A scene from “Luntiang Paraiso”
Ogie Tiglao’s short film, “Luntiang Paraiso (Green Paradise),” was invited to two festivals abroad.
First stop for “Luntiang Paraiso” was the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, “a qualifying event for the Academy Awards, and one of the region’s biggest short film fests.”
The Short Shorts event was held in Tokyo and Yokohama—where Tiglao’s film had three screenings earlier this month. Tiglao’s short film focuses on a love triangle involving two men and a tree. The Short Shorts fest’s website says that Tiglao’s “awkwardness and knack for finding humor in unfunny, mundane and… inappropriate situations help him write stories that are unique… and meaningful.”
The fest’s website relates that “nearly 9,000 films from over 140 countries were in the running,” but only 250 titles were selected for the event, which is ongoing in Japan until today.
Meanwhile, Tiglao’s film will have its European premiere at the 17th Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, in Switzerland, from June 30 to July 8.
Tiglao’s film was also part of the market of the International Short Film Festival of Clermont-Ferrand in France. Last February, another Filipino short film, Sheila Anne Mae Manacsa’s “Kung Wala Nang Tulad Natin,” debuted in Clermont-Ferrand. —BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR.