THE highly-anticipated CineFilipino
Festival will have its gala week starting on September 18 that will showcase
eight full-length films and 10 short films.
Angel Aquino, Jasmine Curtis Smith
and Nora Aunor are some of the stars that joined in this
debuting cinematic festivity.
The film festival is spearheaded by
PLDT-Smart Foundation, MediaQuest, Studio 5 and Unitel Entertainment with Newport Cinemas of Resorts World Manila, Lucky
Chinatown Mall and Gateway Cineplex as partner venues.
The Newport Cinemas at Resorts World
Manila will be hosting the Gala Night of the participating films starting on
September 18. Puti, starring Ian Veneracion and TV5 primetime princess
Jasmine Curtis-Smith and helmed by Mike Alcazaren, is set at 7PM. Ron Bryant’s Bingoleras,
a comedy of errors that boasts an impressive cast led by Eula Valdes and
Mercedes Cabral, is expected to make viewers laugh in the evening’s night cap.
On September 19, Tuesday Vargas gets her
first lead in the romantic cross-cultural comedy Ang Turkey Man ay Pabo Rin
directed by Randolph Longjas. Cebuana filmmaker Janice Perez’s The Muses tells
the story of a sibling rivalry in the music business that features Janelle
Jamer and rock goddess KitchieNadal.
Ms. Nora Aunor and Angel Aquino are
expected to grace the September 20 Gala Night. The family drama Ang Kwento ni Mabuti
by Mes de Guzman, that features the Superstar in the titular role, opens the
special Friday evening. Angel plays Pilar the woman Anita pines for in Sigrid
Bernardo’s AngHuling Cha-Cha ni Anita to cap off the evening.
Filmmaking siblings Sari and KiriDalena
commemorate the 41st Martial Law declaration with the premiere of
the docu-drama Guerilla is a Poet, which is based on the life of
activist JomaSison. Capping the evening on September 21 is Ato Bautista
coming-of-age love story Mga Alaala ng Tag-ulan starring sexy performer Mocha Uson
and Artista Academy alumnus Akihiro Blanco.
Catch the feature film entries that will
also be shown at the Shang Cineplex of Shangri-la Plaza Mall on September 21-22
weekend. The ten short films will be shown at the various venues from 5:30PM to
6:30PM.
The feature films are competing for
awards including Audience Choice and Best Acting Ensemble.
FEATURE FILM CATEGORY
Ang Huling Cha-Cha ni Anita by Sigrid
Andrea Bernardo
A 12-year old Anita falls in love with the new woman
in town; years later, a girlhood crush blossoms during the Fiesta of Santa
Clara in Obando, Bulacan.
Cast: Angel
Aquino, Teri Malvar, Marcus Madrigal
and Lui Manansala
Produced by: Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo, Jalz Zarate/
Screenplay by: Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo/
Edited by: Lawrence Ang/
Cinematographer: Alma Dela Pena/Music
by: Diwa De Leon/Production Design
by: Popo Diaz
Sigrid
Andrea P. Bernardo is a freelance Artist doing Film &Theater
productions. She's a graduate of Theater arts in the University of the
Philippines and pursued a scholarship in Tanghalang Pilipino under the Cultural
Center of the Philippines. Her works include short films such as
"Babae"/Woman, which won various, awards local and abroad. She won as
the "Best Director" in Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and won
as best short film in Cinemagaylesbico International Film Festival in Milan,
Italy.
Ang Kwento
ni Mabuti by Mes De Guzman
Mabuti accidentally finds a stash of
money that could bring an end to her family’s financial problems: is the solution that simple or is it loaded
with complications?
Cast: Nora Aunor, Ama Quiambao, Mara Lopez, Sue
Prado and Arnold Reyes
Line Producer: Rhea De Guzman/ Screenplay by: Mes De Guzman/ Edited by: Abbas Tabas/ Cinematographer: Albert Banzon/ Music by: Mes De Guzman/ Production Design by: Cesar Hernando
Mes
De Guzman has
won numerous Don Carlos Palanca awards for his scripts and Grand prize from the
NCCA for his manuscript novel, “Rancho Dyanggo” Recently, he won the Cinemanila
2011 Best Picture and Best Director for “Sa Kanto ng Ulap at Lupa” and also
bagged the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Asian Film (NETPAC Award) at
the 2012 Cinemalaya Film Festival for “Diablo”
Ang
Turkey Man Ay Pabo Rin by Randolph Longjas
A cross-cultural comedy about a
Filipino American couple who celebrates life with karaoke music, superstitious
in-laws, immigration laws, unexpected pregnancies, brown-outs, Thanksgiving
turkey, with some love on the side.
Cast: Tuesday Vargas, Travis Kraft, Julia Clarete, Cai
Cortez and JM De Guzman
Produced by: Tonee Acejo/ Screenplay by: Allan Habon/ Edited by: Carlo Manatad, Joris Fernandez/ Cinematographer:
Tom Redoble/ Music by: Jedd Dumaguina/ Production Design by:
Butch
Garcia, Nette Madrid
Randolph
Longjas is a man of tenacity and many talents.
Being the youngest director in this year’s Cinefilipino roster, one might
reckon his venture into filmmaking to be one of sheer caprice. But nothing
could be further from the truth, for it is in fact a product of hard work and a
lifelong love affair with the performing and visual arts. Longjas has
directed and performed in numerous stage productions, most notably as part of
UP Broad Ass. Immediately after graduating cum laude from UP Diliman with a
degree in Broadcast Communication, he joined the advertising industry as a
freelance production staff for TV commercials for a couple of years and later
started Bodega Productions, an event coverage company, with three others.
