DE LA SALLE-ST. BENILDE FILMMAKERS EARN URIAN NODS

Two alumni of the De La SalleCollege of Saint Benilde Digital Filmmaking program vied for the Best Short Film award at the 41st Gawad Urian last June 14 at the ABS-CBN Vertis Tent in Quezon City.

Kim Timan's "Caramel Child" and Carl Chavez's "Sorry for the Inconvenience" were nominated in the short film category along with Glenn Barit's "Aliens Ata," Keith Deligero's "Babylon," TM Malones' "Bawod," Dennis Hubag's "Empyreus," Kiri Dalena's "Gikan Sa Ngitngit Nga Kinailadman" ("From the Dark Depths"), Carlo Francisco Manatad's "Jodilerks Dela Cruz, Employee of the Month," Maje Papin's and Ef Orpiada Jr.'s "Lutab," Kyle Fermindoza's "Manggagarab," Roanna Mercado's "Piko," Edmund Telmo's "Redempsyon," Christian Candelaria's "Sa Saiyang Isla" and Xeph Suarez's "Si Astri Maka Si Tambulah" ("Astri and Tambulah").

Set in the year 2003, "Caramel Child" featured Katherine Kaye Jones (Angelica Ulip), or Kakay, the daughter of a call girl, Ellie Pilorin (Sue Prado), and an absent American man. A poster of the Regional Science Quiz Bee and her mother’s American client (Savino Bellini) will trigger Kakay’s curiosity and determination to look for her father.

"Caramel Child" brought home Best Film, Best Director (Timan), Best Screenplay (Timan and Lino Balmes), Best Performer (Ulip) and Best Musical Score (Marcus Santos and Joseph Salcedo) at Pelikultura: The CALABARZON Film Festival 2018. The film also received the Best Screenplay award at De La Salle University’s Indie Un-film Festival 2017 and it is also one of the finalists in the short film category of Cinema One Originals Festival last November.

"Sorry for the Inconvenience" is about a timid teenager (Ronwaldo Martin) who comes home one night after being beaten up by the school’s bully. With revenge on his mind, the teenager decides to take matters into his own hands. When things don’t go as planned, he is left with no choice but to seek help from his policeman father (Simon Ibarra).

The film won Best Short Film at Cinema One Originals last year and it also competed at Cinemalaya.