“ANG DAMGO ni Eleuteria”
Three films, including Sari Dalena’s award-winning “Ka Oryang,” have been stricken off the lineup for the Cinema One Originals Festival in Cebu City, to comply with SM Cinema’s policy prohibiting the showing of “R-18” movies, said festival director Ronald Arguelles.
Films rated “R-18” by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) are those that contain nudity and/or violence and are strictly for persons 18 years and older.
Aside from “Ka Oryang,” which is about female political detainees during martial law, Sherad Anthony Sanchez’s “Imburnal” and Ivy Baldoza’s “Mga Anino sa Tanghaling Tapat” were crossed out of the festival’s Southern edition, to be held at Cinema 3 of SM City Cebu starting Satur.
“Ka Oryang” bagged four awards, including best picture, in the 7th Cinema One Originals Film Festival held in November 2011.
“We understand SM regulations and will abide by them. We have enough good Visayan-language films to make this festival a success,” Arguelles, also Cinema One channel head, told reporters on Tuesday.
The lineup of Cebuano-made films include “Confessional,” directed by Jerrold Tarog and Ruel Antipuesto; “My Paranormal Romance,” Victor Villanueva; “Di Ingon ’Nato,” Brandon Relucio and Ivan Zaldarriaga; and “Cartas de la Soledad,” Gutierrez Mangansakan III.
Non-Visayan features
Also to be featured are the following non-Visayan movies: Earl Bontuyan’s “Sa Ilalim ng Tulay,” Michael Angelo Dagnalan’s “Layang Bilanggo,” Richard Somes’ “Ishmael,” Dennis Marasigan’s “Anatomiya ng Korupsyon,” Mes de Guzman’s “Sa Kanto ng Ulap at Lupa,” Antoinette Jadaone’s “Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay” and Shireen Centeno’s “Big Boy.”
Expected to attend the five-day fest are indie stars Lilia Cuntapay (best actress winner for “Six Degrees of Separation”), Mercedes Cabral, Franco Reyes, Phoebe Kaye Fernandez, Paul Jake Castillo, Publio Briones III and Van Roxas.
Arguelles said more than 100 entries have been submitted for the next Cinema One fest scheduled in November this year. The 10 finalists will be announced in April.
Unlike in previous Cinema One fests in which participating directors were each given a P1-million grant for production, Arguelles said three of the 10 full-length features—those with commercial potential—will receive P2 million.
The remaining seven films will get P1 million, he added. The filmmakers have also been promised a portion of revenues from their films in the fest.
E-mail mcruz@inquirer.com.ph