Sine Kabataan taps young filmmakers

Singer-performer Aiza Seguerra, who is chair of the National Youth Commission (NYC), has expressed her disapproval of the proposed Juvenile Justice Bill that lowers the age limit of criminal liability of children from 15 to 9 years old.

“There’s no clear data saying that the influx of crime committed by 9-year-olds has become so large to justify this amendment in the law,” said Aiza, incidentally also a member of the Juvenile Justice Welfare Council. “What we need to do is strengthen the implementation of laws.”

As NYC chief, Aiza would “make sure that youth development will not be politicized. I want them to be empowered.”

The singer revealed she failed to finish her college degree at the Conservatory of Music at University of Santo Tomas where she studied for a year. “I didn’t let that stop me. I looked for something I thought I could be good at—singing and acting. Find something you can excel in, then train yourself.”

To encourage the youth to further pursue their interests, the NYC recently tied up with the Film Development Council of the Philippines and the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board to come up with Sine Kabataan Short Film Competition.

This is open to filmmakers ages 18 to 24. The 10 or 12 shorts that will make it as finalists will be showcased along with their full-feature counterparts during Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino from Aug. 16 to 22.

The short films must be about any of the following topics: health (teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, mental health), education (out-of-school youth, bullying, lack of access), security and peace-building (youths in conflict with law, youth in conflicted areas, youth in peace-building), and family values (domestic violence, abandonment, effects of migration).

Shorts must have a maximum total running time of 5 minutes, and should be produced between 2016 and 2017. Entries must be submitted on or before June 30. The finalists will be announced on July 5.

‘Reflexive Cinema’
Meanwhile, director Peque Gallaga’s 2005 action-comedy “Pinoy/Blonde” opened the “Reflexive Cinema” series held on May 20 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City (CCP).

Throughout the movie, which Lore Reyes wrote, two cousins (played by Epy and Boy2 Quizon) argue on who the better filmmaker is between the late National Artists for Film Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal.

“The debate is valid,” said Gallaga to a group of film enthusiasts present during the screening organized by the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film or Sofia. “It’s our love letter to the movie industry, to Brocka and Bernal. They were both personal friends.”

Screenings for the “Reflexive Cinema” series at the CCP will be held every second Saturday of the month—except in August and January—until February 2018, according to Sofia president Vicky Belarmino.

The series was called as such because all the films “will be about filmmaking by Filipinos,” explained programmer Teddy Co. “A reflexive film is a movie that looks in on itself, like at a mirror.”

To be featured on June 20 will be two documentaries by Nick Deocampo about Filipino prewar cinema.

“Then, in succeeding months, we’ll have rare films that were set in the old movie studios, with real-life stars of the postwar era playing characters who are mirror images of themselves,” explained Co, who is also a board member of Sofia and chair of the National Committee on Cinema.