PUNDAQUIT FILM WEEK

Pundaquit Film Week
Start: March 21, 2009 09:00am
End: March 26, 2009
Location: Casa San Miguel, San Antonio Zambales


Casa San Miguel foundation would like to invite you to the Opening of Pundaquit Film Week on March 21, 2009 at Casa San Miguel Corpus Hall.

Screenings for community schools on March 23-26.

Screening schedule:
9:00 am DOON SA KABILA NG BULKAN
9:30 BOSES
11:00 PUTING PAALAM
Open forum
1:00pm CONCERTO
3:00 HOMING
3:30 THE GIFT OF BARONG
Open Forum

Films and Synopses:

BOSES
Philippines/2008/Fiction/90'00
Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil

Boses (Voices) is the story of a musician named Ariel (played by Coke Bolipata) who offers violin lessons to a child of the slums (played by Julian Duque). Through the violin, the abused child Onyok is able to get back his voice from a mute, desensitized existence. A violin teacher and his student, a mute 7-year old abused child in a shelter, develop a friendship stemming from their love of music. Ariel discovers the immense talent of Onyok hiding behind a veneer of silence and pain caused by an unhappy and cruel father. In the developing relationship of teacher and student, both characters reveal more of themselves that otherwise may have remained unspoken. They discover each other's strengths and failures through the violin lessons.

CONCERTO
Philippines/2008/Fiction/115'00
Paul Alexander Morales

Concerto is about how, in the last part of World War II, a special piano concert is held in the forest outside Davao City, in Mindanao. In these boondocks, a displaced Filipino family, lead by Military Commander Ricardo and his wife Julia, become acquainted with a group of Japanese officers, similarly camped nearby. Their son Joselito, a Japanese speaker, becomes the conduit with the neighboring Japanese. Their daughters Niña, an aspiring concert pianist and the musically gifted, Maria, who is able to play by ear, are alternately repulsed and intrigued by the officers. Family values are questioned as the family treads the thin line between enmity and friendship with the occupying Japanese. Based on true stories from the director's own family history, Concerto celebrates a family whose reverence for life, expressed through their love of music and friendship, can survive even war, and shows how beauty and compassion does grow in even the harshest of conditions.

THE GIFT OF BARONG
USA/2006/Documentary
Benito Bautista

The Gift of Barong is a story of two generations of Filipino-American surfers as they travel to the Philippines for the first time to experience first-hand how it is to be Filipino. Dan Moreno and Jon Villar are the two surfers who never find value in their own heritage, until now. Their trip to the Philippines is a total immersion in a unfamiliar culture, which they have relied on hearsay and written articles. At the end of their trip, both surfers will provide us with highlights of their physical, emotional and spiritual experiences. The Gift of Barong is not only a surfing odyssey, but also a journey of culture reconnection, identity crisis and personal healing.

Short Films:
PUTING PAALAM (The White Funeral)
Philippines/1997/Experimental/30'00
Sari Raissa Lluch Dalena

A bride walks on the desert and symbolically dances for a new heaven and earth to take place.

DOON SA KABILA NG BULKAN (The Other Side of the Volcano)
Philippines/1997/Animation/10'00
Ellen Ramos

A colorful and graceful animation about a tribe that is compensated in a strange way after a volcano erupts in their village.

HOMING
Philippines/2008/Experimental/5'00
Ruelo Lozendo

San Antonio locals release pawikan (sea turtle) hatchlings toward the sea. The Camera slowly moves like a rotisserie.


FREE ENTRANCE TO SCREENINGS
GATE FEE: P200 PER VAN, 100 PER CAR
http://www.pundaquitfestival.com/

CINEKATIPUNAN : CO-DIRECTION / OMNIBUS WEEK

CINEKATIPUNAN : MANORO

Manoro (Brillante Mendoza, 2006)
English Title: The Teacher

Against the stylized eroticism of Masahista (The Masseur, 2005), and the glossy artfulness of Kaleldo (Summer Heat, 2006), Brillante Mendoza's third feature Manoro (The Teacher) feels out of place. Shot in cinema verite style, opening with the confused madness of an elementary school graduation where mothers try to silence their crying babies as little children march towards the principal to get their diplomas, Manoro looks and feels definitively all over the place. The paradox of both cinematic restraint and excesses that dominated Mendoza's last two features is absent from this delightfully heartfelt piece, something I hardly expected from a director who pushes artistic style over human emotions.

The opening titles summarize the premise of the plot: The mountain-dwelling Aetas have been forced to settle in the lowlands by the sudden eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. With their settlements being closer to the government-funded schools of the Kapampangan townships, the Aeta children now have the opportunity to study. Jonalyn, one of the elementary school graduates of the ceremony depicted in the confused introduction and an Aeta, seeks to teach her elders to read and write a day before the National Elections. With Jonalyn's effort, the Aetas, for the very first time, have participated in the democratic process that has existed in the Philippines since the early part of the 20th century.

From the graduation, Jonalyn proceeds to the Aeta settlement to begin her mission of literacy. She brings sample ballots to aid her task. However, upon reaching the settlement, she notices that her grandfather is missing. Along with her father, she treks towards the forest to look for her grandfather. Half of the film details the father and the daughter's hike up the mountain. It gives Mendoza an opportunity to visualize the untouched natural vistas of the Aeta settlement. Up the mountain, Jonalyn begins to review some of the elders how to write the names of the presidential candidates (GMA - FPJ - Lacson) by showing the older Aetas the geometric designs of the alphabet rather than actually educating her tribes members the rigors of reading and writing. Jonalyn's efforts are certainly skin-deep; her purpose is only to train the Aetas for the election day tomorrow, rather than the long term benefits of actual literacy. Nevertheless, the story is indeed heroic, something that, if handled by a more opportunistic director, might turn out to be a tearjerking tale of exaggerated realism. In Mendoza's hand, with the help of Ralston Jover's appropriately detached screenplay, the heroic tale transforms into an examination of the minority group's psyche and their sad but accepted place in national politics.

