Bunot at the FACINE16: the 16th annual Filipino American Cinefest

FACINE16: the 16th annual filipino american cinefest
Start Time: Friday, November 20, 2009 at 1:00pm
End Time: Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 5:00pm
Location: Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library



The FACINE festival is the longest-running festival of its kind in North America that features films by and/or about Filipino/a and Filipino/a Americans. Now on its 16th year, the festival runs for two days, November 20-21, 2009 at the San Francisco Main Library.

Artistic Director/Film programmer: Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr.

Schedule of screenings:

Friday, November 20, 1-5 pm

PROGRAM 1
Our stories from the 'hood
1:00-2:00 p.m.

Legend (Mark Villegas, dir & prod; 5 min, 2009)

Got Book? Auntie Helen's Gift of Books (Florante Pete Ibanez, dir; UCLA Department of World Arts & Culture/Center for EthnoCommunications , prod; 8:45 min, 2005) - short documentary on Helen Brown, the founder of Pilipino American Reading Room & Library

Sounds of a New Hope (Eric Tandoc, dir; Mass Movement & Sine Patriotiko, prods; 41 min, 2009) - Tandoc follows Filipino American rap artist, Kiwi, through his work with youth both in the US and the Philippines where he uses music to raise political consciousness.

PROGRAM 2
In a weird, crazy world of my neighbors:
Hilarity ensues when Filipinos celebrate reunion;
imagination soars through moments of craziness and mayhem.
2:00-3:00 p.m.

The Reunion (Pio Candelaria, dir/prod; 3 min, 2009)
The San Miguel Family Reunion (Theophilus Jamal & Joel Rosal, dirs; MojaStudio & PhlipFLIX Productions, prods; 14:23 min, 2008)
Alice, Interrupted (Theophilus Jamal, dir; MojaStudio LLC, prod; 10 min, 2009) – A special preview screening
Bunot/Husk (Ivy Universe Baldoza, dir/prod; 7:08 min, 2008)
Nekro (Crisostomo Juan Andaluz, dir; Carl and Carl Productions, prod; 19:01 min, 2008)

PROGRAM 3
Special Premiere US screening
3:00-5:00 p.m.
Handumanan/Remembra nce (Seymour Barros-Sanchez, dir; Red Room Productions, prod; 85 min, 2009)
Filipina model/actress ChinChin Gutierrez stars as romance novelist faces the difficult changes in her career and life.

Saturday, November 21, 10 am-5 pm

PROGRAM 4
The Filipino, undaunted
10:00 – 11:30 a.m.

Gami dad Lnumfig/We, the Oppressed (Nerve Macaspac, Audrey Beltran, dir; 32 min, 2008)
- The indigenous peoples of the Philippines are still a people suffering from neglect and discrimination.

Kinulayang Kiti/Hand-painted feathers (Richard Legaspi, dir; Red Room Productions, prod; 24 min, 2009)
- A young boy yearns to have his own painted chick believing that it can bring back the life of his father shot in a picketline.

The Momentary Enemy (Angel Velasco-Shaw, dir/prod; 24:30 min, 2008)
An experimental documentary that explores a century's worth of war rhetoric and filmic representation from the dawn of last century's Philippine-American War to Vietnam and the Iraq War. Features interviews with Reynaldo Ileto, Howard Zinn and Ninotchka Rosca.

PROGRAM 5
What of woman, herself empowered
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Life Begins at O'Farrell Street (Peggy Peralta, dir/prod; 3 min, 2005)
Hello, My Name is Clarisse (Peggy Peralta, dir/prod; 3 min, 2005)
Killeg/Long life (Golda Mae Bao-ag Pay-ong, dir; University of Makati Film Society, prod; 9:52 min, 2008)
Soledad is Gone Forever (Mabel Valdivieso, dir; Cesar Viana Teague/Haiku Films, prod; 14 min, 2006)
Always Faithful (Sam Wellington, dir/prod; in association with South of Ten, Abyssinian Moon Productions, Palindrome Pictures, prods; Esperanza Catubig, star; 13 min, 2008)

BREAK
12:30-1:00 p.m.

