Pinoy environmental documentaries compete in 10th Eco-Etno-Folk Romania
"Bodong (Pactul de Pace / Peace Pact)," an environmental and cultural documentary from advocacy filmmaker Seymour Barros Sanchez, and "Bunker 0: Sumirib Plus (Buncarul 0: Sumirib Plus)," a documentary on the Guimaras oil spill by Jan Philippe "JP" V. Carpio, will compete at the 10th International Festival Eco-Etno-Folk Film from September 2 to 7 at the Slatioara Village, Valcea County in Romania.
Program coordinator Ana-Maria Aelenei informed Sanchez and Carpio that their films have been chosen by Eco-Etno-Folk' s selection committee. "We are congratulating you for this realization and for the presence of your country at this 10th edition of the Festival. We hope that your film will be appreciated by the International Jury of the Festival," Aelenei added.
The festival, which is organized by the National Foundation "Niste Tarani," is open to documentary short films and reportages, less than 30 minutes in length, dealing with subjects either in the Ecological - Environmental - Touristic category, or in the Ethnographical - Folkloric - Anthropological category. It aims to promote films for the protection of cultural and national identities in villages, preserving their rural traditions, and highlighting the consequences of estroying our environment.
"Bodong," co-produced by Red Room Productions and Pixel Art Media Production Company, is about the traditional peace pact entered into by warring tribes in the Kalinga. This documentary seeks to encourage Cordillera people to forge a "bodong" to fight destructive mining and intensified militarization in the region.
On the other hand, Linao Films' "Bunker 0: Sumirib Plus" shows a series of moments involving the people of Sitio Sumirib, Barangay La Paz in the municipality of Nueva Valencia, province of Guimaras, one of the areas most affected by the massive oil spill from the sunken tanker Solar 1 chartered by the Petron oil corporation. The film focuses more on their thoughts and feelings regarding this man-made ecological disaster, and the actions they are taking to somehow cope with very difficult times ahead.
Sanchez's documentary was a finalist in the 2007 Moonrise Environmental and Cultural Film Festival, while Carpio's entry was a part of the "Guimaras: Short Films on the Oil Spill" project comprised of works by 16 independent Filipino filmmakers and organized by the Philippine Independent Filmmakers Multi-Purpose Cooperative and former ABC 5 show "Dokyu: Ang Bagong Mata ng Pinoy Documentaries. " Sanchez also directed a Guimaras short "Pagbugtaw (Waking Up)" starring Carpio as a documentary filmmaker.
In 2005, a Philippine entry, the 25-minute tourism promotion film entitled "Cebu – Queen of the South," won the coveted Horezu City Hall Award at the 7th staging of the International Eco-Etno-Folk Festival.
Sanchez previously directed "Lababo" (Kitchen Sink), the anti-US armed intervention short film which won the grand prize in the first Viva – Pinoy Box Office (PBO) Digitales. The short film went on to represent the Philippines at the 48th International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao, Spain for the first time in more than 50 years and also competed at the 8th International Panorama of Independent Film and Video in Athens, Greece. It was also shown at the Jakarta Slingshortfest (Internal Affairs Program) in Indonesia and the 8th Cinemanila International Film Festival. He also helmed "Shorts," a third prize winner in Digitales 2 which will compete in the 12th Thai Short Film and Video Festival in Bangkok and 14th Bite the Mango Film Festival in UK. He currently teaches mass communication at St. Paul University Manila.
Carpio is a Bacolod City-bred writer and filmmaker who has already written and directed three full-length films shot on video – the first in 2000, "Girl of My Dreams," the second in 2002 "Balay Dakû," and the third in 2007, "Hilo (Thread)." He is a National Commission for Culture and the Arts Cinema Grant recipient for the first full-length film in the Ilonggo language, "Balay Dakû." Apart from a number of pending projects, his fourth full-length film "Palanggâ (The Beloved)" is now in post-production. He is currently a freelance videographer and editor, and a contributing writer n film and art to spacephilippines.com.
Both graduated from Ricky Lee's scriptwriting workshops, with Sanchez a part of the 14th batch and Carpio from the 11th batch. ##
