CINEMALAYA, CONSCIOUSNESS AND CORONAVIRUS
The Cinemalaya Philippines Independent Film Festival, which is now on its 16th year, has taken on a new path by transitioning into virtual theater for the first time
The Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival will be held on purely digital platforms from 7 to 16 August, as the coronavirus pandemic currently besieging the world has prevented events of mass gathering.
According to Arsenio “nick” Lizaso, president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), “The Cinemalaya Philippines Independent Film Festival, which is now on its 16th year, has taken on a new path by transitioning into virtual theater for the first time. Having been part of the movie industry myself, I can imagine the difficulties of the filmmakers experiencing in completing a film especially now that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many movie companies and directors to suspend location shootings. But in spite of everything, I am grateful and congratulate this year’s indie filmmakers competing in this short film feature category for their determination and passion to finish their cinematic works.”
The CCP co-produced the festival together with the Cinemalaya Foundation Inc.
“Since it started in 2005, Cinemalaya has supported and promoted the production of numerous full-feature, independent films and short films. Many of these films have won awards in local and international competitions and festivals. Through the annual festival, Cinemalaya has showcased various works by independent filmmakers, including for full feature films, short documentaries, Filipino films, classics and art films.”
This year’s film festival, which carries the theme “Stream Consicousness,” can be viewed through Vimeo.
“Early this year, when we started experiencing cancellations of major public gatherings, after a series of discussions the Cinemalaya committee decided that we could actually push through with a dimension for a portion of our Cinemalaya festival, given the whole situation,” Chris Millado related, CCP vice president and artistic director and Cinemalaya festival director.
“Please remember that Cinemalaya was born digital about 15 years ago. Pioneering filmmakers were able to produce these films because the digital technology made it possible for films to be produced in a more practical, in a cheaper way, and throughout the years, because of digital filmmaking, it has been very possible to make a transition to online platforms as distribution platforms. So I think it has always been in the future plans of Cinemalaya to move online or to move much of its experiences online, and this situation has only speeded up the migration to online. Although, as I said, we hope to make this an enhancement of the live screenings and the repeated screenings that we use in our cinemas and our venues.”
Another major difference of this year’s Cinemalaya is its main focus, which will be the Short Films in Competition, instead of the full-length feature films. The film festival awards grants to concepts submitted the previous year so that filmmakers can realized them into feature films, which will compete in the following year. However, because of the pandemic, productions were not able to proceed.
“The 10 shorts this year will be our main competition… and what about the full-length features? Now the finished films from among the 10 feature film finalists for this year, and the 10 for next year will comprise the main competition for Cinemalaya 2021. That is the plan,” Cinemalaya president Laurice Guillen revealed. “Now, like everything else on this planet, COVID-19 has impacted on filmmaking in a way that has disrupted our original plans, timetable and style of work, and Cinemalaya is no exception. It means the feature film finalists who are producing their films for this year’s festival have put their projects on hold until they find a way to shoot their films safely, within the budget during the time of the pandemic. “
The festival is relying on the short films that have been submitted to them.
Millado said, “We’ll be focusing on the works of our filmmakers who have crafted their stories into 15 or 20 minutes of digital video and this year we have 10 new titles which we will be focusing and will compose the main competition section.”
Out of 244 entries submitted, 10 selected short films, which will vie for the best film award, are “Ang Gasgas na Plaka ni Lolo Bert” (The Broken Vinyl Record) by Janina Gacosta and Cheska Marfori; “Ang Pagkalma sa Unos
(To Calm the Pig Inside) by Joanna Vasquez Arong; “Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss” by Sonny Calvento; “Fatigued” by James Robin Mayo; “Living Things” by Martika Ramirez Escobar; “Pabasa kan Pasyon” by Hubert Tibi; “Quing Lalam ning Aldo” (Under the Sun) by Reeden Fajardo; “The Slums” by Jan Andrei Cobey; “Tokwifi’ (Star) by Carla Pulido Ocampo; and “Utwas” (Arise) by Richard Salvadico and Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay.
