FOR ITS 6th edition, QCinema International Film Festival (QCinema) continues its thrust to advance the local film industry by providing substantial grants for film production to a select set of new independent features and documentaries in the Circle Competition and DocQC section.
Selected filmmakers under the Circle Competition section received a grant of P1.5 million each while filmmakers under DocQC section received P300,000.
The grantees retain their rights to the films they have created.
CIRCLE COMPETITION
The films selected under the Circle Competition section were Samantha Lee’s Billie & Emma, Timmy Harn’s DOG DAYS, Dan Villegas’ Hintayan ng Langit, Dwein Baltazar’s Oda sa Wala, and Gutierrez Mangansakan II’s Masla A Papanok.
The five filmmakers will vie for the Pylon Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Artistic Achievement, as well as the NETPAC Jury Prize and Gender Sensitivity.
Billie & Emma explores the fleeting nature of love and life. Billie, who is forced to move to the province, meets Emma, an ambitious model student who gets pregnant. Together, they go on a journey of growth, laughter, and music.
DOG DAYS shows the story of half-black, half-Filipino Michael Jordan Ulili who wants to chase his dreams of becoming a basketball superstar. The rookie player believes he has special God-given powers to have what it takes but his journey leads him to face the reality of his fate.
In Hintayan ng Langit, Lisang, who has been waiting for two years in purgatory, is finally set to cross over. But a shortage of rooms forces her to share a room with a man from her past.
Oda sa Wala tells the story of Sonya, an old maid who crosses path with a mysterious corpse in her family owned funeral shop which suddenly brings her strange luck and fortune.
In Masla A Papanok, Mangansakan goes back to 1892 when a giant bird mysteriously appears in Maguindanao foretelling the fall and rise of colonial empires.
DOCQC
The DocQC section of the festival for documentaries will show Wena Sanchez’s All Grown Up and Hiyas Baldemore Bagabaldo’s Pag-ukit sa Paniniwala.
In All Grown Up, Sanchez tells a story of a filmmaker who, after years of nurturing and protecting her younger brother, is forced to question her ability to help the people she loves when her own daughter begins to have troubles of her own.
Bagabaldo’s Pag-ukit sa Paniniwala shows a five-year visual ethnography of the traditional yet practical orchestration of Semana Santa in a small town where religious wood carving is the livelihood.
QCinema runs from Oct. 21 to 30 at Gateway Mall (Cineplex 10); Robinsons Galleria (Robinsons Movieworld); and Ayala Malls Cinema in Trinoma and UP Town Center. Local screenings will run from Oct. 24 to 30 at SM Fairview, SM Megamall, SM Manila, and SM Southmall.
For more information, visit qcinema.ph.

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