Mapúan wins POV grand prize

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An experimental film from Mapúa University recently won the top prize at the 18th Piling Obrang Vidyo, an intercollegiate film competition managed by the University of the Philippines Cinema, a student film organization based at the UP College of Mass Communication in Diliman.

The triumph of “RAMBUTAN,” directed by third-year Digital Film student Shayla Claire Perales from Mapúa’s School of Media Studies (SMS), was enough to push her school back to its winning ways in the film festival circuit after a long drought during the pandemic.

This is Mapúa’s second Best Film victory at the UP filmfest following Celina Mae Medina’s “Ophelia” in 2019. Mapúan filmmakers Hiyas Bagabaldo (“Sins, Senses and Saints”), Tricia Sotaso (“Ang Pagkalaglag ng Ginintuang Salamin ng Pagkakilanlan”), and Lloyd Reyes (“Ang Mambabarang at ang mga Taong Pinatay sa Limot”) took home POV’s Best Experimental Film prize in 2016, 2017, and 2019, respectively. SMS Multimedia Arts alumna Beverly Ramos also won Best Documentary at POV for “Dory” in 2018.

Perales, who submitted “RAMBUTAN” to Dr. David Corpuz as a project for Experimental Film Production, previously received a Special Citation for Subject Matter for the same film from the VanGarde Experimental Film Festival last year. It is a collaboration between Perales and her fellow writer, cinematographer, and editor Shiela Mae Tanagon. Composer Ryan Mangaliag provided original music.

Perales shared that she cannot express how grateful she is for the award and how unexpected it is. “RAMBUTAN is a very dear film to me because its concept came from my little brother, Shawn. He went into my room before and asked me, ‘Ate, gusto mo Covid?’ and then handed me a rambutan. From there, the film was born!” Her brother likened the appearance of the edible fruit to the coronavirus.

In the film, a rambutan interacts with an orange and suddenly doubles its number. The oranges rot every time they interact with a rambutan. Bananas use their capabilities to clean the rambutans and help address the chaos, to no avail. Fruits start to protect themselves with plastic, but others still die.

Meanwhile, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde film majors CM Bautista, David Edric Collado, and Xyron Parapara hauled six major prizes this year. Bautista bagged the Jury Prize and Best Screenplay for “Pig’s Game” while actor James Ramada was awarded Best Performance for the same film. Collado’s “Salamin” secured Best Editing and Best Sound Design while Parapara’s “Taya” got the Viewers’ Choice award.

Kukay Zinampan of UP Diliman earned Best Direction for “Nang Maglublob Ako sa Isang Mangkok ng Liwanag,” a tale of two friends who ponder on mundane things during the pandemic. The film also merited Best Production Design and shared Best Performance award for Jzar Tabilin and Serena Magiliw.

Sophie Casasola of Far Eastern University won Best Cinematography for “Waltz of Qualm” by Francis Tavas. “Tara, Laro Tayo!” by Ben Francis De Lima and Patrick Demition of University of Santo Tomas was awarded Best Music/Original Score.

“Mga Salitang Inanod” by Gabriel Carmelo of UP Los Baños received the Cinemasters’ Choice award or garnering the highest number of votes among UP Cinema members while “An Eidolon Named Night” by Hans Piozon of UP Diliman was given the Lansangan Award for best embracing this year’s POV theme.

The POV XVIII jury is composed of filmmakers Carla Pulido Ocampo and Ligaya Villablanca, actress Therese Malvar, and film critic Jason Tan Liwag.

Benildeans haul 6 awards in UP filmfest

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De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde film students recently took home six prizes from Piling Obrang Vidyo (POV), an intercollegiate film competition managed by the University of the Philippines Cinema, a student film organization based at the UP College of Mass Communication in Diliman.

DLS-CSB film sophomore CM Bautista, whose works “vary from issues tackling personal struggles, social abuses, and political commentary,” received the Jury Prize and Best Screenplay for his short film “Pig’s Game” while actor James Ramada was awarded Best Performance for the same film.

Benilde Culture and Arts Unit scholar David Edric Collado won Best Editing and Best Sound Design for his film “Salamin” while fellow Benilde film student Xyron Parapara’s “Taya” got the Viewers’ Choice award.

In “Pig’s Game,” Al San Miguel (Ramada) is a run-of-the-mill theater actor who got involved in a deliberately planned audition for a government propaganda campaign. A director and his crew lead the audition in a conventional manner while a famous figure seems to be watching it.

Bautista, who collaborated with co-writer and director of photography Tristan Aguilar and assistant director and sound recordist Warren Clarianes, shared that their film revolves around an organized black propaganda involving murder and it reflects the extent of a person's greed when it comes to politics.