The fact that most of the film concentrates on Jonalyn and her father's hike, and on Jonalyn's persistent plea to the Aetas to vote the next day (only a few got to vote as most of the Aetas weren't registered voters; and probably only a few of those who actually voted have made valid ballots --- one of the Aeta grandmothers voted GMA-FPJ for president not knowing that GMA and FPJ are two different candidates; the consequences of Jonalyn's shallow re-educating of the Aetas), and the side plot of Jonalyn's missing grandfather, instead of the more conventional tale of the struggle of education against the Aeta's insistent rejection convinces me that Mendoza merely took the real story as a backdrop for his more ambitious designs. It certainly works. There's a feel of ancient tradition whenever the father-daughter tandem walks past the beautiful landscapes of the Pampanga wilderness. At certain points, Mendoza allows us to listen to the Aeta songs which are absolutely delightful; both in their melodic simplicity and the fact that the lyrics depict a sense of centuries-old aching and religion. More painful is when the father relies on his daughter's literacy to obtain a job from a passing Korean (he practices writing his name when his daughter sleeps during the night); Mendoza and Jover seems to acknowledge that the traditions of wilderness survival, of ancient paganist religion, and of all those songs equating the Aetas with the rest of humanity (the Aetas have been discriminated against as being the less civilized Filipinos) aren't enough to keep the minority group from surviving against the 21st century reliance on Western-imposed literacy; that the election the next day is an acknowledged step for the Aetas to pass to modernity.

Probably the most touching moment of the film is when Jonalyn waits for her grandfather outside the polling station. Her grandfather arrives carrying his traditional bows and arrows and a dead wild boar atop his strong shoulders. The grandfather doesn't vote but merely fetches Jonalyn, her eyes tell us a sense of failure on her part. The grandfather and Jonalyn return to their settlement to celebrate the day. The tribe feasts on the wild boar and starts to dance. One of the Aetas asks the grandfather why he didn't vote. He replies with the same pride that has gotten him standing strong against decades of discrimination and minority treatment, "that doesn't make me less of a man."

http://oggsmoggs.blogspot.com/2006/11/manoro-2006.html

CINEKATIPUNAN : TIRADOR

Dancing Dynamites in Brillante Mendoza’s Tirador (2007) July 17, 2008
English Title: Slingshot
Directed by Brillante Mendoza
Cast: Coco Martin, Jiro Manio, Nathan Lopez, Kristoffer King

Provocative, gritty, and reckless, Tirador marks the first time that Mendoza has achieved inimitable completeness. After a foray of haphazard features that gained him substantial fame and following from the international circuit, he now holds this proof of esteemed mastery for all his non-believers like myself to see. Sitting through from start to finish, it feels like Mendoza has randomly placed hydrogen bombs in every corner of the street, every rundown house in sight, and in every character’s body, exploding and swiveling in squalid kaleidoscope, until the seismic pressure is strong enough to melt ideologies and annihilate fluid identities, carving integrity in his name that previously suffers from unfounded fanaticism.

Filth is omnipresent - - it’s as if every frame is shot in dirt, in mud, in despicable squalor. Tirador is a glorious depiction of life on the run, filled with remorseless characters trapped in dog-eat-dog situations thinking only of a way to survive in the city that is both manic and morbid, that gulps them down mercilessly. Unlike Libiran’s Tribu, there is neither insistence to deliver a clear-cut narrative nor sentimentality to justify the horrific and horrified lives of its characters. The shapeless narrative fits right into the eye of the target - - the result is magnanimous filmmaking: rabid, relentless, pounding with deafening force, a brisk style that succeeds greatly in every aspect. Here, no frame is wasted; every shot complements one another. Even particular scenes that probably account for Mendoza’s hasty eloquence are done maturely enough not to affect the brilliance of its treatment - - the worst they can do is stretch the running time, but even that increases the volume of its effective nihilism.

In Tirador, violence is not criminal; it is a way of life. The amoral lives of the marginalized members of its community are reflective of the constant degeneration of Filipino urban culture that once became a paragon of modernity but now drowns itself in the abyss of nomadic living. The ubiquitous faces of shameless politicians that the film subtly shows add to the bewilderment and self-pity that any local moviegoer would feel upon realizing the extent of what these characters would need to go through to support themselves and their families. There is pain in Mendoza’s comic delivery of some scenes - - like when that woman accidentally leaves her denture in the sink, where it falls in the tube and eventually into the adjacent gutter, it shows not caricature but a piteous boundary of emotions, the hopelessness mixed with desperation, the hopefulness mixed with lowly vanity, but the pain is there, waiting to be exhumed. Same goes with those thieves in the appliance store who plead for their lives after getting caught - - and doing it again just a minute afterward - - it captures both the absurd and the profound.

The raid in the beginning is depictive - - dark, stark, and unapologetic; the political assembly in the end is revelatory - - nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. It’s this lack of responsibility from our statesmen and lack of trust from our people that inhibit the progress of our land. This small film, edited in such intense playfulness and accompanied by Barrozo’s haunting score, is a display of a nation’s fall into pieces, slowly swimming along the molten lava of global hegemony and unforgiving political misanthropy. Now I wonder what our history books will tell us fifty years from now.

http://lilokpelikula.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/dancing-dynamites-in-brillante-mendozas-tirador-2007/

CINEKATIPUNAN : KUBRADOR

Kubrador / The Bet Collector
September 25, 2008 @ 05:09 pm by Beth Accomando

As with the San Diego Latino Film Festival's Cinema en tu Idioma, the San Diego Asian Film Festival tries to keep films playing in the community year round. SDAFF's Philippine Cinema Showcase runs in the South Bay at the UltraStar Chula Vista Cinemas, and it brings new films to serve the Filipino community. This week you can catch the San Diego County premiere of the realistic drama Kubrador/The Bet Collector (opening September 26 at UltraStar Chula Vista for one week only), directed by Jeffrey Jeturian. The film has racked up a number of international awards including an armload of Philippine critics awards.

Arnold Marquez runs the Philippine Cinema Showcase, and he says "the main goal is to exhibit films that both the San Diego's Filipino community and mainstream audiences can enjoy. To the extent non-Filipino audience members take advantage of this opportunity to discover a national cinema nearly unknown in the U.S., the Showcase will better acquaint them with the Philippines and lend them an appreciation of some recent, very interesting developments in that country's motion picture industry."

Kubrador opens with a title card informing us of something known as "jueteng," an illegal numbers game rampant throughout the Philippines. It's widespread popularity gives power to those at the top who run it but there are a far greater number of lowly neighborhood bet collectors that are just struggling to get by. One such collector is Amy (Gina Pareño), a family matriarch who runs a small convenience store out of her home. With an unemployed husband and pregnant daughter, she is the only provider for her family and times are tough. So she starts supplementing her meager income by collecting bets. It turns out to be a tough job as many of her customers are not much better off than her. Director Jeffrey Jeturian follows her around as she travels the streets urging and cajoling as many as she can into parting with a few coins for a bet. She's persistent and also something of a gossip as she chats it up with each customer.

