‘Bold Eagle’ wins best short, leads all-Pinoy program in Canadian fest

Scene from “Bold Eagle”

Winning the best short film award for “Bold Eagle” at the 2023 Fantasia International Film Festival (IFF) in Montreal, Canada, is “incredible news” for its director Whammy Alcazaren, who admitted that the film “is a bit odd and hard to digest.”

“Having an audience enjoy it is a prize on its own,” Alcazaren told Inquirer Entertainment on Thursday night.

The Fantasia IFF, called the “most outstanding and largest genre film festival in North America,” aims to promote genre, anti-Hollywood cinema and assist independent filmmakers. This year’s edition opened on July 20 and will conclude on Aug. 9.

In the film, Bold is trapped at home with his talking cat. He seeks refuge in the strong arms of strange men as they both search for true happiness. Caught in the tangle of technology and social media, he wonders to his cat about his place in the world.

“The pandemic was a strange and difficult time for everyone. ‘Bold Eagle’ is a reflection of what I feel we all went through as a community during the pandemic. We were all stuck at home, trapped and forced to confront our place in the world. The film is really a flurry of all my feelings and thoughts, the chaos that I felt within during these times. I wanted to go out and enjoy life. I wanted to escape for a better life elsewhere. I wished I was just a cat,” Alcazaren pointed out.

“But at the end of the day, I guess all I really wanted to convey through this film is that I am not alone in this. I wanted to evoke this feeling that we had all been feeling at the time. We are all tired. We want change. We all just want to be happy,” the director added.

Incidentally, “Bold Eagle’ will be screened at the 2023 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival as part of the “Festival’s Best: Shorts” section on Aug. 9, 9 p.m., at the Cinema Bonifacio (Meeting Room 2/3), of the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

Director Whammy Alcazaren

Filipino spotlight

“Bold Eagle” is also one of five films included in a program called “Pinoy Party” curated by one of Fantasia IFF programmers, Ariel Esteban Cayer. “I wanted to bring together a number of emerging, up-and-coming Filipino (or Filipino-American) filmmakers under a thematic program,” Cayer said via email from Canada.

“I didn’t set out to do a Filipino spotlight at first, but the program grew organically out of the kinship and similarities that I saw in these short films (shared themes of identity and revolt; a youthful and imaginative energy; a desire to play with fantasy to address social realities, etc.),” he explained. “I thought it would be a good way to highlight and pay extra attention to the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers—some of which have already ventured into feature filmmaking—in the context of what is already one of the most exciting national cinemas in the world.”

The other four films included in the program are the following: Kayla Galang’s “When You Left Me On That Boulevard,” Stephen Lopez’s “Hito,” Glenn Barit’s “Luzonensis Osteoporosis” and Maria Estela Paiso’s “It’s Raining Frogs Outside.”Alemberg Ang, who produced “Bold Eagle,” helped Cayer create the program. “He noticed that the Philippines has been producing very strong shorts in the past years and he asked my help to share some shorts with him. This is a testament to the work of many Filipino producers and directors in raising the level of filmmaking in the country. I can’t be more proud of everyone in the Filipino indie community,” Ang began.

Producer Alemberg Ang

Budgetary constraints

“It’s just sad because it would’ve been nice if we could bring the filmmakers to Fantasia and actually have a Pinoy party there. But we also understand that the current Film Development Council of the Philippines has budgetary constraints. I’m sure those who are able to watch the shorts will enjoy the “party” and see why Filipino shorts are worth celebrating,” he said.

Information about the “Pinoy Party” program can be accessed through this link: https://fantasiafestival.com/en/program/pinoy-party-courts-metrages-philippins.