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Festival Reports

Bwaya by Francis Xavier Pasion at Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival

Aditya Tuesday November 4, 2014
 2009, Divina Romano lost her 12-year-old daughter, Rowena, to a salt water crocodile in the marsh-lands of Mindanao. Francis Xavier Pasion presents BWAYA(the Tagalog word for crocodile)as a simple, tragic tale about Manobo folk, who happen to have an unusual, waterborne way of life. His tale is set against the vast emptiness of their home in the Agusan Marsh. The void of the marsh—whether it be filled with empty vegetation as far as the mountains on the horizon, or merely blanketed in fog—is starkly beautiful, but a vacuum is not what Pasion wants for a story, so he populates his film with multiple layers of narrative while using a great deal of subtlety to preserve the illusion of telling a simple tale.

How Cinemalya can cope with its own success

Aditya Sunday October 5, 2014
 The much expected Cinemalaya festival, held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and Ayala malls from August 1 to 10, celebrated its tenth anniversary with panache. However, several questions arise, for the original Filipino Indie Film festival is now overwhelmed by its own success (a record-breaking 92,000 spectators this year), and faces an uncertain future, mainly for financial reasons. Its main private sponsor, Antonio "Tony Boy" Cojuangco, has not renewed his financial support, owing to losses incurred, but has promised to help Cinemalaya's "sustainable" future.

Cinemalaya 2013: Many films called, few chosen…

Aditya Sunday September 1, 2013
As usual, the main event of Filipino indie cinema took place from July 26 to August 4 2013. The 9th Cinemalaya edition unfolded its cinematic charms at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Ayala's Greenbelt 3, Trinoma and for the first time, at the Alabang Town Center. The impressive crowd, primarily students and film buffs, invaded the CCP every single day. Most of the shows were sold out and those who arrived late had to be turned away unfortunately.

Rotterdam Highlights: 2013 Festival Report

Aditya Monday March 18, 2013
An evocative film about visually impaired characters, What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love, bagged the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the 42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), which ended February 3, 2013.Helmed by young director, Mouly Surya, the Indonesian film was cited “for its appeal to the senses in evoking the textures and rhythms of the emerging Southeast Asian cinema." This second feature was also Indonesia's first entry at the Sundance.

Cinema Rehiyon 5

Aditya Sunday February 17, 2013
Among the mushrooming festivals in the Filipino film jungle, __Cinema Rehiyon (CR, the "regional" festival) is one of the most interesting and successful. Unique in its kind, it presents indie films exclusively produced and filmed outside Metro Manila, definitely out of the mainstream. Its fifth edition took place in Los Banos, Laguna, not far from Manila, from February 5 to 8, and was one of the best, if not the best one. A creation of the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA, with Dr Mike Rapatan in charge of the cinema department), as part of the Arts Festival 2013, CR 5 was mainly organized by the University of the Philippines (UP) in Los Banos, with Ms Katrina Ross A. Tan as the festival director this year. Entirely held on the UP campus, amidst the green, at DL Umali Hall, and Searca auditorium for the short films, it was well organized (which is not always the case in the Philippines), and well attended by a great number of delegates, and hundreds of enthusiastic young students.

35th Moscow International Film Festival

Aditya Friday February 1, 2013
 The Moscow International Film festival is the oldest and biggest festival in Russia. As usually, most interesting films of 35 MIFF were screened outside the competition program. A cradle for mother - the winner of NETPAC prize was shown in the Russian trace program (which was dedicated to the influence of the Russian culture on the topics of contemporary world cinema). Iranian director Panahbarkhoda Rezaee made a delicate and touching psychological drama about daughter’s love and women’s duty. The main character, girl, named Nargees, graduated from Moscow University. She studied Russian literature and discovered for herself many spiritual parallels between the philosophy of Dostoevsky’s novels and the basic wisdom of Islam. The intellectual girl dreams to return to Moscow, as an Islamic missionary, but her old mother is seriously ill and absolutely helpless. That’s why, Nargees has to make a painful choice - to realize her ambitions or refuse her dreams because of devotion to her mother.

The Second Hanoi International Film festival, or How Vietnam Looks at Asian Cinema Today

Aditya Tuesday December 25, 2012
The grayish and cool weather of late November in Hanoi took place the 2nd Hanoi international film festival (November 25 to 29), organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Vietnam Cinema Department, headed by famed Dr (Ms) Ngo Phuong Lan, also director of the festival. Two years after its first edition, it is a good way to remind us that Vietnam is on the map of Asian cinema (even though it doesn't have a very strong place yet), and wants to attract more film-related people and businesses.

Filipino Film The Woman In The Septic Tank wins Asian Film Prize Asia Pacific Screen Awards NETPAC Prize

Aditya Sunday December 2, 2012

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards announced that the winner of the annual APSA NETPAC Development Prize is Filipino filmmaker Marlon Rivera for his film Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (The Woman in the Septic Tank).   Designed to nurture outstanding talent in the region, a prize of US$5,000 is offered by APSA in collaboration with the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC). All films in competition for APSA are eligible.

The Refugee Camp: Films from Palestine at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival

Aditya Thursday November 1, 2012
The refugee camp is innately a temporary home. But thousands of Palestinian refugees living in camps in Jordan, Lebanon or Syria since 1948 still languish in fenced-off precincts. For some, that little square kilometer locale is the past, the present and the future, the home and the world. Films screened at the recently concluded Abu Dhabi Film Festival clearly show how the Palestinian refugee question continues to haunt young filmmakers.

Hawaii International Film Festival 2012

Aditya Friday October 26, 2012

 

Hawaii International Film Festival 2012  

Photograph: Apparition (Philippines), by Vincent Sandoval

The 32Image nd Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) was held from 11Image th to 21Image st October 2012 at Honolulu.

  The Netpac jury had to evaluate the following seven films :   Apparition (Philippines), by Vincent Sandoval Bwakaw (Philippines), by Jun Robles Lana Follow Follow (China), by Peng Lei It Gets Better (Thailand), by Tanwarin Sukkhapisit Let Me Out (South Korea), by Chang Lae Kim, Jae Soh Poor Folk (Myanmar, Taiwan), by Midi Z The Other Side Of The Mountain (North Korea), by In Hak Jang   The Netpac jury comprised with : Deng Chaoying (China / Netpac USA) Vilsoni Hereniko (Hawaii / Netpac USA) Keoprasith Souvannavong (Laos / France) : Chairperson   The jury decided unanimously to give the award to Apparition, directed by Vincent Sandoval of the Philippines, “for its courageous exploration of religious faith, guilt and forgiveness through masterful storytelling and visual imagery”.

Interview

Supriya Suri's Interview with Muhiddin Muzaffar

Director Muhiddin Muzaffar (1) 2 Min

1. I entered the cinema through the theatre. I was an actor in our local theatre called Kanibadam, named after Tuhfa Fozilova. After working for five years, I decided to do a theatre director course. I graduated with honors and became a director. We successfully staged performances at international festivals.

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