Jeturian opens the film with a police raid that sends dozens of people in a numbers racket fleeing through the cramped and crowded streets of Manila. These opening scenes convey a sense of life in the narrow, cluttered alleys of a Quezon City slum. In this world poverty and corruption are constant presences. Jeturian invests the film with energy upfront but then doesn't seem sure where to go from there. So Pareño, with her compelling performance, ends up carrying the film.

Kubrador has enough going for it that it could find some crossover appeal. But Arnold Marquez says trying to quickly (the program only started last month) create a program with crossover appeal is tough. "The series started much sooner than we'd have preferred, so in turn we've simply responded by working correspondingly that much harder. Creating awareness is our chief challenge, followed by budget, as well as many people's conceptual barrier against the concept of having Philippine film available every day, several times a day, for a projected yearlong program."

While the crossover challenge was one to be expected, Marquez also faced challenges in appealing to an increasingly diverse Filipino community: "The generational difference between members of our community is a challenge. The film my parents remember from the 40s and 50s is not the film immigrants from the 70s and 80s remember, all of which is different from the Philippine film of today. Our programming currently deals with such audience segmentation by offering a different type of film each week."

Marquez is hopeful about the future of this program as contemporary independent Philippine filmmaking gains attention around the world. For more information, you can visit their website www.philippinecinemashowcase.org where trailers for upcoming films can often be found. They are also starting an enewsletter that you can sign up for. And Marquez also welcomes emails at arnold@sdaff.org.

Kubrador is unrated and is in Tagalog with English subtitles.

http://blogs.kpbs.org/index.php/movies/comments/kubrador_the_bet_collector/

CINEKATIPUNAN : ASTIGMATISM

ASTIGmatism
March 18, 2008

Visionary
ASTIGmatism 2004 dir. Jon Red 75 min video
by Noelle Angelica M. Seña

The scene is a blur for a moment, before everything comes into focus. This is how Bien (Robin Padilla), an assassin afflicted with astigmatism, sees the world in Jon Red’s experimental film, Astig. The inconvenience of his condition is apparent as we view the entire story from Bien’s unfocused eyes.

This visual disability is used to highlight the concepts of vision and focus, something which Red’s characters are in a constant and often, vain struggle to realize. For instance, Doc, a former gangster turned optometrist, tells Bien, “Sana hindi magdilim paningin mo…sa buhay.” However, through a peep-hole in his office, he is discovered to be handling illegal transactions, unable to escape the life of a gangster.

The film also attempts, although ineffectively, to extend the plight of the characters into a critique of our national situation by reading Amado V. Hernandez’s poem “Kung Tuyo na ang Luha Mo, Aking Bayan.”“Sisigaw ka ng buong giting/ Sa liyab ng libong sulo/ At ang tanikala mo’y lalagutin mo ng punglo” is a resounding call to action.

Initially, Bien is in charge of every situation. He also determines our point of view, such that watching becomes experiencing. Pauses for focusing and blinking are incorporated into the movie. However, the characters in Astig are unable to control their fate because they are entangled in the complicated web of the underworld. Eventually, Bien loses his grip (and control over our visual perspective) when a prospective victim takes over and shoots him.

In contrast with commercial films, which require the flow of images to be snappy in order to hold audience attention, in this case, the delay increases interest. This is only one possibility introduced by the experimental nature of alternative filmmaking.

This digitally produced film was shown at Cinemanila and entered at the Hong Kong International Film Festival before being available on VCD. It belongs to the growing roster of lauded independent films in the country. Digital technology, a relatively new medium in the Philippines, is proving to be a much cheaper alternative for “indie” filmmakers like Red who are not signed with large production companies. Lower production cost encourages Filipino filmmakers to deviate from the formulaic filmmaking used in commercial films.

In the case of Astig, not only was the vision of a person with astigmatism approximated, but bold images and colors also produced an appropriately disturbing effect. After all, digital, or “filmless” films, provide limitless possibilities for visual and stylistic experimentation, being much easier to manipulate than celluloid films. With such potential, filmmakers in third world countries such us ours are faced with an exciting prospect: a relatively inexpensive medium which allows extensive experimentation of visuals and introduces radical developments in filmmaking. In a word, astig.

http://sinewaya.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/36/

CINEKATIPUNAN : PAIN THINGS

Pain Things Philippines 2007

Synopsis : Color-blind: frank stuggles to finish his documentary on the painter Benjie, whom he looks up to, he wants to become Benjie. Love is blind: he is seduced by Julia who lives with Benjie but Frank misses Jenny who just left him. Heart-wrenching. Mind-boggling. What is essential is visible.

Director : Jon Red
Screenwriter : Jon Red
Cinematographer : Ogi Sugatan
Editor : Manie Magbanua
Cast : Christian Vasquez, Che Ramos, Diana Malahay

Bio : Born in Manila, Jon Red studied painting at the Philippine Higshschool for the Arts and at the University of the Philippines. He attended a film workshop at the Mowelfund Film Institute. He wrote and directed his first short film “Es”,which won Jury Prize at the Mondiale dela Video in Brussels Belgium. He also directed the full-length digital “ASTIGmatism”, which won the Silver DV Award at the 28th Hong Kong International Film Festival (2004). “Pain Things” is his 7th full-length work.

http://www.cinemanila.org.ph/2007/04films-digitallokalcomptn.html

CINEKATIPUNAN : ENDO

Jade Castro: Love On A Budget
by Philbert Ortiz Dy

Jade Francis Castro is a bit of a pragmatist. It’s pretty apparent from the tone of first film, Endo, that his feet are solidly planted on the ground, all too aware of the realities that surround us. And from talking to him, there is a sense that’s he’s very practical about his artistry.

But what artistry it is. Endo was easily one of the best films of last year. It told a love story set in the world of contractual labor, where people are trained to accept that everything is temporary. It’s a heartbreaking little tale that says so much with so little. It’s the antithesis of the modern Filipino romantic film, which has degenerated into absurd stories about absurd people falling in love in absurd ways, all in service of promoting the latest flavor-of-the-month love team. Endo attempts to stick to what’s real, and the honesty is refreshing.

