Variety at Sinag Maynila film fest
RETURNING for its fourth year, the Sinag Maynila Film Festival presents five full-length features which have yet to grace Philippine cinemas ( but which may have been presented in international film festivals) alongside six short films and six documentaries.
“[This year] we didn’t consider the year of production,” festival director Brillante Ma. Mendoza said during the launch on Feb. 21 at SM City North EDSA, Quezon City.
Sinag Maynila was the brainchild of Mr. Mendoza and Solar Entertainment president Wilson Y. Tieng and was initially started to screen films that appeal to an international audience.
“Sinag Maynila is here not to compete with other film festivals. We are here to become venues for filmmakers so they can show their films,” Mr. Mendoza said.
“We decided to make it less restrictive because, at the end of the day, we want to have good films regardless of [date of ] origin or anything. The only [ stipulation] is that it hasn’t been shown yet in the Philippines,” Mr. Tieng explained.
Included in this year’s festival, which runs from March 7 to 15, is Ralston Jover’s Bomba (2017) which tells the story of a deaf/ mute taking on the toughest jobs made more difficult because of his condition. Bomba’s Allen Dizon and Angelline Nicholle Sanoy were named Best Actor and Actress respectively at the 33rd Warsaw International Film Festival in Poland.
Meanwhile, Abomination (2015) by Yam Laranas is a story about the search for identity. A woman found unconscious in a city street is brought to a psychiatric hospital. There she claims to be someone — who it turns out has been brutally murdered two months before. She then escapes in order to prove her identity.
El Peste ( 2018) by Richard Somes is about a man who works for a pest control company who enters into an illicit relationship with a client. The film, which has been in development since 2013, will be shown for the first time in theaters at Sinag Maynila.
Melodrama/ Random/ Melbourne! (2018) by Matthew Victor Pastor — about a feminist documentarist, a pickup artist, and a virgin, and how the lines between reality and fiction blur and blood is shed on the streets of Melbourne — is billed as “Cinema-oke,” with lyrics of songs in the film shown on screen.
Completing the Sinag Maynila lineup of full- length finalists is Joselito Altarejos’ Tale of the Lost Boys ( 2017), about the friendship and romance between a Filipino mechanic and a Taiwanese aborigine, highlighted by a road trip which reconnects them with their mothers and the discovery of identity and freedom.
Aside from the full- length films, Sinag Maynila will also be screening six short films: Cesar and Magda (2017) by Pamela Barrios, Firestarter (2017) by Jill Urdaneta, Halusinasyon (2018) by John Agcalis, Kalye FM (2017) by Tom Nava, and, Pompoms (2017) by Angelo Amar and Odin Fernandez.
Completing this year’s festival are six documentaries: Am-amma (2017) by Dexter Macaraeg, Halaga ( 2018) by Vandam Arambulo, Mahal (2017) by Janine Santos, Journeyman (2017) Albert Almendralejo, Tsuper (2018) by Rina Abary, and Voltaire (2018) by Jaimee Bernardo.
Sinag Maynila will run from March 7-15 in select cinemas in SM North EDSA, SM Manila, SM Bacoor, SM Megamall, SM Fairview, SM Sta. Mesa, SM Southmall, and SM Mall of Asia.
For more information, visit www.sinagmaynila.com or follow its social media pages. —