PROGRAM 6
Special US Premiere screening
1:00-3:00 p.m.
Puntod/Baby' s tomb (Cesar Apolinario, dir; Arlyn de la Cruz/ADC Productions, prod; 111 min, 2009)
A daughter of Manila's slums dreams of having a dignified burial space for her mother, forges deep friendships with an old blind man and other children.

PROGRAM 7
Special US Premiere screening
3:00-5:00 p.m.
Anacbanua/The child of the sun (Christopher Gozum, dir; Sine Caboloan, prod; 105 min, 2009)
The filmmaker's love letter to his province, Pangasinan, in text and stunning visuals.

All films are either in English or in different Filipino languages (Tagalog, Bisaya, Pangasinan, etc.) with English subtitles.

A short Q&A with filmmakers in attendance follows after all screenings.

All screenings are FREE to public.

Ryan Diño's Short Film: "Ang Ibig Sabihin ng 'OK Lang'

On location Caltex, Filinvest

What does 'OK Lang' really mean?

Filmmaker Ryan Diño


Ang Ibig Sabihin ng 'OK Lang'Short film in Exhibition - CineManila Young Cinema Night 2009  
(Philippines, HD, 2009)
Running Time : 20 minutes
Original Language : Filipino / English
Subtitles: English

Cast:
Ina Feleo
PJ Lanot

Writer, producer, editor and director Ryan Nikolai Diño
Creative Consultant and Assistant Director Vicente Garcia Groyon
Line Producer Janus Victoria
Cinematography Rain Yamson II
Production Design Lai del Rosario
Music Ado Ortiz
Sound Design Paul Fabregas
Production Manager Heather Europa
Art Director Wilson Alba
Storyboard Artist Ray Anthony Diño
Makeup Artist Lala Nuevaorlanda
Co-producer Lui Villaruz
Production Companies HAT Films, Creative Playground Productions, KIÑO

Synopsis
About two twentysomethings caught somewhere between friendship and love, set in 21st century urban Manila.

Support the indies!

Janus Victoria's Dalaw in Competition at CineManila

A few months ago, I did the production design for Dalaw which led to a lot of scuttering about and nagging people for props.



The short premieres in competition at the Young Cinema Night Programme of Cinemanila 2009
Dalaw
Running time 15:00

Local superstition has it that those who have passed on continue to visit their loved ones. A young woman trying to heal from a failed relationship seeks refuge in her grandmother's house and discovers her grandmother is grieving the loss of her friend. The two find solace in each other as they inhabit their private world of loss and remembrance.

Writer, Director, Producer: Janus Victoria
Cinematographer: Carlo Mendoza
Production Manager, Cherish Brillon
Assistant Director: Ryan Nikolai Dino
Production Designer: Ivy Universe Baldoza
Sound: Pete Marquez
Music Jerrold Tarog
Editor: Janus Victoria
Cast: Che Ramos, Ada Dino, Miranamedina

Bunot at the 25th Los Angeles Asia Pacific Film Festival

Bunot was shown as the opening short for the feature film, Jay.

JAY
(Philippines, 2008) Dir: Francis Xavier Pasion
Video, 96 mins, Color, Narrative, Tagalog w/ES
A gay schoolteacher, Jay is brutally murdered and the story begins with a reality TV show that documents Jay's death. While the show features his death, grieving family, interviews with colleagues and Jay's lover, it soon becomes clear that this concept of "reality" owes much to the entertainment value of the material being shot, and the expectations of the television audience.

An Eternity of Comic Covers

I guess this guy David Campbell said it best about the site, "They have a metric assload of scanned covers and you will waste an entire afternoon at work looking at them."

Their lab section gets way too geeky. They have all sort of games where you can complete the covers by dragging around pieces.

