FOR ITS fifth year, the Quezon City International Film Festival (QCinema) is opening with the big guns as viewers will be treated to an advanced screening of Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s Loving Vincent on Oct. 19.

Loving Vincent, a biographical animated drama about painter Vincent Van Gogh, is the first “fully painted feature film” as each of the more than 65,000 frames were painted in the style of Van Gogh by 115 artists.

The movie is scheduled for wide release starting Nov. 1 in theaters nationwide.

QCinema, which prides itself as being the only film festival in the country where rights of the films in competition are owned by its creators, is mulling an increase in the seed grant from P1 million to P1.5 million for its next iteration, said Ma. Josefina Belmonte-Alimurung, the city’s vice-mayor and co-chairperson of the Quezon City Film Development Council (QCFDC), during the launch of the festival lineup on Oct. 6 at Gateway Mall, Quezon City.

“I believe QCinema will [soon] be the guiding light of Philippine cinema,” said Ms. Belmonte-Alimurung in her opening address.

QCinema will run from Oct. 19-28 in various cinemas in Quezon City.

COMPETITION FILMS
Eight films will heading this year’s Circle competition – the film festival’s full feature section – and includes Balangiga: Howling Wilderness by Khavn, which tells the story of an eight-year-old who flees from the town of Balangiga with his grandfather and a carabao to escape the Balangiga Massacre in 1901.

Dapol Tan Payawar na Tayug 1931 (The Ashes and Ghosts of Tayug 1931) by Christopher Gozum, is another period film, this time set in 1931 and telling the story of rebel leader Pedro Calosa and the infamous Tayug Colorum Uprising in Pangasinan.

A departure from the first two films, Dormitoryo by Emerson Reyes is a comedy about seven people living in a dormitory owned by a strict widow talking about their collective experiences.

Kulay Lila ang Gabi na Binudburan pa ng mga Bituin by Jon Stefan “Jobin” Ballesteros is about an estranged couple who join a retreat program where they are given free rein to fix their marriage in any way possible.

Medusae by Pam Miras tells the story of a documentarist whose own son disappears while she is filming the disappearances of first born sons on a remote island.

Mikhail Red – director of the country’s official entry to this year’s Academy Awards, Birdshot – presents Neomanila, a film that takes a closer look on the violent war on drugs by telling the story of an orphaned teen who becomes part of a notorious death squad.

The Write Moment by Dominic Lim is a romantic comedy about a heartbroken writer who is trying to get back with an ex through a script, but instead finds himself living out the scenes he has written.

Finally, The Chanters by Robin Mayo is a comedy-drama about a the granddaughter of the last chanter of the Panay Bukidnon tribe who is obsessed with pop culture and wants to be a TV star. With her grandfather suffering the onset of dementia, the girl is then tasked to help him complete the last of the remaining 12 epics, their tribe’s vanishing tradition.

Aside from the full-length feature competition, the film festival will also screen several films in its short feature competition: Anya Iti Nagan Mo (What is your name?) by Ice Idanan; Babylon by Keith Deligero; Gikan sa Ngitngit nga Kinailadman (From the Dark Depths) by Kiri Dalena; Kun ‘Di Man by Phyllis Grae Grande; Link by Michael Esteves; Love Bites by Carl Joseph Papa; Pixel Paranoia by Epoy Deyto; and Si Astri maka si Tambulah (Astri and Tambulah) by Joseph Vincent “Xeph” Suarez.

QCinema will also present the Rainbow QC competition featuring LGBT films from across the world: Beach Rats by Eliza Hittman, Close-Knit by Naoko Ogigami; Fathers by Palatpol Mingpornpichit, Those Long Haired Nights by Gerardo Calagui, Signature More by Jennifer Reeder, and Tom of Finland by Dome Karukoski.

The Asian Next Wave competition section meanwhile features up-and-coming Asian filmmaker (those with less than three features under their belt) including Dragonfly Eyes by Bing Xu, In Between Seasons by Dong-Eun Lee, Kfc by Le Binh Giang, Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts by Mouly Surya, Snow Woman by Kiki Sugino, and Pop Aye by Kirsten Tan.

NON-COMPETITION SECTIONS
Aside from the various competitions, there are a number of sections featuring non-competition films including remastered films in its Digitally Remastered series including High School Scandal by Gil Portes, Karma by Danny Zialcita, Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos by Mario O’ Hara, All About My Mother by Pedro Almodovar, Blow-Up by Michaelangelo Antonioni, and The Graduate by Mike Nichols.

Films from across the globe will also be screened in the Screen International section, including 120 Beats per Minute by Robin Campillo, Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev, The Killing of a Sacred Deer by Yorgos Lanthimos, and The Square by Ruben Ostlund.

Controversial titles will also be shown in the Before Midnight section, including 68 Kill by Trent Haaga, A Prayer before Dawn by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire, Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story) by Eva Husson, and Revenge by Coralie Fargeat.

Thrillers such as Diamond Island by Davy Chou, Fading Paradise by Aurel Ayson, and Out Run by S. Leo Chaing and Johnny Symons will be shown in the Special Screenings section.

QCinema’s collection of films created by different regional directors will be screened in Cinema Rehiyon section.

Finally, aside from the various screenings, QCinema will also be hosting the Film Industry Conference, in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines, from Oct. 21-22 at the Novotel Manila Araneta Center. – Zsarlene B. Chua

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