Illuminating the Nation: Cinemalaya 19 finds new home at the PICC

Cinemalaya XIX Filmmakers

As the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Main Building goes under major rehabilitation, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival moves just a few stones' throw away to its new venue at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) as the festival holds its 19th edition this August 4-13, 2023.

Presented by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Cinemalaya Foundation, Inc., Cinemalaya XIX, adopting the theme ilumiNasyon, boasts more than 50 films screenings this year with 10 short films and 10 full length films in competition vying for the prestigious Balanghai trophy. As Cinemalaya is more than just the film screenings, the festival will also include around 25 live events like talkbacks, conferences, book launches, receptions, etc.

Short Films in Competition

Cinemalaya Shorts Filmmakers

RAd thoughts: This year's entries show the continued rise of regional filmmaking that showcase other Philippine languages other than Filipino/Tagalog.

Ang Kining Binalaybay Kag Ambahanon Ko Para sa Imo (These Rhymes and Rhythms Meant for You)

Director: Kent John D. Desamparado

Cast: Dante Macam and Althea Jessy Navarez

A grandfather and a child share final moments before they separate ways.

Golden Bells

Director: Kurt Soberano

Cast: Fuji Jalando-on, Milton Dionzon. Mary Jane Quilisadio, Mari Regalado, Luke Jingco, Bernadette Deldig, Bloom Sanicas, Nonilon Torpez, Cindy Ballesteros, and Hector Gloria Jr.

A young Chinese-Filipino boy learns the trade from his father, which becomes his foundation in maintaining the family business for love and legacy.

Hinakdal (Condemned)

Director: Arvin Belarmino

Cast: Shalomar Binamira, Andrew Legados Figueroa, Nicksonne Dionson, Jing Diaz, Jayne Genido, and Lord Terence Genido

A zombie family gets their isolated life disturbed by a human being who attempts to steal their livestock.

Hm Hm Mhm

Directors: Sam Villa-Real and Kim Timan

Cast: Christela Marquez (Humming Vocals) and Kim Timan (Woman's Hand, and Plant-Baby Vocals)

A young woman’s touch breathes life to a dollhouse where an all-too-familiar story replays.

Kokuryo: The Untold Story of Bb. Undas 2019

Director: Diokko Manuel Dionisio

Cast: Mindy Jane Castillo, Thalia Nagaño, Resty Tirrado, Jaime Garcia, Nichole Matias, Jose Angelo Castro, Brianna Soliva, Athena Domingo, Erich Martinez, Angel Martinez, Cheska Uytingco, Joanna Andrea, Erold Benavides, Kevin Bactol, and Billy Olano

The search for the person who stole their cash prize from a gay beauty pageant tests the friendship between two transgender women.

Makoko sa Baybay (I am Going to the Beach)

Director: Mike Cabarles

Cast: Glenn Javier, Conchita Botardo, and Andrei Botardo

Two brothers hope to find the sea creature who killed their mother.

Maudi nga Arapaap (Last Dream)

Director: Daniel Magayon

Cast: Angelia Orna, Dioquino, Juralbal, Gongora, and Mary Grace Caraga

A night shift nurse’s action of dumping her mother’s possession attracts Batibat's wrath.

Sibuyas ni Perfecto (Perfecto's Onions)

Director: Januar Yap

Cast: Eddie Delima and Olimpio Tagalog

On an errand run, an aging man realizes he missed doing one very important thing.

Sota (Horse Caretaker)

Director: Mae Tanagon

Two horse caretakers struggle to make ends meet amid the low-wage employment in the horse racing industry.

'Tong Adlaw nga Nag-Snow sa Pinas (The Day It Snowed in the Philippines)

Director: Joshua Caesar Medroso

Cast: John Kyrie Lavandia, Juhannes Paulo Belarmino, Dowlson Brian Jadjuli, and Harold Librea

Amid their fondness for snow and Samurai movies, two young boys face a world of

violence and abuse.

Full Lengths in Competition

Cinemalaya XIX Full Length Filmmakers

RAd thoughts: Notable this year is the inclusion of a documentary and an animated feature in this category which is a Cinemalaya first.

Ang Duyan ng Magiting (The Cradle of the Brave)

Director: Dustin Celestino

Cast: Dolly de Leon, Bituin Escalante, Agot Isidro, Miggy Jimenez, Jojit Lorenzo, Frances Makil-Ignacio, Paolo O’Hara, Joel Saracho, and Dylan Ray Talon

A collection of interwoven stories about life and violence in the Philippines, following a college professor, a university chancellor, a social worker, a police chief, two students, two mothers, and a lawyer.

As If It's True

Director: John Rogers

Cast: Khalil Ramos, Ashley Ortega, Adrianna So, John Silverio, Angellie Sanoy, Rachel Coates, and Marnie Lapus

A fading social media influencer and a struggling musician exploit each other in a not-so-fake relationship.

