This Week @ Cinekatipunan

THIS WEEK AT CINEKATIPUNAN:

Monday, 11 December

MALAYSIAN INDIE SHORTS PROGRAM featuring 6HORTS by
Amir Muhammad
To be presented by Sharaad Kuttan

A cross-section of contemporary and independently
produced Malaysian short films. Curated by Kuala
Lumpur-based filmmaker and human rights activist Mien
Lor who produces documentaries and social films for
www.komas.org and organizes the only human rights film
festival in Malaysia www.freedomfilmfest .komas.org.

Amir Muhammad has an impeccable knack for highlighting
the ridiculous in things we all take for granted as
normal. This is particularly evident in his collection
of short films, 6HORTS, where routine activities such
as custom checklines and Friday prayers go under the
matter-of-fact view of his lenses. He is the acclaimed
director of the films Lelaki Komunis Terakhir and The
Big Durian.

Sharaad Kuttan is an Asian Public Intellectuals Fellow
(Malaysia). He is currently in the country doing
research on the Intellectual Life of Filipinos through
the Prism of the University and the Social Sciences.
He's otherwise a freelance writer and critic on visual
culture and film in Malaysia. He is co-editor of a
book on cultural politics in Singapore, "Looking at
Culture". He has recently started exhibiting in art
galleries, and has now made his first documentary AUTO
FOCUS INDIA.

Tuesday, 12 December
Paolo Villaluna and Eleanor “Ellen” Ramos: ILUSYON
(2005/Digital/ 100mins)

Set in 1958, ILUSYON tells the story of Miguel, a
young man from the countryside, who decides to visit
his father, Pablo, a modernist painter in Manila. Upon
his arrival, he discovers that his father has decided
to leave for the province to heal from depression
after the recent death of his wife and Miguel's
mother. Miguel opts to stay in Manila for a vacation--
where he finds a job as a house painter and realizes
that city life might fit him well. One day, he meets
Stella, a nude model originally scheduled to pose for
Miguel's father. Struck by her beauty, Miguel does the
unthinkable- - he pretends to be his father. He
pretends to paint her and hides his doodles from the
unwitting Stella. Developing a relationship based on a
lie, things turn for the worse when Stella begets a
strange skin disease that turns off Miguel. Surrounded
by strange characters, Miguel is driven into a
frenzied realization about beauty, lust, love, and
being true to one's self.

Paolo Villaluna started his roots in theater, acting
and directing several theater productions before
joining Mowelfund's Animation workshop in 1996 and
Documentary Workshop in 2000. He has worked as
assistant director in Nick Deocampo's "Mother Ignacia"
(1998,) "Pedrong Palad" (2000,) "Edades" (2004) and
National Artist Eddie Romero's "Faces of Love" (2006.)
His first documentary, "Palugid" (Margin) won the Best
Short Film plum in the 24th Gawad Urian, Prize for
Documentary at the 2000 Gawad CCP Para sa
Alternatibong Pelikula at Video, the Audience at
eKsperimento International Film Festival and the 1st
runner up in the 2001 Kodak International Short Film
Competition and has been screened/competed in several
international competitions. Ellen Ramos is a respected
film director and has also worked as production and
set designer for s number of films of Nick DeOcampo.
Her animated film The Other Side of the Volcano has
been screened in festivals aborad. Along with four
other filmmakers, Ellen runs the alternative artspace
called Blacksoup Project in Cubao X.

Wednesday, 13 December
Raymond Red: SHORT FILMS

Raymond Red has the distinction of being the first
Filipino to have won a Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film
festival 2000 for his short film Anino (2000). He is
regarded as one of the leading Filipino independent/
alternative directors in the country. Raymond is also
part of the sector of alternative filmmakers who
sustained alternative cinema through short filmmaking.
Born in 1965, Raymondd took after his filmmaker and
painter brother John. In 1982, he took up painting at
the UP College of Fine Arts (CFA). His interest
shifted to filmmaking and photography after viewing
Russian and German films at the University of the
Philippines Film Center (UPFC). Since UP was not yet
offering formal courses in filmmaking then, Raymond
settled for the next best way to learn: he enjoyed
every workshop the UPFC sponsored. Nowadays, Raymond
is regularly giving workshops to aspiring filmmakers
in the country.

Thursday, 14 December
LGBT Night (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Films)
To be followed by ANG LADLAD Program

Mark dela Cruz: MISTERYO NG HAPIS
(2006/DNarrative/ 15 mins)

Pa-siyam is a Filipino traditional ritual of praying
for the soul of the dead for 9 consecutive nights. On
the last night, Jay, a young professional gay theater
actor joins his mother in praying for the soul of his
dead father for the first time. For every mystery
prayed, all the painful past of Jay unveils. In the
end, will all the mysteries of sorrows turn into
mysteries of joy?

Reposted from
http://manilagayguy.com/2006/11/08/cinemanila-now-showing/

Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo: BABAE
(2004/Digital/ Narrative/ 20 mins)

BABAE is a coming of age story of two women who grew
up together in the city slum community beside railroad
tracks. They become best friends during childhood,
shared dreams during teenage years and eventually
started a family during adulthood when a child
accidentally entered their lives. Real Stories of
Women and a Man were added to give this color to this
black and white film A mixture of Drama, Comedy,
Musical and Fantasy that will surely touch the Pinoy
Heart in You.

Best Direction, Short film category, Cinemalaya
Independent Film Festival 2005.

Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo received her Certificate
course in Theater Arts at the University of the
Philippines, Diliman QC. She did many films,
commercials, and theater works as a director,
promotion manager and an actor. She took up advanced
directing in UP Diliman and had work for a year as a
storyteller for "Adarna" books, and Japan Foundation.
She is a member of Dulaang UP, Tanghalang Pilipino and
other prestigious theater companies in Metro Manila.