But Endo is more than a love story. The genius of this film is that it manages to say something about our society in the most subtle of ways. The idea for Endo began four years ago, on the streets that Jade passed on his way home, where a group of contractual workers walked a picket line, demanding fairness from their corporate master. Around this time as well, Jade got talking to some of his peers, who were working, in own words, “five months-five months.” He began to relate this to his own experience working without permanent status at ABS-CBN.

These elements eventually came together as the spark of an idea. There wasn’t any solid story yet, but Jade knew that the experience was something to be shared. These observations told a much richer story about the state of the nation, of the worldview that everything is temporary. It began as a character study of contractual workers, but as it was pitched to Cinemalaya, it became a love story.

“I originally pitched it as ‘love on a budget,’” Jade says. With just that rough concept in mind, they pitched it to the Cinemalaya foundation, and it got accepted. The crew at UFO pictures began a long process of research, interviewing contractual workers. The bulk of Endo’s story came out of those interviews, adding a layer of intense truthfulness to everything that unfolds in the film.

Jade wanted the film to stick to the truth as much as it could, since he sees the film as a loving tribute to the young contractual workers of today. His goal was just accurately depict the situation without being patronizing or condescending. “I don’t believe that movies change things,” he says. Critics of Endo have bashed the film for not being political enough, saying that the film should have just said everything outwardly. But Jade sees it another way. “It all starts with a genuine observation, with describing the problem.” People don’t like being preached to, and they are smart enough to come to their own conclusions. Jade trusts his audience to start reflecting on their own, without the film having to yell rhetoric in their ears. It’s a refreshing sentiment; people often underestimate the power of realism over social realism.

But for all this talk of political sentiment, at heart, Endo is still a love story. It is primarily a love story; a well crafted one at that. It is the kind of independent film that one can really get behind and fall in love with. And on February 13, it offers up a great alternative for people who are tired of the usual studio offerings.

http://endothemovie.multiply.com/reviews/item/4

CINEKATIPUNAN : KADIN

‘Kadin’
By: Rianne Hill Soriano YEHEY! Contributors
17 August 2007 8:24 AM

Set in the beautiful backdrop of a small Ivatan village in Sabtang Island, Batanes, ‘Kadin’ (‘Goat’) showcases the picturesque mountains, landscapes, and seas of the storm-tattered, northernmost island of the Philippines in the eyes of a young boy who wakes up to find out that the family‘s goat is missing. From here, he sets out with his sister Lita to go on a seemingly impossible search for the goat on the long stretches and terrains of the island.

Writer-director Adolf Alix dedicates a prologue of the islanders’ ritual involving a hog used as an offering – where its internal organs are used as instruments for fortune-telling, and the rest of what’s left is brought home to serve as meals of the family. Given in a strikingly realist form in a real time presentation of how it’s done, this prologue shows how the hog bleeds and dies as an offering.

The story is clear and simple. Along with his sister (Monica Joy Camarillas), the ten-year old boy (Rico Mark Cardona) wakes up and realizes that the family goat (kadin) Gima, the source of livelihood and sentimental memories of the family, is missing. He hides the truth with the hope of finding Gima and avoiding the hurt it entails to his grandmother and father. The story moves on further as the boy journeys to find Gima amidst a brewing storm, the external forces that test his values and morals, and his interactions and relationships with the people in the town and with nature itself. And along the way, the innocent boy gains new insights about the world he lives in, the hard way. The painful route teaches him more about life – where both kindness and cruelty should be dealt upon accordingly.

Alix delivers a story that is safe and accessible. He uses it to its advantage. The story is simple and straightforward; and tension and some form of suspense are established within its given elements. While watching the film, the well-conceived script then surfaces. The necessary elements of a good narrative become apparent in the story. As the boy journeys, there are a series of frustrating episodes, tension, and desperation as chances for recovering the goat gets slimmer. As a kid’s tale where innocence and morals are tested, the characters mount the story to provide a good form of conflict and a very human approach of succumbing to thievery in such faded hopes of finding what is lost.

There is a lot of walking in the film – mostly consisting of long stretches of searching shown like colorful post cards of the unparalleled beauty of the film’s location. And what really makes the film fascinating is the natural beauty of Batanes rendered so grandiosely in the big screen. While this is an edge (as its captured beauty provides wonderful sceneries that many eyes will surely appreciate), the treatment for the film goes a little too far. Alix’s intention in showing the walking and searching mounted in picturesque long and winding roads is validating as it shows the feudal side of provincial life and it keeps up the particular emotional strain coming from the main character to the audience. However, the method of keeping the very long, real time moments that promote the natural flow of time becomes quite superficial already as its use seems quite skin deep still. You know that the real time factor is a method used with particular aesthetic intentions to let the audience feel the main character’s tiring journey; but there is no follow up to this. Given the ultimate walk of time (probably consuming at the least half of the film being the minutes of walk on the same scene for most of the film’s sequences), it could have been a much better route if certain dimensions are added to thicken the intentions with deeper messages or intangible concepts that can play around the minds and touch the hearts of the people watching the journey – aside from acknowledging these long stretches because of the valid strain it wants the audience to partake with the character and the aesthetic showcase of the mountains, blue skies, windy fields, and stone houses. It could have been crafted more effectively if the minutes of walking further touch the soul than just the cerebral mind and the surface of the heart of the audience.

Rico Mark Cardona generally delivers the needed innocence and type of character developed for the story. However, his overall performance still lacks a certain form of tension and emotional longing that could have helped push his character further. At some point, he doesn’t get to carry through the pain to bear but he merely walks the long stretches for the reason that he is asked to walk in such a scene. Maybe this part could have made the long takes more soulful then – if he has been able to pull off the innocent and yet burdened character while walking the winding roads.

‘Kadin’ is about innocence and learning what life is in the grander scheme of things. Its physical beauty is an advantage. Its long takes give a statement. But it goes a little to far that the grandness asks for something more to make it better.

https://www.yehey.com/entertainment/movies/article.aspx?id=176387

CINEKATIPUNAN : BIG TIME

Hitting it big
by Arkeofilms 24 January 2006.
Rianne Hill Soriano YEHEY! Contributors

Starring: Michael de Mesa, Jamie Wilson, Winston Elizalde, Nor Domingo, Joanne Miller

Directed by: Mario Cornejo


Big Time hits it really big during its press screening at Podium last Jan. 16, 2005. The excited crowd composed of press people, artists, staff, cast and friends of Big Time and Arkeofilms started pouring in by 7:00 p. m. for a dose of non-slapstick absurdity and comedy.