For the geek at heart, this is a good find:
CoverBrowser.com

Cine Barangay 2008

The Cinemanila Cinebarangay screenings were held last November 20-22 at the Marikina River Park with subsequent stops at the most populous residential areas in Manila. Participating shorts and documentaries are from the roster of award-winning shorts and features from Dekada Cinemanila.

“Cinebarangay’s idea is to take [to the barangays] select films from Cinemanila and a host of indie films [that have] Pinoy stories. What we really want to do is make these movies accessible to everyone by screenings in public or open places like markets or plazas.” - Cinemanila founder Tikoy Aguiluz on the Inquirer.

Also premiered at Cinemanila's Sine Barangay are two short films directed by former Eraserheads band members Ely Buendia and Marcus Adoro. Plus film workshops by renowned local filmmakers: Raymond Red, Lav Diaz, and Raya Martin.



The wonderful photos were taken by Estan Cabigas

Handumanan (Remembrance)

Script selected to the 3rd Produire au Sud Film Workshop, 6th World Film Festival Bangkok P500,000 grant approved by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). To premiere in February 2009, during the celebration of the National Arts Month

Director: Seymour Barros Sanchez
Writers: Richard Soriano Legaspi and Seymour Barros Sanchez
Produced by the NCCA and Red Room Productions
In cooperation with the Katorse Writers Group (from Ricky Lee’s 14th scriptwriting workshop), Pixel Art Media Production Co., On Cam Productions and the University of Makati Film Society

About the Director and Writer
Seymour Barros Sanchez is an instructor at the University of Makati Center for Performing and Digital Arts, a special lecturer at St. Paul University Manila (SPUM), and founder and adviser of the University of Makati Film Society (UMak FilmSoc) while Richard Soriano Legaspi is a part-time instructor at the University of the East (UE) College of Fine Arts in Caloocan. They merged their knowledge of mass communication and fine arts to come up with the story.

Synopsis
“Handumanan” (Remembrance) is a story of three people who seem to have lost hope of their worlds until their fateful encounter in a resort in Negros Oriental. Solita Locsin/Soledad Miranda or Sol, 36, is a romance novelist who shuns her publisher’s demand for her to write erotic pocketbooks. In addition, she is suffering from choriocarcinoma, a terminal illness, so she decides to quit her job and takes that long-delayed journey back home in a place near the more popular university town of Dumaguete. Alejandro Tan or Lean, 21, wants to be a writer but he is trapped in his job at the Commission on Audit after finishing accountancy upon the wish of his mother. He also wants to escape from a world which has been harsh to his family. Carlos Silva, 23, a Brazilian print ad model, is searching for his roots and his blog is his main connection to the other side of the world. After Sol finds out about blogging from her niece, she makes use of this new tool to continue writing. This sets up a connection with Carlos who finds her blog in the Internet and wants to meet her. On the other hand, Lean is assigned to audit in Dumaguete but his escapist attitude leads him to Sol, whose romance novels play a significant role in his life.

Produire au Sud Nantes 2008

Produire au Sud Nantes
november 26 - december 2 2008


This year's selection:

LE FILS DES DJINNS (WELD EJNOUNS) - Algéria
Director: Yasmine Choukh
Producer: Amal Chouikh

HARRAGA BLUES - Algéria
Director: Moussa Haddad
Producer: Amina Haddad

ADDICTED TO LOVE - China
Director: Hao Liu
Producer: Teresa Kwong

RX - China
Director: Ronin Hsu
Producer: Chen Tian Yu

LOVE TERESA - Colombia
Director: Ana Sofia Osorio Ruiz
Producer: Tatiana Villacob

JUEGA VIVO - Panama
Director: Enrique Perez Him
Producer: Irina Ruiz Figueroa

THE TOUR - Malaysia
Director: Chris Chong Chan Fui
Producer: Joanna Lee

LE VENT DU SUD - Sénégal
Director: Djibril Saliou Ndiaye
Producer: Ousmanes Sall

OUR GRAND DESPAIR - Turkey
Director: Seyfi Teoman
Producers: Yamac Okur and Nadir Operli

my grace is gone

Anything and everything that happened yesterday is long gone
and cannot be changed.

