Independent productions dominate this year’s honor roll of the critics’ group Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, poised to hold the 36th Urian Awards. All nominees for best film were directed by indie filmmakers: Arnel Mardoquio’s “Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Madilim,” Auraeus Solito’s “Baybayin,” Jun Robles Lana’s “Bwakaw,” Whammy Alcazaren’s “Colossal,” Mes de [...]
We’re so happy that former movie queen, Amalia Fuentes, has announced that she’s agreed to make a film again after years of relative professional inactivity, with her good friend, Elwood Perez, directing—and making a comeback of his own. —A win-win situation all around!
Zeny Opena, office employee: “I look forward to watching Vilma Santos’ Cinemalaya entry, ‘Extra.’ It’s a good thing that Jeffrey Jeturian is helming it to guarantee its quality. If her archrival, Nora Aunor, also had an entry, that would generate more excitement for the indie fest.”
Hot on the heels of our recent article on the best and/or most seminally instructive movies ever made, now comes some film buff’s query about those exceptional movies’ local counterparts: “What are the titles of the most outstanding Filipino movie productions ever filmed?”
Actor-director Perry Escaño’s “Alibi” won first runner-up, Most Popular Film in Competition, at the International Film Festival Manhattan, held recently in New York. The 15-minute short film stars Richard Quan and Yutaka Yamakawa and was an entry in this year’s Gawad CCP Short/Narrative Feature Festival. Produced by Triple MP Productions, “Alibi” had a screening at the Quad Cinemas on Nov. 12. “I’m happy that my first short film made it to New York,” Escaño said.
An independent drama that explores the loneliness and missed opportunities of an ailing, 70-year-old gay man is testing Philippine sensibilities about sexuality and hoping to advance in the Academy Awards’ foreign-language film competition next year.
Indie filmmaker Rico Maria Ilarde finds it “daunting” to recreate the late Ishmael Bernal’s “Pridyider,” an episode from the first “Shake, Rattle & Roll” trilogy in 1984.
The beginning of our Cinemalaya movie marathon this year was far from auspicious. Last Saturday, at Greenbelt, the first two screenings we attended (Loy Arcenas’ “Requieme” and Mes de Guzman’s “Diablo”) stopped after 20 minutes, so we decided to refund our ticket for the third title on our list, because we didn’t want to risk another annoying no-show —which was a pity, because both films began exceedingly well.
Music video and television commercial director, Marie Jamora, makes her feature-length directorial debut with “Ang Nawawala” at the 2012 Cinemalaya film fest.
Indie filmmaker Khavn de la Cruz decided to unveil his latest work, “Kalakala,” in Cagayan de Oro City, which was ravaged by floods triggered by Tropical Storm “Sendong” last year. De la Cruz, whose short film “Pusong Wazak” competed in Berlin last February, chose to premiere “Kalakala” on March 10 at the Barangay (village) Nazareth [...]
TIME may not heal all wounds, but the hope is that it can at least mitigate them.
Indie movies are hailed as the salvation of the Filipino movie industry, but insiders know that the independent film scene has its share of clunkers and shysters. The more embarrassing tics and shticks on the indie scene includes the exploitation of poverty situations for the delectation of judgmental cineastes abroad—the better to fly high on [...]