This Cinemalaya film is about two petty crooks trying to hit it big time. And their misadventures reflect a fast-paced story backed up with an effective pop-culture treatment from the two young filmmakers Mario Cornejo and Monster Jimenez. Its edgy, ‘Tarantinoesque’ camerawork, stylistically action-packed, comedic, and at some point cynical scenes, witty dialogues and creative story keep a sincerely effective tale of well-established proportion. The entire film seems to reflect the kind of lifestyle and background of the two filmmakers who come from considerably well-off families. But unlike the trying hard to be artsy-fartsy films of some filmmakers who have some money to spend, this film reaches a certain appeal for the critics, the artists, the film buffs and even the mainstream audience. It delivers big time as it breaks from the overused action-comedy formula.

The film’s dark humor greatly supports the well-made script and the characterization. The characters developed in the story are considerably clichés but they are utilized creatively: Jonas and Danny as a tandem of small-time criminals dreaming of hitting the easy score; Melody as a small town’s wannabe actress trying to use her simple charm to climb the ladder; Don Manolo as a local crime lord aiming for more and more power and preparing his son to become the future president of the country; and Wilson as the ambitious psychopath wanting to have fun in making his own name in the underworld business without his father by his side. The common denominator: they all want to hit it big time.

The antic and forceful performances provided by the cast draws the audience into a world of risks and thwarted ambitions. The criminal duo of Nor Domingo (Jonas) and Winston Elizalde (Danny) delivers a good combination of comedy and action and create good and meaningful punchlines for the comic side and the right tension for the suspense part of the story. Jamie Wilson (Wilson) builds up the film’s conflict with his ‘bad guy slash coño-next-door’ nature. The fresh face of Joanne Miller (Melody) – coming back after some few good years from the long-running soap opera Annaluna – as a small town’s pretty girl becoming trapped in a criminals’ world draws a certain kind of empathy from the audience. Michael de Mesa (Don Manolo) gives such a menacing presence, and yet, he still manages to effectively yield to the comic side of the story. Tony Roma (Desi) and Carme Sanchez (Teresa) as Melody’s parents remain on the supporting side and don’t give room for upstaging. A number of cameos from big and established names – including Mayor Lito Atienza, Jon Santos, Soxy Topacio and Ryan Eigenmann (as the younger Manolo) – add to the fun, comedy and action. A number of theater actors and actresses and artists from behind the scenes are seen throughout the film.

For three days of fun, games, love, violence, felony and death, the intricacies of life and hitting the big time are carefully exposed in this film. In a series of metaphors (carefully, figuratively planted ideas as discerned in the cinematography and production design), punchlines, subtexts, and conflicting and complementing needs and wants, the story reflects the point of view of the filmmakers who have been brought up by the modern-day Filipino pop culture. From the music to the composition of the shots to the treatment for this slick, daring, hilarious and fast-paced story, the film ruminates the visions of young filmmakers of our times as they pay homage to the stories and filmmakers they look up to but not in a copycat/rip-off way.

This film tackles a serious issue presented in a light but poignant manner. The story engages in the reality of that Filipino dream as winning the jueteng, bingo or lotto jackpot, drawing one’s name in a big time raffle draw and any other promos, topping huge bets in boxing, horse races and cockfights, becoming a famous actress/actor/celebrity, getting the highest paying job in a renowned company, marrying a rich man/woman, and winning the election. From all these, greed, hunger for money and power, widespread gambling, corruption and pyramid schemes perpetuate in our society. The story gives us time to ponder on how these things affect our everyday lives.

In this crazy world, everybody wants to hit it big time. But there’s always the risk at stake and the price to pay. Watching this film is like eating Chocnuts. It’s very Pinoy…

http://www.arkeofilms.com/bigtime/news/

CINEKATIPUNAN : SANDALANG BAHAY

Sandalang Bahay

Sandalang Bahay (Tagalog, English subtitles on the way) is a sumptuously filmed and elegiac family tragedy that is essentially Filipino yet draws on broader, especially European, film-making trends.

The story of three sisters begins and ends in the capiz-shuttered family home by the beach in the province. At the beginning of the film, the happy innocence of the girls and their friend Alex is overshadowed by storms in the adult world, yet the dreamy filming and the superb and unaffected “acting” of the kids create a nostalgic atmosphere that is retained throughout the film. Essentially this is a story of remembering, of returning to and perhaps resolving a lost past. From the beach house we are pitched forward 30 years to the sisters and mother as they are today, scars and all. The basically circular plot then takes us back to the house to, literally, bury the past.

It is a beautifully made film, particularly in the way producer Denisa Reyes skillfully uses music to create an emotional canvas for the visual image. The soundtrack includes Erik Satie, Puccini and contemporary Pinoy rock (which is particularly effective in a rockin’ sequence as the sisters leave Manila at the beginning of their road trip). Sandalang Bahay has a sure sense of place and manages to bring out the familiar motifs of provincial Philippine life—tricycles, bankas, aggressive jeepney drivers, the omnipresent sea—in an affectionate and affecting way. The camerawork and cinematography by Mark Gary and Miguel Fabie is artistically done, without ever being fussy. A shot of the banka bearing the coffin as the wind lightly ruffles the water was particularly memorable. The story moves along at a snappy pace and is never predictable. And, hey, no overacting! Great.

I could go on, but I guess you get the picture. Sandalang Bahay is a wonderful film! I think you'd like it (next showing is at UP on 4 August, 5pm). I hope it gets shown at foreign festivals too, especially in Europe, where its artistic sensibility, exotic feel and dark humour would go down really well. Everyone involved can feel really proud of what they have achieved.

http://tornandfrayed.typepad.com/tornandfrayed/2005/07/sandalang_bahay.html

CINEKATIPUNAN : NUMBALIKDIWA

Numablikdiwa

Out of nowhere, a speeding car blindsides Karissa (Meryll Soriano) and hurls her delicate body into the air. She feels herself being suddenly lifted into the air, floating, suspended, spinning… Then pain. Chaos. Darkness. Silence. She lays face down on the pavement. Dead.

Anton (Ping Medina), who always loved her in secret, holds her lifeless body in his arms. The loss and sadness unbearable. He reaches his threshold, this tragic event being the last thread to make his decision, to take the final leap. If only to save his beloved.

“Numbalikdiwa…”

Lola Nimia (Estrella Kuenzller) is the last of the clan with knowledge of the Numbalikdiwa. She is at her sunset years and has been bedridden for more than a decade. Anton, her grandson, she raised since he was a babe. And now, it is he who has been caring for her all these years. Also living with them is the beautiful and nimble Karissa, whom Lola Nimia adopted and brought her up like she was her own granddaughter.