KOLORETE

KOLORETE (3PM, FEU AUDITORIUM)
Directed by Ruelo Lozendo, Written by Sherad Anthony Sanchez
Cinematographers Maisa Demetillo and Albert Banzon

SYNOPSIS
In a town where friars and landlords ruled the laymen and peasants, trust is a foreign word. As they prepare for a play as despedida for the Alcalde Mayor who was dismissed by the town’s friar, suspicions heat up, unraveling secrets that could change the course of their history. The afternoon the play is staged, everyone vows to take control of one’s own fate.

-----

I have yet to see the film though. I've heard they have very promising thesps =)

Husk at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival

24 hrs post-Bangkok call

Weng: So how was Bangkok?
Me: Great! Intense… gained 10 lbs from the hotel’s buffet
Weng: So where’s my Love of Siam?
Me: Oh, that! I tried really, but they tell me sa malls the film is ‘finished’
Weng: Finished?
Me: They mean it’s unavailable… must have ran out.
Weng: It’s a hot film anyway, I wouldn’t be surprise.
Me: I got you Last Life instead. yun Last Life in the Universe ni Pen-ek.
Weng: What’s that Last Life? Sci-fi?
Me: No, no, no you have to see it. Besides it’s the only Thai DVD with English subs.
Weng: Okay. Met any Thai filmmakers?
Me: Yeah around 4-5 of them and they have jobs. Day jobs in advertising
Weng: Wow, lucky for them. You’re such a bum noh?
Me: I know. I know…
Weng: And freelance doesn’t count as a real job!
Weng: Ano pa? Is Thailand better than Pinas?
Me: Mmm… they have their own alphabet. Ours is dead. They have a nice MRT and better tees. The Thais are such fashionistas… so hip. But it’s hotter there… like sauna-hot! Pawis to the max!
Weng: Ganun? So do I get a film fest tee?
Me: No you get a DVD lang. I gave away all the tees now.
Weng: Bitch ka talaga!
Weng: … and the gov’t called nga pala… they want their money back. So get your short done.
Me: Aack!
Weng: You have till Christmas.

6th World Film Festival Bangkok

Produire Au Sud takes The Tour

Malaysian director Chris Chong Chan Fui and producer Joanna Lee was selected from the 3rd Produire au Sud Bangkok workshop to present The Tour at the Produire au Sud, Festival of 3 Continents, from November 25 to December 2 in Nantes, France.



A man is pleased when he receives good instruction will sleep peacefully, because his mind is thereby cleansed. - from a book @ the hotel, "The Teaching of Buddha"

3rd Produire Au Sud

The minds of these people mix like milk and water and finally organize into a harmonious Brotherhood.
- from a book @ the hotel, "The Teaching of Buddha"

As part of the World Film Festival of Bangkok, Produire au Sud is a biennial workshop in which indie producers and directors get a chance to talk with industry figures about their films and how to get funding for them. This year's Produire au Sud Bangkok workshop will be held from October 29 to November 1. Six projects have been chosen:

* Stratosphere (Thailand) - producer Hassaya Rimphanawat; director Patavee Viranuvat
* I Carried You Home (Thailand) - producer Thacksakorn Pradubpongsa, director Tongpong Chantarangkul
* The Tour (Malaysia) - producer Joanna Lee; director Chris Chong
* Shadows of Noon (Philippines) - producer Vanessa Ulgado; director Ivy Universe Baldosa
* Balaan (Philippines) - producer Oscar Nava, director Ray Gibraltar
* Remembrance (Philippines) - producer Eloisa Espino-Sanchez, director Seymour Sanchez

They will make their pitch to producer Elise Jalladeau, screenwriter Miguel Machalski and sales agent Emilie Georges.

