Still no full-length films in Cinemalaya 2021, 13 shorts competing

Kyle Nievas’ “Kids on Fire”

This year’s edition of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival will still exclude the competition category for full-length features as a result of the pandemic. It will, however, have 13 shorts battle it out for the best film award.

Instead of having a three-week run online, the annual indie fete will be held for four weeks, from Aug. 6 to Sept. 6, and will be streaming on ktx.ph. However, Cinemalaya will have a “hybrid setup” this year, meaning it will attempt to do live streaming in one of the outdoor venues of its former home, the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City.

Cinemalaya officials made these announcements on Wednesday afternoon during a virtual media conference, where the directors of the 13 short film finalists were also introduced.

Competing for best film are the following: Arjanmar H. Rebeta’s “An Sadit na Planeta,” Kevin Jay Ayson’s “Ang mga Nawalang Pag-Asa at Panlasa,” Shiri de Leon’s “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Lola Mayumi,” Kevin Mayuga’s “Ate O.G.,” Myra Aquino’s “Beauty Queen,” Marc Misa’s “Crossing,” Alphie Velasco’s “Kawatan sa Salog,” Kyle Nieva’s “Kids on Fire,” James Fajardo’s “Looking for Rafflesias and Other Fleeting Things,” Che Tagyamon and Glenn Barit’s “Maski Papano,” Jonnie Lyn P. Dasalla’s “Namnama En Lolang,” Enrico Po’s “Out of Body,” and David Olson’s “The Dust in your Place.”

Jonnie Lyn Dasalla’s “Namnama En Lolang”

According to Cinemalaya’s main competition and monitoring chair Jose Javier Reyes, the short film finalists were chosen from 200 entries after spending “a great number of hours deliberating on which should be included in the lineup.”

“Personally, this made me feel inspired because I see the passion in these young filmmakers, as well as see changes in the language in filmmaking that’s brought about by the pandemic. I realized that it’s all a matter of perspective, of how you look at the filmmaking process in the present times,” Reyes pointed out.

In 2020, it was announced that the eight full-length films that were supposed to compete will join the 10 other finalists of the 2021 edition. However, this will not push through this year.

Laurice Guillen, Cinemalaya Foundation Inc. president explained: “At the start, we were unsure of when we would have the vaccinations, but then, thankfully, we had the guidelines and protocols, which meant that in order to observe them and shoot these films, there has to be an increase of about 30 percent in budget. Of course, that was next to impossible at that time. As you know, even without this problem, the filmmakers are always dealing with a really tight budget. As a way of getting around this, we’ve decided to delay their shooting until such a time that they would be able to raise the needed funds through their co-financiers.”

Enrico Po’s “Out of Body”

Guillen added that the festival’s experience with the pandemic has given its organizers the opportunity to assess what they have been doing in the past few years. “Apart from thinking of ways we could solve this problem of the pandemic while shooting in the new normal, there was also the assessment of perhaps we could make some changes even if our vision for Cinemalaya remains the same. We also decided to allow changes, for example, by allowing commercial film producers to participate as co-financiers. In the past, this is purely independent. Now, we’ve agreed to this for as long as we kept true to our vision.”

Festival director Chris Millado has agreed that there were a lot of lessons learned from last year’s run. “One of these is that our viewers in 2020 wanted a longer time in terms of getting a chance to watch the films. That’s why we decided this year to extend the run from three to four weeks,” he explained. “Last year, we were on a learning curve in terms of online streaming. We were one of the firsts to have done this, so there was a bit of a challenge especially for our viewers to go online and to sign up. This year, we partnered with ktx.ph. Hopefully, these concerns will be addressed.”

Guillen added that while all these were short-term solutions, the Cinemalaya Film Institute has also come up with long-term ones with five new training programs that are geared toward preparing the new filmmakers to shoot in the new normal.

Alphie Velasco’s “Kawatan sa Salog”

“There are two screenwriting programs, one for production and one for assistant directing,” Guillen declared. “However, the biggest thing we’re doing this year is the creation of a film lab, which will be part of the competition process in the 2023 edition.”

The Cinemalaya Film Lab is a three-month-long film laboratory mentorship program happening from September to November 2021. “Those who will make it to the semi-finals will be attending the laboratory, where experts and experienced professionals can lecture them and mentor them about the artistic, creative, technological, as well as the business aspect of filmmaking.

“By the time they’re through with the film lab, we’re confident that they’ve already come up with a shootable script and already know what’s in store for them, not just in terms of exhibition but also distribution,” Guillen added.

For more updates, visit the CCP and Cinemalaya websites, as well as follow their official social media accounts. INQ