Cinemalaya goes digital again in 2nd pandemic year
WITH the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic now well into its second year, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival again takes to the digital platform. For this, its 17th edition, Cinemalaya will be held from Aug. 6 to Sept. 5 via streaming platform KTX.ph.
Banking on the know-how built-up from last year’s edition, the country’s biggest independent film festival presents its second online edition this year with 13 short films competing for the Balanghai trophies.
Competing for the Best Film are: An Sadit Na Planeta (The Little Planet) by Arjanmar H. Rebeta; Ang Mga Nawalang Pag-asa At Panlasa (The Lost Hopes And Flavors) by Kevin Jay Ayson; Ang Pagdadalaga Ni Lola Mayumi by Shiri De Leon; Ate O.G. by Kevin Mayuga; Beauty Queen by Myra Aquino; Crossing by Marc Misa; Kawatan Sa Salog (A Toy In The River) by Alphie Velasco; Kids On Fire by Kyle Nieva; Looking For Rafflesias And Other Fleeting Things by James Fajardo; Maski Papano (I Mask Go On) by Che Tagyamon And Glenn Barit; Namnama En Lolang (Grandmother’s Hope) by Jonnie Lyn P. Dasalla; Out Of Body by Enrico Po; and The Dust In Your Place by David Olson.
Not everything will be held online though. The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) will host a hybrid drive-in cinema, dubbed Cinema Under the Stars, where film habitués can watch a film at the Liwasang Ullalim. The first audience-centered on-site event since the lockdown, the hybrid outdoor cinema will welcome everyone, whether they are riding their cars or bikes, or even just walking and jogging.
While this year’s focus is on short films, to unearth new cinematic voices and develop a growing audience for independent long-form cinema for its 2023 edition, Cinemalaya introduces a new direction and further expands its cinematic boundaries through the Cinemalaya Film Lab, a three-month-long film-laboratory mentorship program to be held from September to November.
Meanwhile, the Cinemalaya mainstays remain. Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video, the longest-running independent film and video competition in Asia, will also continue its run this year.
Visions of Asia, one of the major components of the film festival, will screen award-winning indie films from Asia; while IndieNation screens critically acclaimed feature length and short films produced in the past year that will have a continued run at Cinemalaya.
The festival will also have other components such as the Cinemalaya Retrospectives, featuring past Cinemalaya films, and Cinemalaya Campus, among others. The film festival will also pay tribute to individuals who have made great contributions to the Philippine film industry, including director Mel Chionglo, former head of the Cinemalaya Competition and Monitoring Committee, with the screenings of three of his best films.
Also part of the festival is Premieres, featuring full-length and short films which have been produced in the past year and which will be screened for the first time in the Philippines, as well as the book launch of the Riding the Waves: 15 Years of Cinemalaya, a complete guide to the history of the country’s biggest independent film festival.
For updates, please visit the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Cinemalaya websites.