Bulawan nga Usa (Golden Deer)

Director: Kenneth De la Cruz

Cast: Ron Matthews Espinosa and John Niel Paguntalan

A man embarks on a soul-stirring expedition on a mystical mountain to look for the golden deer, and finds solace in an unlikely friendship with a spirited mountain boy.

Gitling

Director: Jopy Arnaldo

Cast: Gabby Padilla and Ken Yamamura

While creating the subtitles of a film, a young Filipina translator and a middle-aged Japanese director test the limits of language and understanding.

Huling Palabas (Fin)

Director: Ryan Espinosa Machado

Cast: Shun Mark Gomez, Bon Andrew Lentejas, Cedrick Juan, Jay Gonzaga, Serena Magiliw, and Senandra Gomez

In search for his long-lost father, a young boy’s reality becomes mystified when two movie-like characters appear in his hometown.

Iti Mapukpukaw (The Missing)

Director: Carl Joseph E. Papa

Cast: Carlo Aquino, Gio Gahol, and Dolly de Leon

The arrival of a familiar alien untangles a mouthless young man’s memories.

Maria

Director: She Andes

Amid shrinking civic and democratic space, and a culture of impunity, three women named Maria are on a journey to see truth and fight for justice.

Rookie

Directors: Samantha Lee and Natts Jadaone

Cast: Pat Tingjuy, Aya Fernandez, and Agot Isidro

Everything changes when an awkward teenager joins the volleyball team and falls for the volleyball team captain.

Tether

Director: Gian Arre

Cast: Mikoy Morales, Jorrybell Agoto, Breech Mae Valencia, Olivia Banela, and Albert Briones

After having a one-night stand, an arrogant playboy and a timid young woman discover that any kind of pleasure or pain they inflict on themselves can be felt simultaneously by the other person.

When This is All Over

Director: Kevin Mayuga

Cast: juan karlos Labajo, Jorrybell Agoto, Ana Abad Santos, Chaye Mogg, Nour Hooshmand, Jico Umali, Aaron Maniego, Renee Dominique, Lottie Bie, and Zara Loayan

A disconnected desperate guy forges a deal with a group of privileged misfits to plan a secret party at the height of a global pandemic, for a chance to escape his reality.

The Opening and Closing films and as well as the selections for the various Cinemalaya sections (Philippine Premieres, Visions of Asia, Remastered Classics, Tribute Films, etc.) will be announced soon.

The main screenings of the films in competition will be held in three PICC venues namely Cinema Rizal, Cinema Bonifacio, and Cinema Felipe. Fringe events and talkbacks will be held at the Cinema Palma. The usual exhibits will be housed at the Executive lounge. The CCP's Tanghalang Ignacio B. Gimenez, aka The CCP Black Box, will host the Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video, which is celebrating its milestone 35th edition, on August 5-7, 2023.

To address the long queues that has plagued previous Cinemalaya editions back at the CCP, tickets for the screenings will now include assigned seat numbers thus erasing the need to line up early and the eventual mad scramble to get good seats. Tickets for each screening cost P300 (regular), P200 (student discount rate).

Also addressing accessibility issues due to the phasing out of the orange jeepneys that once plowed the route going to the CCP, free shuttles will be deployed in key areas around the complex. Pick up/drop off points for these shuttles will be announced soon as well.

Flutist Mark Kenedy Rocas, violinist Adrian Nicolas Ong, pianist Aidan Ezra Baracol to perform at PPO's concert at Samsung Performing Arts Center

Aiming to introduce the young (and the not so young) to the wonders of the orchestra and orchestral music, the Cultural Center of the Philippines presents the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra in the PPO Young People's Concert happening on July 7, 2023, 4:00 PM at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater.

The concert will feature a trio of CCP music scholars namely flutist Mark Kenedy Rocas, violinist Adrian Nicolas Ong, and pianist Aidan Ezra Baracol performing with the PPO under the baton of Herminigildo Ranera.

The program includes Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld Overture, the first two movements of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major, K. 314, Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18.

The three featured soloists have been making their mark in the music scene in recent years with Bacarol making a splash during the PPO's 50th Anniversary Jubilee Gala last May. Ong last shared the stage with the PPO at A French-Ship Concert held on July 2022. Rocas, on the other hand, has been performing as Assistant Principal Flute with the UP Symphony Orchestra.

The PPO Young People's Concert marks the orchestra's debut at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater. Admission to the concert is for free with tickets to be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater main lobby on July 7, 2023 starting at 2:30 PM.

Cine Europa 26 returns with 100% on-site screenings

Cine Europa, one of the longest foreign language film festivals in the Philippines, returns with 100% on-site screenings this June 16-July 16, 2023 in various cinemas/locations around the country.

