Looking for the next Coco Martin
By Bayani San Diego Jr.
Every year since the Cinemalaya auditions started in 2006, the independent film festival has attracted a steadily growing crowd of aspirants.
Every year since the Cinemalaya auditions started in 2006, the independent film festival has attracted a steadily growing crowd of aspirants.
A Filipino filmmaker, an Oscar winner and a Cannes honoree picked the movies for the “biggest cultural event in the Arab world.” Indie director Khavn de la Cruz will premiere his new film “Aklat ng Bagyo at Dilim (The Book of Storms and Darkness)” at the 11th Sharjah Biennial, set in the United Arab [...]
Two Filipino filmmakers, Lawrence Fajardo and Jun Robles Lana, have made it to this year’s Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum, one of Asia’s “most prominent co-production platforms.” Fajardo’s “One Thousand” and Lana’s “Barber’s Tales” were selected to be part of the pitching forum. “Only 25 forthcoming projects have been chosen for this event,” Lana [...]
About 150 local movies were shown last year, but many of them were screened “only” in film festivals. Cinemalaya, still the country’s premier indie showcase, has become more accessible, because of its satellite screenings at Greenbelt and TriNoma.
After clearing airport security, before boarding a flight to Dubai Tuesday afternoon, United States-based filmmaker Benito Bautista sent Inquirer yet another text message of thanks for his citation from the 3rd Inquirer Indie Bravo! Tribute on Monday night.
Hamming it up. With his bamboo camera, Kidlat Tahimik “shoots” a fellow honoree, filmmaker Auraeus Solito.
Once again, the annual Inquirer Indie Tribute gathered the most widely acclaimed Filipino film artists—from actors led by Nora Aunor and Eddie Garcia to directors Brillante Ma. Mendoza and Adolfo Alix Jr.—in a well-attended, but intimate, family-type gathering on Monday night.
Independent films will now be spared of the first day-last day syndrome, or their pullout from theaters after one day due to poor ticket sales.
The heavy downpour on Sunday night failed to dampen the spirits of cineastes and participants of the 8th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival who trooped to the Main Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City for the closing ceremonies of the 10-day festival.
Having established a name in show biz—and what a big name it is—Marian Rivera feels it’s time she tried something different from the goody-two-shoes heroines she typically portrays.
“This is positive news. It will protect Filipino filmmakers,” said award-winning director Brillante Mendoza of a new government directive for the National Film Archive of the Philippines (NFAP) to collect and preserve locally produced films.
Most of the “traffic” between indie and mainstream films has favored established stars gracing independent film productions with their presence, despite the much lower talent fees they get. Why do they agree to act for a relative pittance? Because indie scripts offer them the complex, challenging characters they generally don’t get to play in mainstream TV-film productions.
