PH docu wins in Australia

“The Landscape Within”

“The Landscape Within,” a documentary directed by Manila-based Italian filmmaker Andrea Capranico, won best cinematography at the 10th Byron Bay International Film Festival, held recently in Australia. Darlene Catly Malimas, the film’s producer, told the Inquirer that Capranico also shot the documentary, which tells the story of Eric Nui Cabales, a Filipino costume designer, photographer, body painter and conceptual artist.

The documentary chronicles Cabales’ quest “to find new directions after the death of his father.”

The artist returns to his roots in the Visayas and finds Kayama, a place “where the river and the sea meet, the landscape of his memories and the inner source of his inspiration.”

It earlier won best sound (for Los Angeles-based Yu-Ting Su) at the Apollo Awards, held in Singapore, beating HBO Asia’s “Halfworlds.”

Malimas recalled that the docu “took four years to finish … but it was all worth it.”

According to its website, the Byron Bay fest is an event that “fuses artistry, education and innovation, enhancing [the audience’s] worldview [as well as the] collective social dialogue through the power of film.

Apart from celebrating technology, this year’s fest tackled “rapidly growing immersive storytelling and [the] creative opportunities created by virtual and augmented reality.

In previous editions, the fest screened over 220 films from 36 countries. —BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR.