Student films in the Age of Woke
I INITIALLY thought of writing about some of the nominated films up for Best Picture in this year’s Academy Awards, specifically some of the titles that sort of broke the usual Oscar mold of feel-good or libertarian choices in the course of its glitzy history. It would be interesting to write about the two frontrunners whose directors are non-American: Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron whose much-lauded Roma about an indigenous domestic helper is poised to become the first foreign language film to win the trophy should it happen, to Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos’ female-driven period powerplay The Favourite. But in a way, these films, which may be welcome diversions from the usual biopic or dramatic duds in the Oscar tradition (this year it goes to the disappointingly dull Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book), they are still products of Hollywood packaging meant to reward the business of marketing film as commodities.
Last week, I was asked to judge two student film festivals in Davao: MUGNA (Cebuano word for create)
UM’s student film festival, like ADDU’s Mugna, is also guided by a theme— “Pagtagad,” which could simply mean a call to or act of giving utmost attention. Perhaps this is a broader thematic point that I did not feel there was a conscious guidance or anchoring, which resulted into diverse stories, but also one that does have a connecting thread—and that is the current state of the youth in a time when societies all over the world is slowly tipping towards authoritarian regimes.
My favorite, Amiga Tika (You’re My Friend), is a story of a friendship betrayed, but the world in which it revolves shows the neglect of adults while attempting to question the impact of the drug war on the youth and their vulnerability amidst its heightened popularity. But more than neglect, the films seemingly show a pattern of absence of adults particularly parents—from the tragic story of siblings in Ate, the intriguing sci-fi attempt that poses the question of identity in the age of social media in
Unseen, the interconnected lives affected by poverty in Magkasumpay, even to the Groundhog Day-ish ghost story in Hulat. Seeing these films, “Pagtagad” then gains a meaningful thematic standpoint after all.
The youth is also the center of two films I saw at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSUIIT), where I was invited as programmer and convenor of Pasalidahay, along with Davao filmmaker Bagane Fiola, to present short films exhibited in the past ediKEY tions of Cinema Rehiyon, a flagship project of the NCCA Committee on Cinema that celebrates regional films (wrote about this in last Sunday’s column). Aside from the Pasalidahay-curated films, MSU-IIT also presented four short films produced by their Kalilas Film Guild, two of which I was able to see in one of the programs: Joy Dalman’s Anggulo and Arjay Toring’s Para sa Paboritong Anak ni Papa.
Anggulo, which gains a different meaning when the title is separated into two words in the credits, is a short film about the trauma, without being specific about it, brought about by the recent Marawi siege, on a young student. Its patient unraveling up to the climactic, revelatory scene, displays the filmmaker’s attention to details particularly sound. Toring, who is no stranger to regional film festivals, has crafted an elusive, absurdist piece in his new short. Just like his previous film Simulacrum, in which Tokhang is the centerpiece, “Paboritong Anak” has the feel of a puzzle and emerging from it, one feels the need interpret it in various ways—a statement on the absurdity of violence or man’s descent into illogic.
It’s so refreshing to see that none of these student works adhere to homogenous and familiar narratives offered by the mainstream. More importantly, the stories feel closer to home and attain a social relevance that hopefully opens up conversations after it is shown in more venues beyond platforms like Cinema Rehiyon.