discoveries within both Dolores and Ambo.
• KULTADO by: Lawrence Fajardo Short Film Category
  Set in a chaotic market place in a small province, a young vegetable vendor seeks vengeance against a meat vendor, who is also the leader of a gang of butcher's collecting "bribes" from other vendors in the market, bullying him as well as his brother and father. He got beaten by the leader several times. He picks fights with this butcher hoping to be able to beat him up someday. When this butcher then resorts to also hurting his younger brother, he then practices hard for the fight he's preparing for against this butcher. The task at hand may be more difficult than he imagined but he is willing to kill and be killed in this fight.
• PANAGINIPAN by: Anna Isabelle J. Matutina Short Film Category Two young, deeply disturbed women meet and discover a different kind of bond despite their contrasting personalities. MONA, despite her seemingly calm and controlled facade, has already reached a point in her life wherein she can no longer hope that life will ever get better. SARA, on the other hand, wishes to escape the constant and pointless pain of her uncontrollable need to fall in love. Both women have already attempted several times to kill themselves, seeing that death is their only escape from this repetitive suffering of the human soul. After exhausting all means of suicide, they discover a foolproof way to end it all – that is, to consciously decide to stop breathing.
• BLOOD BANK by: Pamela Miras Short Film Category
  Des is a woman suffering from aplastic anemia who receives weekly blood transfusions. This is administered in a blood bank where Emma works as a medical technician.
  One night, Des is mugged by Cleto. Going through her things, he discovers Des' diary and so learns more about her person. He becomes drawn to her. He stalks her, and is lead to the blood bank where he learns of her predicament. He decides to sell his blood. With this act Cleto feels a sense of redemption, his way of making up for the crime he has done to her and to others before her. At the blood bank, he also develops a friendship with Emma.
• BABAE by: Sigrid Andrea Bernardo Short Film Category BABAE (WOMAN) is a coming of age story of two women who grew up together in the city slum community beside railroad tracks. They become best friends during childhood, shared dreams during teenage years and eventually started a family during adulthood when a child accidentally entered their lives. Real Stories of Women and a Man were added to give this color to this black and white film. A mixture of Drama, Comedy, Musical and Fantasy that will surely touch the Pinoy Heart in You.
• ALIMUOM by: Milo TolentinoShort Film Category
  In a darkened room a man commits murder- a bullet through the head. An act of madness that left him emotionally crippled with guilt and paranoia. He sits there weeping, splattered with blood, haunted by the echoes and images of his violence. Beside him a dead body lies face down on the bed, blood staining the white bed sheet. In this canvass where the smell of incense mixes with scent of blood and a crucifix peers accusingly out of a half-drawn drawer, the man struggle to hide his crime and cleanse himself with water. But it seems the dead body has its own agenda. Haunting him again and again, taunting him. A cycle of guilt, paranoia, shame and fear cut through the man's senses, driving him closer and closer to grieving madness. In that maggot infested sanctuary, where shards of broken glass and a dead fish lies eerily on a blood-smeared floor, a man struggles, hopelessly to atone himself of sin of violence to no avail.

posted by batik billy @ 9:35 am