Who are the filmmakers whose works will be exhibited at EDSAngangdaan: The EDSA Stories Film Festival, on December 7 at the UP Film Center and December 8 at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani auditorium?

They make, naturally enough, for a diverse bunch. Here we have teachers and writers, university students, freelancers and full-fledged professionals. Then, of course, are their films themselves. A smattering of fiction films on this side, a semi-biography on the other. Some works are documentaries, whereas another visibly caricatures the documentary form. A number of productions share the stories of women who were embroiled in the storm and stress of EDSA 1986. Others probe into the lives of haves and have-nots closer to the present time.

Ma. Angela Garrido has been making films professionally since 2004. In the course of her work, she has created videos and films for the international organization Oxfam, the government agency National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Cinemalaya, as well as for business groups such as SM. Since 2005, she has also been the president and organizer of the art film festival of the Philippine Women’s University Independent Film Group. In her film “1985,” a woman loses her husband and is permanently scarred by a hot oil spill amidst the EDSA uprising. Nine years after, having given birth to a son, she tries to come to terms with her losses.

Hubert Tibi, who usually collaborates with Garrido, previously won the Best Screenplay prize in the short film category of the 2006 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival for “Parang Pelikula.”  He also directed other Cinemalaya short films like “Maikling Kuwento,” “Si Bok at ang Trumpo,” and “Hay Pinhod Oh Ya Scooter.” For EDSAngangdaan, he directed “Mani,” where two teenage peanut peddlers struggle to make ends meet until they discover that stealing metal railings along EDSA can be more lucrative than their current trades. The biggest catch of all, it seems, is nothing less than pilfering the railings along the historic EDSA Shrine.

Meanwhile, Eva Aurora Callueng is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at the University of the Philippines College of Education. She also teaches at the University of the East and works on various projects related to reproductive health with the Probe Media Foundation, while serving as the editor of the Pinoy LGBT (lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgender) channel at Philippine Online Chronicles. Her documentary film “Kaba, Takot at Pangamba ng EDSA” narrates the stories and perspectives of the mothers and wives of soldiers in the three EDSA protest movements, and explores the influence of these women throughout the duration of these events.

Representing the youth sector are Andrea Regine Reyes and her teammates JJ Collins, Randy Valdez, Vianca Baliao, Christa Balonkita, Marj Calingo, Dek Carillo, Mia Sinagunian and Ada Umali, students taking up different courses at Miriam College. In their short film “Bagong Buhay,” a mother and her daughter leave their old home and try to build a new life together. Over the years, however, the mother’s unending pursuit of perfection takes its toll on her daughter, putting their relationship on a collision course.

Then there is the team of producer Eloisa Espino-Sanchez and award-winning filmmaker Richard Soriano Legaspi, who wrote and directed the Cinema One Originals Special Jury Prize and Audience Award winner “Paano Ko Sasabihin?” Espino-Sanchez has already produced a number of award-winning short films and documentaries.  Legaspi teaches video production and advertising at the University of the East College of Fine Arts and was a fellow of the 2007 Asian Film Academy in Busan, South Korea. They teamed up again in “Pamatid-Gutom,” (Hunger Pangs), a stark rendition of electoral politics in post-EDSA. Mercedes Cabral plays the role of a mother, desperate to feed her child, who takes part in the feeding program of a city mayor, yet ends up being used by the politician and his wife for his electoral campaign promotions.

Finally, Seymour Sanchez is a director and writer of Red Room Media Productions and a Mass Communication professor.  He won the grand prize for his short film “Lababo” (Kitchen Sink) and third place for “Shorts” in two Viva – Pinoy Box Office Digitales short film contests and topped the screenplay category of the 2009 Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature for “Hiwaga” (Mystery). His “Patron ng Laging Saklolo” (Patronage Politics) is a “mockumentary” (mock documentary) of enduring patterns of patronage politics in the Philippines. It chronicles the activities of a barangay throughout typical election season. By examining the fiesta mentality of Filipinos, and their attitudes towards politics, several gripping comparisons will be drawn.

What weaves all of their works together is their unremitting focus on EDSA, and the society that has arisen around EDSA – present-day Philippines. Funded by the EDSA Mo, EDSA Ko! Film Grants extended by Focus on the Global South-Philippines earlier this year, they have been tasked to produce short films on a theme no less ambitious than “Reimagining EDSA” – for a new generation of Filipinos, and according to the experiences of that generation.

In EDSAngangdaan: The EDSA Stories Film Festival all these retellings of EDSA will be presented to the general public for the first time ever.  Where from and where to with EDSA? – join the filmmakers as they take us to the crossroads, exploring these and other questions.