Nimia is kind, unassuming, loving, and gentle. But her grand plan has always been to teach Anton this ancient ritual and have him perform it on Karissa upon her death, thereby making her immortal. The question whether it is evil or otherwise is not even an issue. But Anton is having second thoughts. He is secretly in love with Karissa. He is obsessed and totally enamoured by her, but keeps it to himself. He cannot face these powerful feelings and is unable to express it to her. After all, they are virtually brother and sister.

Unfortunately, Karissa is infatuated and has her heart set on Carlos (Albert Martinez), a successful professional who frequents their barbecue stall with his girlfriend Portia (Maricel Soriano). Tension evolves between Karissa and Anton as the former dreams of a life that is not hers to begin with and the latter wishing only happiness for his one true love. The frequent insistence of Lola Nimia to pass on the Numbalikdiwa legacy to Anton creates a whirlwind of conflict in the mind of her grandson. And fate always seems to take a turn for the worse…

Numablikdiwa. A different kind of love story between souls unfazed by life or death. Mystery surrounds all the characters and seemingly ordinary events become suspenseful and thrilling as the fate of two souls forever intertwined, affect destiny, change life… cause death.

Tila sa langis at tubig nga maihahalintulad ang relasyong Karissa at Carlos. Kahit ilang beses ipagsama, ang isa'y lagi na lang nakaangat, ang isa nama'y lugmok nang nasa ilalim.Kailanma'y hindi sila maaaring magkatuluyan kung kaya't kinakalinga na lamang ni Karissa ang bawat oras, minuto't segundong nasusulyapan niya ang kanyang matayog na pag-ibig.

http://numbalikdiwa.wordpress.com/

CINEKATIPUNAN : ALON

On What It Feels Like To Drown in Ron Bryant’s Alon (2008)

English Title: Wave
Directed by Ron Bryant
Cast: Mark Gil, Eula Valdez, Charee Pineda

On what may have been the film that will nail his reputation, Ron Bryant scores a lopsided dissatisfaction, and on what may have secured his place in my reserved future viewings becomes a case of compromise, I am already having second thoughts. Alon still deserves to be looked at, and if one has managed to follow his works - - Ruptura as an amateur yet disturbing experiment, Baryoke as a beautiful piece of indulgence, and Rotonda as a messy tour-de-force - - it can easily be inferred that he is one of the better directors around, someone who promises a thorough understanding of cinematic language, but, as what Alon has meticulously proved, he can also be a stubborn artist whose ideals can fail in accordance with his subject.

Bryant is good with multiple actors - - Rotonda and Baryoke benefit from the layers of their narratives, evoking a coherent argument in various perspectives of their characters’ lives - - but rather ineffective in minimalist scenarios. It opens with the familiar shots of the sea, the crashing waves, then a voice suddenly breaks the monotony, a poem being recited, the longing of a loved one, painful words. A young woman follows her dog, which leads her to a man in his house, a taciturn fellow who looks mysterious to her. They talk and easily become friends because of her vexing eagerness. She returns and next thing you know he is teaching her how to cook, sitting with her in front of the beach, and fighting about the possibility of them being together. The film has a drastic turn, in the least impressive way, when the young woman discovers that he has a wife, a sick, dying wife at that, on her bed upstairs. The wife looks forward to her death, asks her husband to consider his relationship with the young woman, what could be more gratifying than your own wife pushing you to have another woman at your side once she’s gone? Nothing, because that’s not the case, our man is not a ladykiller, he is a principled man. There is no hint of inconvenience in their relationship, all three of them, and it seems that the dying woman wants her fair share of pain, she is ready to die. At this point I forgot to tell you that the young woman is just in vacation, so she has to leave, back to the city, and study as a nurse. When she comes back to the house near the sea, several years after, as the waves reassure her of their constant guidance, she can only make out the loss of an important fragment of her past and nothing else; she stood still.

The story sounds convincing but five minutes through the film I can already sense what’s massively wrong with it: Charee Pineda. She has mouthed what comes to mind as the most annoying “hi” in cinema you’ll ever hear; she has broken the strength of this film into a million pieces, whatever left is trite and uninteresting. Too bad not even Mark Gil and Eula Valdez can overcome her irritating presence; she annoys more than she delivers. Bryant employs his usual sweep of long takes and slow burn in less satisfying effect; I long for interest, there is nothing in it that has that, it is still the stuff we see in TV. The pain will always be present; it’s up to us to play with it and make it the most important thing in the world. In Baryoke, the linger becomes an integral part of its narrative, its waywardness is the story, its characters’ lives determined by both chance and decision, its tedium is its strength; in Alon, what surfaces is obstinacy, and that being consistent is not good enough; it loses grip despite the force it gives on its handling. In the blink of an eye, the beauty that has been keeping our attention in steady escapes.

http://lilokpelikula.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/on-what-it-feels-like-to-drown-in-ron-bryants-alon-2008/

CINEKATIPUNAN : TRIBU

TRIBU

Jim Libiran, 2007

Think of shades of City of God (but not quite) transplanted in the underbelly of Manila that is Tondo and you have a forceful film by Jim Libiran that would make anyone who cares about good movies take notice. But this is not your usual poverty film that has been showcased since Lino Brocka et al made their political commentary and has made it a trademark of the Philippines. It is about the often hushed and not so seen underworld that Tondo is portrayed to be, often associated to be, often heard to be but not quite seen to be. It is just powerful, moving and raw.

The juvenile hiphop gangs in the old and historic district of Tondo have a world of their own. Their territories marked with invisible boundaries that only become apparent with the descent of darkness. Unfortunately, despite a veneer of calmness during the day, where people, despite their poverty still enjoy life their own way, come night and the rabid rivalry between gangs just ensures that a member’s life is not assured of longevity.

Booze mixes easily with hiphop and rap. Drugs and sex are standard. Violence is trademark. Despite pleadings of a father, always fearful that his son might not live long enough to be his age, all these are thrown into the wind for the sake of the gang. And Tribu takes you into these kind of world. Into this kind of blind loyalty and commitment to the brotherhood, all unfortunate hallmarks of a sophomoric sense of belongingness with their tribe.