Reposted from
http://www.culturalcenter.gov.ph/cinemalaya-babae.htm

Paolo Villaluna: PALUGID
(2000/16 mm/Documentary/ 18 mins)

A striking sequence of shiny white urinals in a public
toilet opens the film. The filmmaker’s monologue tells
the personal story of his first sexual experience with
a stranger at 14, and the loneliness of looking for
sex in the margins of society as a gay man. Shot on
16mm, the film uses optical effects and a gliding
camera to convey emotional images of rushing clouds in
the wind and passing night traffic.

Best Short Film, 24th Gawad Urian; 2nd Prize for
Documentary (Film) at the 2000 Gawad CCP Para sa
Alternatibong Pelikula at Video; Audience Award
eKsperimento International Film Festival; 1st runner
up in the 2001 Kodak International Short Film
Competition.

Reposted from
http://www.yidff.jp/2001/cat043/01c067-1-e.html

Ms. You Porny: BEHIND THE APPEARANCE
(Cambodia/2006/ Digital/Document ary/7 mins)

Pich Sokchea, 39 years old, is a man, but his
appearance and attitude are that of a woman, and he
carries the identification card with the gender of a
female. Sokchea has long hair, painted nails, wears
women’s clothes and walks like a girl. Because of his
behavior and appearance, Sokchea finds difficulty in
getting a job in Cambodian society. Most Cambodians
discriminate on gays especially like Sokchea.

Ms. You Porny is a female year IV student at
Department of Media and Communication (DMC) at the
Cambodia Communication Institute in Cambodia and will
graduate with a Bachelor’s degree of media management
in May 2006. During her Media management course at DMC
she learned certain subjects such as Research
Methodology, Online Media Research, Interview
Technique, TV and radio script writing. She used to
work for media campaigns at the Women Media Center,
and has worked for Support Children and Young People
Organization (SCY) as a producer and reporter in the
field of Tele magazine that produces stories and
documentaries sponsored by the UNICEF.

(Behind the Appearance synopsis and screening copy
along with Ms. You Porny’s profile courtesy of Libay
Linsangan Cantor)

Friday, 15 December
Amable “Tikoy” Aguiluz VI: FATHER BALWEG, REBEL PRIEST
(1986/16 mm/50mins)

Fathr Balweg, Rebel Priest, is a documentary film that
tells the story of a revolutionary group in the
Philippines to which Catholic priest Conrado Balweg
belonged. Father Balweg fought dictator Ferdinand
Marcos. After the dictator was deposed and Corazon
Aquino became president, she sent a representative
(her brother-in-law) to talk to the rebels about their
demands. This meeting is recorded in the second half
of the documentary. Father Balweg, Rebel Priest, has
been featured at the Toronto International Film
Festival.

Tikoy is one of the leading figures in the alternative
cinema movement in the Philippines. A product of the
University of the Philippines (Comparative Literature
and Fine Arts), he is acknowledged as the co-founder
in 1976 of UP Film Center where he served until 1990
as Assistant Director. He was a recipient of the John
D. Rockefeller III Grant to study filmmaking at the
New York University and film archiving at the Library
of Congress Film Archives in Washington, DC and the
Mhuseum of Modern Art in New York. A British Council
Grant led to further film studies and training in film
archiving at the British Film Institute. He had worked
in various capacities for film projects with other
important Filipino directors his senior, including
thhe late National Artist Lino Brocka. He first made
his mark with the 15-minute documentary, Mt. Banahaw,
Holy Mountain. The film won Silver Trophy at the
prestigious Young Filmmakers of Asia Festival in Iran.
Tikoy plunged into full-length feature in 1984 with
the acclaimed Boatman.

Saturday, 16 December
Campus-based Filmmakers:
UST Moving Concepts feat Ateneo Loyola Film Circle

Based at the University of Sto Tomas College of Fine
Arts and Design (UST-CFAD), UST Moving Concepts
represents a cross-section of the emerging talents
from the academe that is set to perform a significant
role in the development of Philippine cinema. Armed
with their faith and video cameras, these artists from
the country’s oldest pontifical university are out to
evangelize film not only as an art form but as a force
that begets change. Mag:net is proud to present the
early works of young cinema artists Nolan Rae S.
Fabular, Tracy Beverly G. Santuyo, Michael L. Custoya,
Janina Myka S. Mercado, Monica Lea Timbas, Sandra A.
Santiago, Edwin Dalisay JR, Chantily Tan, Francis John
P. Pacheco, Natasha Karla C. Arevalo, Julius
Sebastian, Francis Raphael V. Nuguit, Benedict Edward
Manalo, Karen Manalastas, Patrick Miguel Jimenez.

Loyola Film Circle (LFC) is Ateneo’s premiere film
organization. Now in its 9th year, LFC has been the
forefront in creating and fostering film culture in
the university. Through the advocacy of film
appreciation, exercise of film production and
promotion of film criticism LFC continues to strive to
cultivate such culture.

Centering on the said three facets, LFC activities and
events include talks & forums which develop film
literacy, workshops & seminars which enhance skills in
criticism and production and film screenings &
competitions which highlight and promote artistic
excellence. LFC has produced some of the fresh
groundbreaking directors of today like Sherad Sanchez
( Ang Huling Balyan sa Buhi, Cinema One Originals
2006), Bobbi Bonifacio (Numbalikdiwa, Cinemanila 2006)
and of course its moderator Quark Henares (Keka, Wag
Kang Lilingon, Super Noypi). It has been home to
different production groups like Steady Bears and
SPORKforSHORT, and currently houses Shadow-Light and
Sit-in productions.