Full-length features returning in 2021

THE FIRST fully online Cinemalaya experience has surpassed its target of earning P2 million during the festival’s week-long run, a feat its festival director signaled that the “online digital future of Cinemalaya has arrived sooner than later.”

“It looks like our filmmakers and audiences will be ready to traverse the Cinemalaya Festival at the CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines), the screenings at partner cinemas, and the online platform when the time comes when we can put this all together,” Chris B. Millado, festival director of Cinemalaya, said in his address during the closing ceremonies of the festival held on Aug. 16 via Facebook Live.

Mr. Millado reported that as of Aug. 15, the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival had earned a total of P2.015 million, P1.8 million of which came from video rentals via Vimeo alone. The earnings are P15,000 more than their goal of earning P2 million, a modest number that nevertheless signals that, yes, a fully online film festival in the Philippines can work, and that an integration of an online and physical festival experience can also work.

The festival also featured 207 films, both full-length and short films, during its run.

Before its two-week run, Mr. Millado was talking about this Cinemalaya experience as an experiment that would not be completely seamless because this was the first time they tried going fully digital and that “it’s a brave new world… but I hope our viewers appreciate that this [was made] in the context of a learning curve,” he said in July.

After two weeks, the experiment proved successful as beyond the festival itself, screenwriter Ricky Lee’s masterclass attracted more than 500 participants while more than a hundred of his previous students participated in a reunion held via Zoom and livestreamed on Facebook.

Full-length features returning to Cinemalaya

So, what to look forward to from Cinemalaya next year? Well, full-length features are returning and they are returning with a vengeance as there will be 17 full-length films in the main competition section of the 17th Cinemalaya. The 17 films include movies which were not able to be produced for this year’s Cinemalaya thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, and the films that were already scheduled for the 2021 Cinemalaya.

The films from 2020 that will be competing in the 2021 edition are:

  • Ang Halimaw by Emmanuel Q. Palo is set during the Marcos era Martial Law and follows a group of underground activists who take a young boy under their wings as the boy waits to reunite with his parents who are high-value targets by the Marcos military;
  • Angkas by Rainerio Yamson II, which is about two estranged friends who confront their past as they ride a motorcycle to retrieve a dead friend;
  • Bakit Di Mo Sabihin (Tell Her) by Real Florido is about a deaf couple who decides to separate;
  • Bula sa Langit by Sheenly Gener follows the experience of a soldier who fought in the Marawi siege who is coming home and facing a different kind of war;
  • Kaluskos by Roman Perez, Jr. tells the story of a single mother who finds something underneath her daughter’s bed that will make her question her love for her child;
  • Kargo by TM Malones is about a woman who is seeking revenge against the people who murdered her family;
  • Kathoey by Joris Fernandez and Paolo Valconcha revolves around a conservative Filipino father searching for his estranged transwoman son and who receives the most unexpected help from a Thai transgender prostitute;
  • Parole by Brilliant Juan is about a parolee who tries to adjust back to society after being imprisoned for 30 years for a crime he didn’t commit;
  • Seperate/Separate by David Corpuz is about a young boy joining a school spelling bee while dealing with his mother’s abandonment; and,
  • The Baseball Player by Carlo Gallen Obispo, which follows a Moro child soldier as he strives to become a baseball varsity player amidst the war in 2003.

The other films competing next year are:

  • 12 Weeks by Isabelle Matutina, about a 40-year-old woman who finds herself pregnant a day after her lover leaves her;
  • Batsoy by Ronald Espinosa Batallones which follows two brothers as they yearn for a soup dish;
  • RMT: Blue Room by Ma-an L. Asuncion-Dagnalan, which is a coming-of-age film about members of a college band being hauled off to a police station;
  • Ginhawa by Christian Paolo Lat, which is about an impoverished boxer trying to continue his brother’s legacy;
  • Guerra by Joseph Israel Laban, which follows a reclusive teenager forced to look after a dangerous man;
  • L+B Forever by John Carlo Pacala is a “non-chronological tale of modern juvenile relationship,” according to a release; and,
  • Retirada by Cynthia Cruz-Paz and Milo Alto Paz, about a retired government employee seeking meaning and purpose for her life.

Cinemalaya continues its run until October as international audiences can watch the festival films via The Filipino Channel from Aug. 17 to 31. Featured films in the festival will also be available for streaming via iWanTV from Sept. 18 to Oct. 2.

For more information, check out the CCP website (www.culturalcenter.gov.ph), follow the CCP official account in Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or check out the official Cinemalaya Facebook page.  — Zsarlene B. Chua

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