The film is well developed and you get to know and empathize with the characters until you are slapped in the face to bring you back to reality and realize that this indeed is happening. Despite the rather dark story, it does has the proverbial silver lining. Real gang members from 6 competing groups were miraculously gathered to play themselves in the film. Despite the initial difficulty, and oh, it was really hard based from news articles early in the production phase, the director and his team made it. From previously rival groups, they have gelled well and sort of become role models in other areas that have these juvenile gang problems. As the director said during his talk after the premiere in Cinemalaya where it is competing, he got calls from other areas, e.g. Pasig, to replicate what he had done in Tondo.

And that is maybe, the greatest achievement of this film. A must see.

http://estanli.net/blog/2007/07/25/tribu-jim-libiran-2007/

CINEKATIPUNAN : ANG PAMILYANG KUMAKAIN NG LUPA

THE FAMILY THAT EATS SOIL

Hubert Bals Fund, Spring Selection Round, 2004

28th Goteborg International Film Festival, 2005

34th Rotterdam International Film Festival, 2005

Three times a day, a surreally dysfunctional family is partaking of their usual feast: Soil.

But while they pretend to enjoy their meals, there are intercutted scenes of individual family members with their own nightmarish storylines.

The story opens with the Baby wishing that for his forthcoming birthday, at least, the family wouldn't have to eat soil for once.

The Sister is a nymphomaniac prostitute getting gang-banged in front of a video camera, but also falling in love with the prince charming next door. One dinner time, she is asked to say grace, but inside her mind, she is desperately pleading for help.

A notorious gang member, the Brother crushes someone's skull with a vise grip. Later on, he is chased by the cops; his best friend Ester is killed.

When they're not looking, the Baby sneaks out of the house to disappear into a cockpit arena, and then zips back home, all smiling and snug in her crib.

The Father has devised a lethal new chemical to be injected into the dextrose of the children's ward of the Troma Hospital.

Later on, we realize that on the side, the Mother --- who has a PhD in Economics, a consistent summa cum laude student --- peddles illegal substances and blind prostitutes through her "Hot Mama San's Sex Drugs & Rocky Road Show" on cable television.

Grandpa is a senior member of the living dead.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

"The Family That Eats Soil", as shown by its ultraviolent treatment, critiques the brutalized Filipino psyche: three hundred years of Spanish colonization, more than fifty years of American intervention, four years of Japanese rape, twenty four years of Marcos terrorism. And, despite the seeming absence of foreign invaders and despots, the Filipino's ordeal still has to find an ending.

Brutalization is manifested in all the characters of this story, in the way they live and look at life. The family literally subsists on nothing but soil, but the peculiarity does not end there. Here, they raise the idea of dysfunction to strange new levels: Grandpa is a zombie. Father is a serial killer. Mother is a notorious/famous pimp, drug dealer, television personality. Brother is a violent anti-Chinese racist practicing brown supremacy and Sister is a drug-addled prostitute. What happens to Baby in the end gives a shocking conclusion to the absurdist-psycho surrealist tale.

The story operates on several symbolic levels. The concept of 'family', for instance, is integral in so far as it remains a sacred unit in traditional Philippine society, where it is not unusual to find grandparents and dozens of grandchildren existing under one small, claustrophobic roof. On the other hand, the symbol of 'soil' can never be divorced from the Filipino consciousness. The Philippines remains, at heart, an agrarian society-- where the earth has always been a striking metaphor for essence and rootedness, a source of sustenance and spirit.

However, 'The Family That Eats Soil', seeks to paint a dystopian portrait, a phantasmagoric reversal of Filipino values. It is an allegory for a people still walking and breathing under an unending nightmare.

Additional Info

Original Title: Ang Pamilyang Kumakain Ng Lupa

International Title: The Family That Eats Soil

Country of production: Philippines

Year of production: 2004

Format: Digital

Length: 75 min

Director, Producer, & Screenplay: Khavn

Production Company, Sales company, Print Source: Filmless Films

Camera: Albert Banzon

Editing, Color Grading, & Subtitles: Sunshine Matutina

Art Direction: Omar Gerez, Oblax Balignasay, Christian Guzman, Enteng Viray, et al

Sound Design, Foley, & Musical Scoring: Lionel Valdellon

Live Sound Recording: Bobby Macabenta

Theme Song: Khavn

Claymation: Ulysses Veloso

2D Animation: Jan Sarmiento

Comics Illustration: Nelz Yumul

Title Design: Mes De Guzman

Stills & English Translation: Merv Espina

Production Manager: Marinet Lusanta

Leading Actors: Carlo Catap, Hamid Eton, Elizabeth Marin, Gil Mendoza, Hazel Magno, & Edward Vitto

Supporting Actors: Gigi Duque, Christian Guzman, Jocelyn Sibayan, Khavn, Flortecante Dayao, Ariel Mamburan, Jaymar Valenciano, Cris Villanueva, Kristine Kintana, Maricel Gajasan, Oblax Balignasay, Adonis De La Cruz, Tasyo Caubalejo, Eric Jose Pancho, Joy Domingo, Enteng Viray, Pedro San Goku, Elmo Redrico, Marc Mendoza, Omar Gerez, Marlon Dela Cruz, Merv Espina, Ernesto Garcia, Jessie L. Liwanag, Mario R. Monte, Salvador C. Ticman Jr., Norman Wilwayco, Narding De La Cruz, Kelly De La Cruz, Eva Bagao, & Jansen Bagao

http://absurdrepublic.blogspot.com/2008/05/ang-pamilyang-kumakain-ng-lupa-not-film.html

CINEKATIPUNAN : THE THANK YOU GIRLS

The 'Thank You' Girls is a 2008 film directed by Asian Film Awards-nominee Charliebebs "Bebs" Gohetia. The story centers on six drag queens who embark on a journey to win the Miss Gay pageants. The title is a Philippine slang for beauty pageant losers.

Thank You Girls

Directed by Charliebebs "Bebs" Gohetia

Produced by James Hohl

Written by Charliebebs "Bebs" Gohetia

Release date(s) 2008

Running time 145 minutes

Language Visaya, Tagalog, English

Cast

Gie Salonga as Allyson

Pidot Villocino as Mommy Paola

July Jimenez as Bernadette

E.J. Pantujan as Chris

Kit Poliquit as Vanette

Kim Vergara as Macario

Ari Bancale as Carlos

Joan Mae Soco as Adora

Plot outline

Tired of losing in all the beauty competitions in their hometown of Davao City, six dysfunctional gay beauty pageant veterans travel north to Cagayan de Oro with a single mission: to conquer the grandest competition of beauty and brains in the whole province. They figure the small town gays will never stand a chance against big city boys like them.