Not to be outdone, Focus is coming out with its own documentary entitled “EDSAngangdaan: Mga Kwento ng Pagtatagpo’t Pagpapasya.” Twenty five years after EDSA, the project follows a farmer, a university student and a laundrywoman as they seek to connect the circumstances of their everyday lives with the broader historical phenomenon of EDSA. The conclusions that they make, and the questions that they raise, are not always flattering or reassuring.

EDSAngangdaan: The EDSA Stories Film Festival officially opens on December 7, 4 p.m. at the University of the Philippines Film Center, as part of its annual Cine Veritas Human Rights Film Festival. Alongside the six short films and Focus’ documentary, in-depth discussions of their content will also take place on the second screening day, December 8, beginning 9:30 a.m., at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani auditorium in Quezon City.

For more information about EDSAngangdaan: The EDSA Stories Film Festival please email Jerik Cruz at jerik.cruz@ph.focusweb.org, or call at 4330899 or 433-3387. Alternatively, please check the EDSA Stories website for updates at http://edsastories.focusweb.org/.

A desperate man tries to save his wife and the life of his unborn child in what seems to be the longest tricycle ride of his life.

Cast: MAX BALATBAT, JUDEE BENDIOLA

Director: ANNA ISABELLE MATUTINA

Script: ANNA ISABELLE MATUTINA

Cinematography: MALAY JAVIER

Production Design: RICHARD LEGASPI

Editing: ANNA ISABELLE MATUTINA

Music: MICHELLE NGU

In Competition: Asian Hot Shots Berlin 2010

“Hingalo” is part of AmBisyon 2010 — a project of the ABS-CBN News Channel — which brings together 20 filmmakers who will tackle their version of the state of the nation after the 2010 elections.

Digital Cheese in cooperation with ABS-CBN News Channel present

“Wag Kang Titingin”

8 minutes / color / DV / Philippines

SYNOSPSIS:

A father & his two young daughters , travel through a war-torn area. The father explains to his eldest why they need to shield the youngest from what’s really happening around them. The eldest finally understands and vows to protect her sister. But how far will she go to keep her promise?

Starring: Ryzza Ann Payudan  Agape Lasala  Winston Jamison

Production Design Mikey Red & Timmy Harn

Music Pam Miras

Editing Anna Isabelle Matutina

Director of Photography Malay Javier

Production Manager Karr Cotamora

Written & Directed by Pam Miras

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS:

Winner, Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival 2010, Best Short Film

International Premiere, World Film Festival Bangkok 2010

Winner, Best Short Film, 2011 Gawad URIAN

Original Title: KINULAYANG KITI / ¨Plumes de couleur”

English Title: HAND-PAINTED FEATHERS

Short Film / 24 minutes / Color / HD / Philippines

English SYNOPSIS:

“Kinulayang Kiti” (Hand Painted Feathers) is a moving tale of surviving the harsh realities of urban life. The struggle of a young boy named KIT, whose father was murdered in a labor rally. His last resort is to believe in a superstition that by placing live chicks on his father’s casket, and their pecks will serve as stabs to the killer’s conscience.

French Synopsis

¨Plumes de couleur” dépeint les difficultés de la vie urbaine. Il raconte la lutte d’un jeune garçon, “Kit”, qui a perdu son père dans une manifestation. Il recourt à la pratique traditionelle de poser des poussins sur le cercueil de son père, pour culpabiliser son tueur.

Synopsis

“Kinulayang Kiti” (Hand Painted Feathers) bercerita tentang cara bertahan dalam situasi sulit kehidupan kota. Perjuangan seorang pemuda bernama KIT yang ayahnya terbunuh dalam sebuah demostrasi buruh. Harapan terakhirnya diserahkan pada hal takhyul. Ia percaya bila ia meletakkan anak ayam yang masih hidup di dalam peti ayahnya, maka patukan ayam tersebut akan menjadi tusukan-tusukan rasa bersalah bagi pembunuh ayahnya.

Actors:

Kit:  Owen Banaag

Pido: Jimrocky Tanco

Tina:  Katherine Luna

Domeng:Alan Paule

Udong:   Bembol Roco

Scriptwriter and Director:  Richard Soriano Legaspi

Cinematographer:  Carlo Mendoza

Production Designers: Grace Orbon and Mary Jane Legaspi

Editor: Anna Isabelle Matutina

Music: Jess Santiago

Sound:Alan Hilado

Producer: Richard Legaspi and NCCA

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

In Competition, International Panorama of Film and Video Festival 2011

Official Selection, Jogja NETPAC Asian Film Festival, Indonesia 2010

Winner, Jury’s Prize, Pandayang Lino Brocka Politican and New Media Film Festival 2010

Finalist, Auburn International Film Festival, Australia

Official Selection, Panorama Screening, Budapest International Film Festival 20

Winner, Best Actress, Katherine Luna, Doi Saket International Film Festival, Thailand 2010

In Competition, Doi Saket International Film Festival, Thailand 2010

Nominated, Muhr Awards for Excellence, Dubai International Film Festival 2009 / World Premiere

Winner, Honourable Mention, Gawad CCP for Alternative Film and Video Festival 2009

Official Selection, Filipino American Film Festival, USA 2009

Katorse Shorts may now be viewed online. Perfect for fellow Filipinos abroad thirsting for some rare Pinoy indies.