Bingoleras by Ron Bryant
A
surprise-filled comedy about six single women and a priest, whose lives
intersect when a bingo marathon is launched in their church for the barangay
fiesta, turning expectations and relationships upside down and inside out.
Cast: Max
Eigenmann, Charee Pineda, Eula Valdes, Liza Diño, Mercedes Cabral and Hazel
Orencio
Produced by: Chantel
Garcia/ Screenplay by: Ron Bryant/
Edited by: Joe Lachica/
Cinematographer: Regiben Romana/
Music by: Mark Laccay/ Art Director:
Tey Lopez, Gico Lipit, Joe Lachica
Ron
Bryant- Best Director of the 2nd
Cinemalaya Film Festival for his film Rotonda, Ron Bryant is an electronics and
communication graduate working as a recording engineer when in 1998 he decided
to pursue his first love—the cinema. His screenplay Buhay Ay Langit, a story of
love in time of war, became his pass to the movie industry. From 2000 he was
with the creative department of Star Cinema, Inc. until 2003.
Mga Alaala ng Tag-ulan by Ato Bautista
A
coming-of-age love story about a young man’s first encounter with love,
romance, and heartbreak, told in bits and pieces of poetic and melancholic
memories that began on one rainy night.
Cast: Akihiro Blanco, Mocha Uson, Mon Confiado,
Issa Litton and Lance Raymundo
Produced by: Ato Bautista/ Screenplay by: Shugo Praico/ Edited by: Benjamin Tolentino/ Cinematographer: Rain Yamson II/ Music by: Dodoy Ongleo/
Production Design by: Marxie Maolen
Fadul
Ato
Bautista is one of the most exciting genuine filmmakers in the Philippines
today. He is known as a young maverick producer and director who make strong
and acclaimed genre films. At the age of twenty four, he made
his debut film SA AKING PAGKAKAGISING MULA SA KAMULATAN (My Awakening from
Consciousness), a street violence-drama-thriller that reached acclaimed status
locally and internationally.
Puti by Mike Alcazaren
A
psychological thriller about a counterfeit painter who figures in a freak car
accident that renders him color blind; while recuperating, strange things start
to happen to him.
Cast: Ian Veneracion, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Lauren Young, Leo Rialp and
Bryan Pagala
Produced by: Mike Alcazaren, Lizanne Alcazaren, Paulo
Alcazaren, Isabel Alcazaren-Pangilinan/ Screenplay by: Mike Alcazaren/ Edited by: Kelly
Cruz-Abano/ Cinematographer: Roberto
Yñiguez/ Music by: Mark Laccay/ Production Design by: Rious Caliso
Mike
Alcazaren
is a veteran advertising commercial director. He is also co-founder of the
pioneering stop-motion animation group Alcazaren Bros.. He has done hundreds of
commercials for over two decades, directing award-winning live-action and
animation commercials for multinational companies like Unilever, Procter &
Gamble, Splash, Nestle’, Coca-Cola Phils., and Colgate-Palmolive but he never
gave up his first love: film, as his roots were in alternative cinema, creating
several animated and experimental short films with his brother Juan in the late
80s. “Puti” marks his feature film debut.
The
Guerrilla is a Poet by Sari and Kiri Dalena
The tale
of an activist’s journey during the turbulent years of Martial Law, until his
capture in the mountains and the dark, nine years of imprisonment that
followed, leading to his birth as a
poet.
Cast: Karl Medina, Angeli Bayani, Bong Cabrera,
RK Bagatsing, Channel La Torre, Marcus Madrigal
Produced
by: Keith
Sicat/ Screenplay by: Ericson Acosta, Kerima Tariman, Keith
Sicat, Kiri Lluch Dalena/ Edited by: Keith
Sicat/ Cinematographer: Kiri Lluch Dalena/ Music by: Raffy Magsaysay/ Production Design by: Emerson Baltazar
SARI LLUCH DALENA(Co-Director/Production Design) – A graduate of
the Master’s Program of the prestigious New York University’s TISCH School of
the Arts (where the likes of Martin Scorcese, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, and Ang
Lee are alumnus), Dalena has been no
stranger to awards ever since winning two URIANs for her short films.
KIRI LLUCH DALENA (Co-Director/Cinematography)
– Kiri is a graduate of the University of the Philippines in Los Banos and studied
16mm documentary film making at the Mowel fund Film Institute. She is a
critically acclaimed visual artist who feels equally comfortable in other
mediums such as sculpture and installation.
The Muses by Janice Perez
The Muses’ vocalist, Marthe, and her guitarist younger
sister, Marie, discover hidden truths about fame, music, family and their own
selves on the night of an all-important music competition.
Cast: Kitchie Nadal, Janelle Jamer, Ranz Andri Medina, Chicoy Romualdez and
Josh Manning
Produced by: Above-The-Line Productions, Project
Kaleidoscope/ Screenplay by: Janice
Y. Perez, Kitchie Nadal, Janelle Jamer/ Edited by: RJ Aquino/ Cinematographer: Ruel
Dahis Antipuesto/ Music by: Jay
Chiongbian Young/ Production Design by: Kaloy Uypuanco
Janice Perez graduated
from the University of San Carlos in Cebu City. She completed a 6-month course
on 16MM Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy. She has videographed and
edited several commercial projects in New
York City, such as Kiehl’s, the skin care brand, and Limité Magazine, to name a
few. She has also collaborated with
independent musicians on their music videos, including Bessie Badilla's Magkaisa
and Kitchie Nadal’s soon to be released Malaya.
