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From a total of 194 entries received, the 10
finalists for the 2008 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film
Festival (full-length feature category) have been chosen by the
Cultural Center of the Philippines. Cinemalaya is an all-digital
film competition aimed at discovering new Filipino filmmakers.
Each of the finalists will receive an initial
seed investment of P500,000 from Econolink Investments Inc. All the
films will be screened during the 2008 Cinemalaya Film Festival
scheduled from July 11 to 20 at the CCP.
The final winning entry will be given an
additional grant of P200,000 plus the Cinemalaya Balanghai trophy
during the awarding ceremony.
This year’s batch is interesting. An
award-winning screenwriter, a former ballet dancer, a lady film
editor, a music video director and a few repeaters from last
year’s batch of maverick filmmakers. In no particular order, here
are the finalists who are soon starting to shoot their respective
films:
My Fake American Accent By Onnah Valera
A comedy following the lives of technical support call-center agents
in the span of six months. Speaking with a fake American accent is a
prerequisite for the job. This ensemble comedy is an inside look
into the maddening, sleep-deprived, caffeine-fueled lives of those
who ply their trade in the call-center industry.
Baby Angelo By Joel Ruiz and Abi Aquino
The main plot centers on an investigation that ensues when an
aborted fetus is found in the dumpster of a run-down apartment
complex. The lives of the tenants—a reclusive old man with curious
ramblings, a landlord with overzealous thirst for justice and a
young couple whose past threatens to unravel their marriage—are
suddenly exposed in the hunt for the perpetrator of the baby’s
death.
100 By Chris Martinez
A stern, uptight and exacting woman with a terminal illness tries to
accomplish a list of 100 things to do before she dies. Her tasks
vary from the simple to the complicated, from the practical to the
mundane, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. In the process, she
accepts the truth that even if death is something personal, dying
never is.
Huling Pasada By Paul Sta. Ana
Ruby, a prolific writer, abandoned wife and protective mother has a
story to tell about Mario, a taxi driver and father figure to a
street child. As she tries to resolve Mario’s story, she seeks
refuge in her own creative output and the line between reality and
fiction is blurred. Mario’s past becomes entangled with her own
inevitable future.
1434456 By Emmanuel de la Cruz
This is the colorful story of Ranjeet Singh, also fondly called
“Jimmy Paybsiks,” a 49-year-old Punjabi widower. He faces the
challenge of finding a more permanent sense of home and country for
his children who find themselves growing up more and more
assimilated in the Filipino way of life. Set in contemporary Manila,
1434456 examines the colorful stories and inevitable struggles of a
migrant sector rarely given a second look or even a thoughtful pause
in our society—that of our Indian neighbors.
Brutus By Tara Illenberger
Two Mangyan children, hired by illegal loggers to smuggle wood from
the mountains of Mindoro, embark on a dangerous journey to deliver
the goods to the lowlands. In the process, they discover a world run
by the greed of men, a world governed by ideologies that bring about
the armed conflict that plagues the Mindoro highlands, the home of
their own people.
Ranchero By Michael Christian Cardoz
There are convicts who serve a special role inside the jail—they
prepare the meals everyday. But in a jail where some inmates see no
reason to continue living, what is the role of food? Is the food’s
role to extend life or to prolong the pain of those who don’t want
to live?
Ang Concerto By Paul Alexander Morales
In the last few weeks of World War II, a special piano concert is
held in the forests of Davao. In these boondocks, a displaced
Filipino family becomes acquainted with a group of Japanese
officers, similarly camped nearby. Based on true stories from the
director’s family, Ang Concerto celebrates a family whose
reverence for life, expressed through their love of music and
friendship, can survive even war, and shows how beauty and
compassion can grow in even the harshest of situations.
Antiparang Basag By Edith Asuncion
The story of one woman’s encounter with four octogenarians,
escaped from a nursing home, and the few hours she spends helping
them pursue their quest to fulfill their simple wishes in life. The
funny and heartwarming situations carry her to see the different
hues of life and death and the value of every moment.
Jay By Francis Xavier Pasion
Jay is the name of the two protagonists in the film, one is living,
the other dead. The living Jay is producing a documentary of the
dead Jay, a gay teacher who was brutally killed. As Jay recreates
and examines the life of his subject, his own life is affected when
he unravels his subject’s hidden life and secret love.
Cinemalaya is considered a breeding ground for
the next great Filipino filmmaker. Some of the most notable films
that shone in past Cinemalaya festivals include Ang Pagdadalaga ni
Maximo Oliveros by Aureus Solito and Michiko Yamamoto, Adolfo
Alix’s Donsol, Jim Libiran’s Tribu and Jade Castro’s Endo.
Let’s all hope that this batch can produce a truly unforgettable
film.
-- Sylvia Santamaria
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