“Pig’s Game” earned the approval of the POV jury, composed of filmmakers Carla Pulido Ocampo and Ligaya Villablanca, actress Therese Malvar, and film critic Jason Tan Liwag, “for its deceptively simple form that turns an otherwise innocent Yes Room into a crime scene, in which viewers themselves take part, buoyed by a strong on-cam performance with seamless transitions between fakery and rawness.”

In “Salamin,” a girl (Kirsten Collado) only has a mirror to keep her company as she lives in darkness. Her life changes when a burst of light emerges. She considers it the only way to escape from the surrounding voices that torment her. Despite the uncertainty of what is beyond the light, she peeks and sees a world better than what she has. Even if she wants to stay, she is unsafe from the voices hounding her.

Working with batchmate and musical scorer Carlo Barredo, Collado experiments and challenges himself to “create imaginative experiences and deliver a story that is deeply personal to him and the viewer.”

“I want to share my art as a sort of release for me personally, as I am not a very talkative person who can simply say what one has in mind. Thus, creating films has become my way of culminating stories and ideas for others to experience and relate to, and for me to continue finding peace,” Collado revealed.

“Taya” tells the story of Leo (Paolo Gratuito), a teenager who has been used to his father Ron’s (Rommel Rubina) frequent absence, as he gets by each day through the care of his mother Anne (Abby Luanzon) and his friends in their neighborhood. Ron is usually jobless, comes home drunk, and hurts Anne.

Parapara used parallelism to show “the childish games and insults would never be the same for Leo” as he chases his friends, after witnessing his father slap his mother and leave. The young filmmaker teamed up with production manager Andrea Salio, cinematographer Jan Christian Dijan, and editor Tyrone Luanzon in “Taya,” which won the viewers’ nod “for significantly evoking connection with the audience.”

Apart from Bautista, Collado, Parapara, and their production team members, fellow Benilde film majors Aki Red and Sef Tafalla also made the cut as finalists to POV XVIII for their films “Kung Alam Ko Lang na Walang Katapusan ang Katapusan” and “Isang Araw Kasama ang Aking Kaluluwa,” respectively.

FEU student films go international

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Two short films made by student filmmakers from the Far Eastern University Department of Communication were officially selected to international film festivals in Argentina and India.

Patrick Pangan’s “We Were Never Really Strangers” got selected to the Romance category of the 23rd Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI), while Jessa Doydora’s “Eklipse” made it to the One Earth Awards 2022 in Bengaluru (Bangalore), the capital of India’s southern Karnataka state.

Both Pangan and Doydora are currently enrolled at FEU’s Communication program under the Digital Cinema track. They are also members of the FEU Film Society, the university’s only film organization.

“We Were Never Really Strangers” focuses on Gio (AJ Sison) and Manuel (Philip Altejos), two strangers who feel a strong connection after a chance encounter outside a church in Pampanga. They find in each other a means of escape from the person they are and who they want to be.

“We are always looking for connections with people, whether we know them or not. But sometimes these people just pass through our lives. It will leave a void or weight that will remain and be carried until it is no longer as big as when it was first felt. They say, these are the people who leave a lesson in our lives. Not easy to let go, to forget,” Pangan conveyed in his director’s statement.

Pangan collaborated with executive producer Francis Tavas, cinematographer and editor Aldrin de la Paz, production manager Lily Gomes, production and sound designer Joyce Macalia, musical scorer Niño Inton, and assistant director Kurt Santos.

Meanwhile, “Eklipse” was inspired by Dr. Jose Rizal’s “Ang Pagong at ang Matsing” (The Turtle and the Monkey). It was initially submitted by Doydora and her Pelikulahar production team as a requirement for their FEU film class.

Doydora also worked with Tavas as producer along with co-writer and director of photography Qi Perez, sound director Karlo Magboo, camera operator Sophie Casasola, production designer and actor Migo Morales, and Morales’ co-actor Glenn Villapando.

The Pelikulahar team has been overwhelmed by their film’s recognitions “but above it, we are happy to have that platform to voice out our advocacy,” Doydora shared.

“Eklipse” previously won Best Narrative at Piling Obrang Vidyo XVI of the University of the Philippines (UP) Cinema student film organization and Realifilm Golden Award, Special Jury Award, and Best Director at Realifilm 2020 of Silip@Lente at Adamson University. It was also a finalist at the 32nd Gawad Cultural Center of the Philppines (CCP) Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video or Gawad Alternatibo.

“We Were Never Really Strangers” also made the cut of the SineDisipulo X Film Festival organized by CINEMATA at University of San Carlos in Cebu.

BAFICI is managed by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Buenos Aires and runs until May 1. One Earth Awards, on the other hand, was formerly called Film Bengaluru and was founded in 2017.