As they travel through the breathtaking landscape and culture vignettes of rural Mindanao, each character struggles to win just a single title, while also battling their own inner demons.

Blinded by their belief in the power of their so-called beauty, they still have to prove to themselves that whether on or off stage, beauty doesn’t come in packages wrapped in foundation, mascara, eyeliners and witty beauty pageant answer. their travels will bring them back to basics of themselves might just teach them that being a run-away loser is not ugly after all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thank_You_Girls

CINEKATIPUNAN : TAMBOLISTA

BEAT THE DEVIL

BY Noel Vera

Movie Review : Tambolista

Directed by Adolfo Alix, Jr.

Adolfo Alix, Jr.'s Tambolista (Drum beat) recalls Brillante Mendoza's Tirador (Slingshot) in not a few ways, though probably not intentionally — both were released in 2007, both are nourish depictions of Manila, both feature multiple characters involved in multiple narrative strands, both use of urban noir filmmaking techniques (handheld shots, soundtrack full of incidental music and ambient sound, restless editing rhythms).

The film also feels inspired by Vittorio de Sica's Sciuscia (Shoeshine, 1946), with the latter's protagonists not unsimilar to Alix's pair of brothers — Jason (Jiro Manio) and Billy (Coco Martin) — struggling to fulfill their unlikely dream (a horse in de Sica's film, a drum set in Alix's), and having their world crumble around them as a consequence; Luis Bunuel's Los Olvidados (1950) with its malevolent older youth who corrupts and eventually destroys his young protégé; and Hector Babenco's Pixote (1981), where a boy is driven to murder.

But Alix's film also has its own virtues — first and foremost the city of Manila, as bewildering and chaotic and claustrophobic a jungle as any megacity on Earth. Alix is careful to exploit the visual possibilities with a digital camera (which while it doesn't have the clarity or color palette of 35 mm — Alix doesn't have the resources to do what Michael Mann did with an HD digicam in Miami Vice (2006) — are not inconsiderable). He's up against a daunting number of previous works that treat the city as a main character — Lino Brocka's Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Neon, 1975), Ishmael Bernal's Manila By Night (1980), Mario O'Hara's Bagong Hari (The New King, 1986), Jeffrey Jeturian's Pila Balde (1999), Mendoza's own Tirador.

That Alix doesn't embarrass himself being compared to classics is possibly the highest compliment I can give. Simply by capturing details of the city — the dilapidated lobby of a second-run theater (in Cubao or Quiapo, I'm not quite sure); the cramped alleyway of a squatter community; the teeming afternoon traffic — Alix renders a portrait all too familiar yet somehow still fascinating (like a mature woman, Manila still has its handsome side, its compulsively photographable [and I don't mean touristy] side).

He complements this portrait with a fractured narrative (screenplay by newcomer Regina Tayag) — like Robert Bresson, he refuses to have his various narrative threads explicitly laid out for the audience; instead we pick them up "in media res" and follow them through as best we can. Chronological order's no guide either — Alix has mixed things up, coming back to certain scenes again and again (a man watching another enter a movie-theater bathroom; three men pulling a wooden plank in from across a second-story window), and our comprehension only comes slowly, painfully, like an intravenous drip.

Sometimes too painfully. At one point Billy learns that his girlfriend is pregnant; they share a sullen moment together — you know what they're planning to do — and suddenly, we see Billy bent over a toilet, vomiting. Why? One can guess, but the narrative jump made is too distracting; at the very least Alix could throw in a few connective scenes later on, to fill the gaps.

While we're complaining, Alix might look into improving his fight sequences — some moments of violence — or even of sex (both need careful choreography) don't look as if the doer is really connecting with the doee, if you know what I mean. Little details, but sometimes God (or the Devil) is in the details; you're redeemed or damned accordingly.

Alix adorns his shuffled story with a Christmas tree's worth of lovely performances, from Anita Linda as an old woman perpetually berating her male companion ("all she needs is to get laid," a neighbor whispers) to Ricky Davao as the hollowly cheerful father of Billy and Jason, to Sid Lucero as Pablo, the two boys' good friend, who stays with them for a time because he's been thrown out by his previous landlord for sleeping with the landlord's wife.

Alix has spiced up his picture with sex, a small fistful of scenes, and there's a special frisson from watching men and women who look less than glamorous (in other words, less silicone-implanted than Hollywood) get it on with gusto. Aside from the abovementioned problem of connection, it's about time we saw more sex on the Filipino screen.

Best of all he's pulled his diverse mixture together with a soundtrack composed and performed by the unbelievably proficient independent Filipino filmmaker Khavn de la Cruz (at the tender age of 35 the creator of 16 features and over 60 shorts [and I don't mean pants]). I've only seen an extremely limited sample of De la Cruz's prodigious output, but whatever his talents as filmmaker he's impressed me more as a musician: his score for John Torres' Todo Todo Teros (2006) and for Tambolista are urgent, eclectic, crude; the latter's occasionally riffing drumbeat (presumably Jason jamming on a borrowed set) literally function as the film's (and city's) heartbeat, setting its pace and tone and level of excitement. Along with a royal flush of recent Filipino digital filmmakers (John Torres [Todo Todo Teros; Taon noong ako'y anak sa labas (Years When I Was a Child Outside [2008]); Raya Martin [Indio Nacional (2006)]; Dennis Marasigan [Sa North Diversion Road (2005)]; Auraeus Solito [Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros) (2005)]; and Sigfried Sanchez [Anak ni Brocka (Son of Brocka), 2005]), Alix is a welcome new voice in an exciting new field — the most vital in the country.

"TAMBOLISTA" is a raw drama about poverty, guilt and redemption. One of five finalists chosen for the 2007 Cinema One Originals. The feature film stars Jiro Manio, Coco Martin, Sid Lucero, Ricky Davao, Susan Africa, Anita Linda, Fonz Deza, Simon Ibarra.

Directed by Adolf Alix Jr. (Kadin, Donsol)

Line Producer Arleen Cuevas

Writer: Regina Tayag

Assoc LP Maxie Evangelista

DOP Albert Banzon

AD Han Salazar

PM Rolly Palmes

PD Jeck Cogama

Vol. XXII, No. 25

Friday-Saturday, August 29-30, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Cinema, Businessworld weekender section

http://tambolistafilm.multiply.com/