A total of 28 films (26 feature length and 2 shorts) from European Union member states, plus guest country Ukraine, are lined up for the festival's 26th edition in different venues such as the Shangri-La Plaza's Red Carpet, Rizal Park's Open Air Auditorium, the Cultural Center of the Philippines', SM Cinema Cebu, and various FDCP Cinematheques in the country.

Dodo (Greece/2022)

One of the movies in the line up is Dodo from Greece. A Cannes Premiere entry at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, this film written and directed by Panos H. Koutras centers on the tense hours before a wedding that descends into madness through an inexplicable appearance of a dodo.

The film sees Sophia (Natassa Exindaveloni) about to be married off to her rich childhood sweetheart as a way for her family to get out of debt. Her parents, Pavlos (Akis Sakellariou), a former politician who has fallen from grace, and Mariella (Smaragda Karidi), a retired actress who finds purpose in volunteering at a refugee camp, are both on their toes with the wedding preparations at their luxurious villa knowing that they are both incapable to finance the occasion.

A quick money making scheme gone awry by Pavlos and a naive act of volunterism by Mariella see the two drag a myriad of characters along with them back to the villa making the wedding preparations more tense as the hours tick away. Soon enough everybody in the villa, along with the quirky folks working on the wedding itself, find themselves caught in the web of absurdity when the dodo runs free inside the villa after escaping from the shed where it has been hiding.

With the wedding poised to become a major disaster and each of the characters' problems intensifying as the hours go by, the presence of the dodo seems to provide a glimmer of hope or a portent of the doom that awaits each of them.

To find out how everyone's problems get resolved and to learn the fate of the dodo, one has to see the film up until the end.

Catch Dodo on June 18, 2023, 7:30 PM at the Red Carpet, Shangri-La Plaza Mall.

Cine Europa 26 starts on June 16, 2023 at the Red Carpet, Shangri-La Plaza Mall with screenings until June 18, 2023.

On June 21-23, 2023, the festival moves to the Film Development Council of the Philippines' Cinematheque Manila. The Cultural Center of the Philippines hosts the festival on June 24-25, 2023. The festival hops on to the Rizal Park's Open Auditorium on June 30-July 2, 2023.

Cine Europa 26 goes to SM Cinema Cebu on July 5-7, 2023. Then it makes the rounds on FDCP Cinematheques in Iloilo on July 8-9, 12-16; in Bacolod on July 14-16; and in Davao on July 14-16.

Cine Europa 26 is presented by Delegation of the European Union in the Philippines, in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the National Parks and Development Committee, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, and SM Cinemas.

The beat is on! Celebrating 75 years of Israel Independence

Rhythmania

The Embassy of Israel in the Philippines celebrated in grand fashion Israel's 75th Independence Day via a reception held last May 4 at the Manila Hotel.

Israeli Ambassador Ilan Fluss recalled that the strong ties between the two nations started with President Manuel Quezon's Open-Door Policy that gave Jews feeling from the Nazi regime a safe haven in the Philippines and also the vote of the Philippines in favor of the UN Resolution in 1947 for the establishment of the Jewish State of Israel. Recent developments between the two countries include Israel's assistance when the Philippines was devasted by typhoons Yolanda and Odette, economic and defense cooperation between the two countries, and the 2018 visit of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to Israel in 2018, the first official visit to Israel of a Filipino President in office.

Israeli Ambassador Ilan Fluss

“I am proud to represent Israel, a country that within 75 years has become a global leader and a source of knowledge, research, and development, and innovation and technology,” Ambassador Fluss said. The Ambassador expressed his eagerness to partner with the Philippines to build more bridges in various areas, including innovation and technology, between the two countries and its people and to support each other in addressing the challenges in the years to come, especially during times of need. Ambassador Fluss also recognized the 30,000 Filipino caregivers in Israel dedicated to taking care of the elderly and disabled people.

Rhythmania's Roni Shahar

Since it had been five years since the last reception in celebration of Israel's Independence was held, it was time to party and Rhtyhmania, an Israeli all-female drum/percussion group made the event more festive. Composed of Carmel Sinetar, Roni Shahar, and Moran Tzadok, the trio not only provided pulsating beats, but also brought out the inner drummer of the guests with a very interactive performance. Prior to the reception Rhythmania held a series of workshops and outreach events at White Cross Orphanage in San Juan City, Laura Vicuna Foundation, and children from different schools of Makati City.

In 2023, Yom Haatzmaut or Israeli Independence Day falls from sundown on April 25 to sundown on April 26 in the Hebrew calendar. This day marks the rebirth of Israel as a nation by a United Nations plebiscite in 1947.

The Philippines and Israel celebrated 65 years of friendship on February 26. This was the day when the Treaty of Friendship was signed in 1958 between the Republic of the Philippines and the State of Israel, establishing their full diplomatic relations.