I Carried You Home previously came away with cash from the Asian Cinema Fund. Director Tongpong's short, Wings of Blue Angels, is part of this year's World fest program.

some theories

i have some theories to what possibly led to this episode. my life for the next 2 weeks is mainly centered online, as i cannot walk until the "maga" on my spine subsides, it has compressed some nerves, making walking, sitting, standing - so rudimentary and basic motions, simply painful. my neurologists calls it spinal stenosis with some problems with my L1 to L3 (vertebrae numbers). now i am stuck to this orthobed which as hard as sleeping on the floor. i am so whiny.

the cause of my muscle spasms is my constant WRITING, my constant hours EDITING, my endless addiction to the laptop. Being stuck with one position for too long is not good, the spine to protect itself from further injury will create these spasms. so WORK, enslavement to long hours with very little pay has lead me to the hospital plus spinal rehab therapy.

again, matigas ulo ko, i am blogging again. i can't resist. 3 hours of staring at the ceiling will drive me crazy, 15 hours doped out on valium and xanax makes me feel like a zombie. worst i think i had a reaction to the tramadol. i am a monkey typing with one hand supported by massive pillows. memento mori, i am so faced with my mortality now, hell, it has been an interesting life so far.

there were 3 deaths every week last May, my fave uncle George from a stroke complication. My cousin from a battle with brain cancer for almost 4 years. He fell and hit his head hard during a basketball game. The resulting 'bukol' got surgically drained, but grew back into a cancerous mass. His wife left him and on his funeral she refused to let his son attend. ipinagdamot pa, such heartlessness caused greater pain for the tayag clan.

but my emotional theory on what led to my bodily breakdown perhaps has more to do with her death which i took so hard and to this day to heart. i sorely miss her. she was my mother, when my own mother was a stranger to me while growing up. my mama let was larger than life and a lot of people loved her, and people came to her funeral in troves and she wasn't even a politician. she died a month ago from kidney failure and complications from diabetes. i wish i had given her a better life. i think that is my great regret.

Crestfallen

This is my second MRI in three years, and to be inside that thing, is like close to being buried alive. Once inside the tube, I make it a point not to open my eyes, it can easily trigger claustrophobia. Imagine the space between your nose and the wall of the tube are just one centimeter apart. You see no one and hear the plotter chart a course of your body, drumming out a whole pinikpikan-like chorus next to your ears. There is no pain involved, just a lot of anxiety lying there for 30 minutes, wondering if the end result will unveil the start of my demise.

Again, I am lucky.

My first MRI of the brain, showed no mass , but scarring. My neurologist then assured me, I have a lovely brain. So the cause per se of my blackouts are not really clear, again it is an x-file, one of those chronic things the body does to protect itself. My neck curvature had straightened, so everything is attributed to muscle spasm. My second MRI this year, to my lumbar spine, showed 3 bulging discs, but enough to cause pain or alarm. Again, everything is about muscle spasms to my spine and what do you know, they discovered I had inborn levioscoliosis. To which, the mri doctor declares I am lucky that the curvature hasn't changed a bit since birth.

I think my whole hospital trauma wasn't much on the spine pain I had to deal with. But with my stay at the ER to which I witnessed 2 deaths and an actual defibliration. wow those things really zap people to life.

what struck me most, is that there is so much kindness among pinoys, they like praying over or offering prayers to strangers. It happened twice to me. First by a doctor, then second by an old devout catholic lola who insisted I take her Mother Mary rose petal oils to rub on my back. She had time enough to convince me while her husband was being transfused with blood with all these thick needles on his arms.