There will be more short films for the festival as it selected 20 entries for its specially-curated Short Films in Exhibition section.
This year’s film festival, which carries the theme “Stream Consicousness,” can be viewed through Vimeo.
“What used to be in the background of Cinemalaya is now in the foreground in the form of our CCP Gawad Alternatibo para sa Video at Pelikula. As you know, our Gawad Alternatibo even predates Cinemalaya. It was the main platform for emerging filmmakers and in fact a lot of our Cinemalaya filmmakers who have moved on to making full-lengths started as emerging filmmakers at our Gawad Alternatibo,” Millado explained. “This year, our Gawad Alternatibo’s theme is ‘Ligalig.’ Gawad Alternatibo offers a lot of content, and these are divided into different sections or genres… So our Gawad Alternatibo this year will be featuring titles in both competition and exhibition, in animation film, experimental, documentary short features. There will be a section which is curated from various numerous submissions, and this is new this year and quite exciting, emergent media exhibition, which focuses on gaming. These are games or video games that will be on exhibition online at our Gawad Alternatibo.” Included in this section are “Ang Meron Sa Wala” (Beyond Nothing) by Arby and Christine Larano; “Ang Nawalang Haligi” (Pillar) by Sarah Mya Regacho; “Dama de Noche” by Lawrence Sibug; “Grand Gestures” by Cody Abad; “Gulis” (Lines) by Kyle Jumayne Francisco; “Habak” by Paolo Matibag and Mia Salisbury;
“Himagsik ng Hiwaga” (Revolt of the Mystic) by Geoffrey Solidum; “Igib” by Joey Paras; “Jepoy” by Avid Liongoren; “Kung Saan Patag Ang Bundok” (Where The Horizon Meets The Mountain) by Dolliete Echon; “OctoGod” by Shievar Olegario; “Paon” by Seb Valdez; “Pinaka nakapag papabagabag Damdamin” (Most Disturbing Feeling) by Jermaine Tulbo; “Si Gloria at Si Juan” by Gilliano Salvador; “Sumasaiyo,” (Yours truly,) by Jermaine Tulbo; “Tarang” (Life’s Pedal) by Arvin Alindogan Belarmino; and “The Rooftop” by Avirup Biswas.
Other components of Cinemalaya are Visions of Asia, screening award-winning indie films from Asia; tributes director Peque Gallaga and actress Anita Linda; a scriptwriting master class by Ricky Lee; allied festivals such as Eigasai Japanese Film Festival and Cine Europa; documentary section; Cinemalaya Retrospectives, featuring past Cinemalaya films; webinars; and Cinemalaya Campus, among others.
“We are excited to announce that this year we are going to have a collaboration with Kumu which is a gaming app. Kumu is going to be our official livestream partner and they will be covering our awards night which which will happen earlier than usual so that this will give our audiences a chance to check out our winners in screenings online,” Millado shared. “Now, how do we then access these films? We can access these films through our mobile devices, in our homes, where we are comfortable in watching all of these titles. Simply we just need to activate the Cinemalaya channel. Choose the titles that you like, and it will give you, for example, a synopsis of the content, of what the short feature is all about, and then you can proceed to rent or subscribe. When we say rent, you’re given the option to rent a bundle of films or to subscribe to the whole experience at a one-time rate. We will try to make this platform as seamless as possible and easy as possible for everyone.”
The CCP co-produced the festival together with the Cinemalaya Foundation Inc.
Millado said that they also partnered with ABS-CBN’s iWant TV and then TFC Global.
“Cinemalaya, after the two-week festival, is going to broaden its reach through its exciting partnership with iWant TV. We will be streaming our competition films and selected titles from the Gawad Alternatibo as well as other activities with iWant TV which has its reach nationwide. And so this effectively broadens the reach of Cinemalaya content online through this partnership,” he said. “After that, Cinemalaya moves on globally by partnering with TFC Global as it brings our competition films, Gawad Alternatibo titles and even some full-length titles to Filipino audiences in other parts of the world as well as international audiences. Although we are not able to be on site by moving online, we are effectively broadening the reach not only nationwide but to the whole world.”