Short PH docu vies in UK, Dreamanila filmfests

Wazzup Pilipinas!

A short documentary highlighting different pandemic response efforts in the Philippines has been selected to compete in the Lift-Off Global Network Sessions this month and the third Dreamanila International Film Festival from November 19 to 21.

“Maria Leonor,” an open letter-type documentary written and directed by Seymour Barros Sanchez and addressed to Vice President Leni Robredo, also attempts to probe into the Filipino voter’s psyche. It is an offshoot of his full-length project “Leading Lady” which is funded by the Centre for Global Business, Monash Business School, Monash University (Australia).

Based at Pinewood Studios, United Kingdom, Lift-Off features a broad range of new and emerging indie content and focuses on “fostering a digital connection with new global audiences, connecting them with a broad range of grassroots indie film talent.” The festival runs from Nov. 15-29 via Vimeo on Demand.

Dreamanila will also be projected online, with selected films to be streamed on its YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDreamanilaNetwork) on a one-time schedule only. Founder and Festival Director Archie Del Mundo shared that it is “a film festival that does not just exist to provide screening venues, but also fosters creative and professional support to masters and emerging filmmakers to showcase their films to the world with the purest and most creative visions and intentions.”  

Collaborating with writer-director Sanchez on “Maria Leonor” are camerapersons Ariel Alarcon, Charles Cajayon, and Kristin Joy Bactad Jor, sound recordist Darwin Novicio, music composer Tonton Hernandez (“Tuloy ang Laban”), voiceover narrator Eloisa Espino Sanchez, editor, sound and graphic designer and editor John Lanbert Rafols, and creative consultant Richard Soriano Legaspi.

Dreamanila featured 15 films in competition during its inaugural run at the Dream Theater of the then Carl Balita Productions two year ago. When the pandemic lockdown happened last year, over 30 films in competition were screened online via Facebook Live streaming platform on its social media page (https://www.facebook.com/dreamanila). This year, it will be streamed via The Dreamanila Network.

Award-winning filmmakers Joselito Altarejos, Lemuel Lorca, and film scholars Jerrick David and Robert Cerda comprise the Dreamanila 2021 jury panel and board members. Altajeros stressed that “the heart of the festival continues to beat in order to establish a wider reach in discovering more independent filmmakers with ardency of collective, fundamental, and original visions.”

Only 40 films were selected to participate out of more than 500 submissions. The festival has four major competitions – International Full Feature, International Short Feature, Philippine Shorts, and the Screenwriting Division – with the winners to be announced on November 22.

Awards will be given to the Best Film, Best Performance, Best Director, Grand Jury Award, Special Jury Prize, Best Screenplay, Achievement in Aural and Artistic Design, Social Media Award, and Audience Award.

“Maria Leonor” will precede the screening of the opening film “Time of Unrest” by Francis Luscianne J. Gacer on Nov. 19, Friday, 8:30 p.m.

The short documentary can also be viewed at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Center for Campus Art website (www.benildecampusart.com) starting Nov. 24 as part of the online art exhibition “To Differ Digitally 2: Love and Dissent in the Time of Pandemic” from the CCA headed by Architect Gerry Torres and the DLS-CSB New Media Cluster led by Associate Dean Maria Sharon Mapa Arriola. The teaser-trailer of the documentary project can also be found at the CCA channel: https://youtu.be/MdmNu_Mx_EI

TDD2 features live action films, animation, photographs, 2D and 3D models and rigs, texts, audio, applications, software, graphic design, and illustrations. The show looks at the digital landscape as a platform to communicate constructive protest based on love and empathy. This is the second time in four years the CCA is organizing this kind of exhibit with NMC faculty.

For more information about TDD2, visit CCA’s social media accounts on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BenildeCampusArt), Twitter (https://twitter.com/csbcampusart), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/benilde.campusart/) and YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/BenildeCampusArt). 

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