The nurses are so unbelievably young and hot, they have these nice florence-nightingale like uniforms, the cut is very vintage. and my attending er physician, happened to be my old blockmate from UST, i think we were in botany class together. i was in good hands.

im glad Mkti med is finally doing renovations, gawd their wards are so old, you would think it was a provincial hospital ward from the 70s. for the same price, you'd get a nice hotel-like semi-private room in Medical city which feels like a modern day airport.

i guess it was a matter of timing that i won some cash from the Viva PBO thing, cause every penny went to my hospital bills. what irony.

Filipino Short at the 9th Seoul International Film Festival (Senef)

In downtown Manila, a man spends his afternoon waxing his floor to a
good shine. This is what encompasses the whole 7 mins of the short
film, Bunot(Husk).

Bunot (Husk) is directed by Ivy Baldoza and is currently in
competition at the 9th Seoul International Film Festival- Short Film
Category. From 820 applications of short works from 40 countries, 90
works from 17 countries were selected for the 2008 roster. The
International Competition listing may be viewed at
http://senef.net/senef_2008en/program/program_main.php?cd=201

Screenings will be held at the SpongeHouse Joongang 2 theater on June
5th – June 11th in Seoul, followed by online screenings of the
international competition roster on the SIFF website from June 5th –
August 15th.

SIFF formerly known as SeNef highlights the developments,
opportunities and challenges presented by digital technologies to
artists and the industry. It serves as a presentation platform for
filmmakers and technologists to share and exchange ideas,
contributing in its own way to the worldwide community of evolving
cinematic art forms. For more information visit SIFF at
http://senef.net

Adrift on Another Short

this is a project based on mental tabs and notetaking at odd hours. this was also the secret shell i would hide in, to forget about the impending grief in the family -someone close to me in a terminal state; a long, hard wait for that last breath that would free her from all the pain in this world.

i wanted this short to grow on its own and this is where it had gotten me. i am pleased with it, on a personal level this is what i wanted. life in urban manila, not in the outskirts, but where our generation often is, working and tied to an office chair, a slave to routine.

the whole process of shooting was a matter of chance. thanks to Janus, I got Jen to agree to play the part of the girl perennially waiting or Arvin to come home to their love nest. if it wasn't meeting Arvin in Berlin, I would have never gotten him to play the part. arvin is a very funny guy who likes to shock the Africans at the BTC off with his supposed bolitas. a daring bluff and absurd point of conversation, but arvin's persona is just like that, unpredictable- he seems to feed off the attention or he's just crazy to be in character all the time. that's just my opinion anyways.

i'm taking my time with this short, its all about missed connections and creating new ones at different tangents; its about being miserable, heartbroken and broke.

Midori Hirano provides the ethereal tracks for the short. Her dreamy music sums up a lot of the mood and emotions I want to convey. she is a japanese electronic artist who loves to blend computer textures with traditional music by way of piano, cello, violin, guitar and digital equipment. I got to talk to her while waiting to get into the Dine and Shine event, my fingers were freezing, and our breaths were vapors trailing away into the cold air. Midori opted to leave the last minute, catching the next bus to the japanese embassy. there were a lot of maybes and possibilities back then.

i'm in post right now, i'm trying to see if i need more shots of Jen. I feel there isn't enough of her in good light. There were two shooting days where the weather was extremely cloudy.

there isn't any conclusion to the narrative of "the measure of space between A and B", just a long drawn out process of reflecting and absorbing, just like grief, until you learn to accept it for what it is.

Out of breath and still swimming

A lot of what I do is pretty much a self-serving experiment, but if it gets shown somewhere. I still suffer much for it. When I made this short it was to compensate for a very weak portfolio, I pretty much only had one short to show for. I'm gunning for three by June, I feel very manic lately, I need more eggs in the basket. Its all about getting that door to further open while my foot is still stuck there, haplessly bleeding. I think its my good fortune people have been nothing, but nice lately.

Now with SIFF, I need to get an HD tape transfer, I think that's the part I didn't expect at this point. I only have a few days left to get this done and I'm tearing my hair out.