By way of short films
What these winning student filmmakers have to learn from Steven Spielberg
In his latest film, director Steven Spielberg presents a coming-of-age story centered around Sammy Fabelman. Throughout the film, we follow Sammy and his love for making short films using his family’s 8mm camera. He starts by filming a toy train set crashing into other toys, in an attempt to recreate what he saw in the cinemas. Later he would move on to making short films with his friends and family, slowly discovering the magic of filmmaking. Through Sammy, Spielberg shows the rough start he had to go through before he could find his start in the film industry.
It’s clear that Spielberg’s love for cinema started through making short films, which is why it’s wonderful to see that locally, Adamson University’s Silip@Lente has put a spotlight on aspiring filmmakers through “REALIFILM 2023 | Haze of Truth: Underlying Gap of Life,” an interschool film competition in collaboration with the AdU Cultural Affairs Office. This year’s theme was “Romanticizing Life and Social Issues.” It took place end of January at the AdU Theater.
Among the submissions, nine short films were created by Digital Cinema and Convergent Media students from the Far Eastern University (FEU) Department of Communication, particularly written and directed by Luke Salazar,
by Josh Van Ulric Ocampo, by Sydney Dominic Roxas, by Ely Baculo, by Frangel Obien,
Heels On by Daniel John Sanchez,
Hilahil by JD Mardo,
Please Let Me Know by Patrick Pangan, and Save the Last Dance for Me by Kaloy Cabarrubias competed with 17 other student finalists. FEU DepComm program chair Herwin Cabasal lauded the FEU films for being “proud to tell the stories of the unheard and explore the gaps in today’s society.”
Of all the entries,
managed to nab the most awards. It received the REALIFILM Golden Award, the Award of Excellence, the Award of Virtue, Best Screenplay, and Best Director, for its story that revolves around a queer individual talking about their inner child in a very mundane setting.
where chaos erupts as an uninvited guest interrupts three men having a casual drink, managed to win Best Supporting Actor for Ron Gabriel Yu’s performance.
which tells an alternate version of the Bible’s creation story, centers on Eve as the first human instead of Adam. It won the Best Film Poster award.
is about a woman who creates an almost perfect life as she co-exists with her younger and future self in an attempt to heal the wounds of trials and tribulations. It received the Best in Musical Scoring award.
In a young man (Aristedes Lamorena, Jr.) meets a mysterious woman (Bjorn Pestaño) in the middle of a forest. Mesmerized by her beauty, he is determined to pursue her, and they develop a deep connection. It was presented with the Best in Production Design Award.
follows the story of a nine-year-old boy who simply wants to keep his long hair against the wishes of the adults around him. The short previously received recognition, landing the Best Short Film and Best Director awards at FEU’s “LIKHANG MULAT: Gabi ng Parangal 2022.” has a young boy connecting with a tree that fell in front of his house, leaving others to tease him about being the son of a kapre, a giant creature from Filipino folklore that lives in a tree and enjoys smoking. The short film is one of the finalists in the Young Voices section of Sine Halaga 2 and Sorok Short Film Festival.
Other entries include
which revolves around two old men, who hang out every day in a local coffee shop, reminiscing about their bittersweet past.
is about a young father wearing fabulous clothes and heels as a dance teacher at a studio in Cubao. He arrives home thinking his daughter is clueless about his work.
With hope, all these short films will inspire its crews and directors to dive deeper into their passion for filmmaking. Perhaps someday, they’ll become a cinematic great alongside Spielberg.