Films include: “Ang Kapalaran Ni Virgin Mario” by Ogi Sugatan,  “Ambulancia” by Richard Legaspi, “Blood Bank” by Pam Miras, “Dead Letter” by Grace Orbon, “Ika-Siyam Na Palapag,” “Panaginipan,” “Puwang” and “Walong Linggo” by Anna Isabelle Matutina, “Lababo,” “Shorts” and “Pagbugtaw” by Seymour Sanchez and “Manyika” by John Wong.

For only $4.95, you can watch as much as 3 short films from Katorse. Just go to neTVision and sign up.

* Stratosphere (Thailand) – producer Hassaya Rimphanawat; director Patavee Viranuvat
* I Carried You Home (Thailand) – producer Thacksakorn Pradubpongsa; director Tongpong Chantarangkul
* The Tour (Malaysia) – producer Joanna Lee; director Chris Chong
* Shadows of Noon (Philippines) – producer Elisse Aquino; director Ivy Universe Baldosa
* Balaan (Philippines) – producer Oscar Nava, director Ray Gibraltar
* Remembrance (Philippines) – producer Eloisa Espino-Sanchez, director Seymour Sanchez

They will make their pitch to producer Elise Jalladeau, screenwriter Miguel Machalski and sales agent Emilie Georges.

I Carried You Home previously came away with cash from the Asian Cinema Fund. Director Tongpong’s short, Wings of Blue Angels, is part of this year’s World fest program.

Here is more about Produire au Sud (Producing in the South), from the World Film Festival of Bangkok’s blog:

“Created in Nantes (France) in 2000 by the Festival of 3 Continents, Produire au Sud is a workshop aimed at Asian, African and South American producers.

It is undoubtedly in the viewpoint of exchanging tips, skills and ideas that the Produire au Sud workshops are taking place each year in Nantes during the Festival of 3 Continents but also abroad in the framework of several partnerships with some international film festivals.”

One of the projects from the Bangkok workshop will be selected to attend the Nantes festival for further talks and workshopping.

Supported by the French embassy, the Bangkok workshop was started at the 3rd World Film Festival of Bangkok in 2005. O Nathapon’s A Moment in June was the first film selected. It recently premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival and is the opener of this year’s World fest. The workshop was held again in 2006 (since then it will be biennial) and Malaysian director Liew Seng Tat’s In What City Does It Live? was chosen.

source: http://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/

Half-Brazilian, half-Japanese model Akihiro Sato will be introduced in the indie film titled Handumanan (Remembrance). This project came just a few months after appearing as one of the ten Celebrity Centerfolds of Cosmopolitan’s Cosmomen supplement released last September.

Chin Chin Gutierrez and Jason Abalos topbill the film, which is being shot on location in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. The film is about three people who seem to have lost hope of their worlds until their fateful encounter in a resort in Negros Oriental.

Chin Chin plays a romance novelist named Solita Locsin a.k.a. Soledad Miranda who cannot accept her publisher’s demand that she write erotic pocketbooks.  When she is diagnosed with a terminal illness, she decides to quit her job and go back home to Dumaguete.

Jason Abalos is Alejandro Tan a.k.a. Lean. He wants to be a writer but he is trapped in his job at the Commission on Audit after finishing accountancy upon the wish of his mother.  He also wants to escape from a world that has been harsh to his family.

Carlos Silva (Akihiro) is a Brazilian print ad model who is searching for his roots. He uses his blog to connect with people all over the world.  After Sol finds out about blogging from her niece, she makes use of this new tool to continue writing.  Intrigued with her writing, Carlos finds her blog on the Internet and expresses his wish to meet her personally.  Meanwhile, Lean is assigned to audit in Dumaguete but his escapist attitude leads him to Sol, whose romance novels play a significant role in his life.

The script of Handumanan is co-written by Richard Soriano Legaspi and Seymour Barros Sanchez, who is more popularly known as Meyor. Their script was selected during the 3rd Produire au Sud Film Workshop, which is part of the sixth World Film Festival Bangkok. The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) provided the filmmakers with a P500,000 grant, allowing the film to premiere in February 2009 in time for the celebration of National Arts Month. Red Room Productions will also co-produce the film.
This film is also done in cooperation with the Katorse Writers Group (from Ricky Lee’s 14th scriptwriting workshop), Pixel Art Media Production Co., On Cam Productions and the University of Makati Film Society.

Seymour is an instructor at the University of Makati Center for Performing and Digital Arts, a special lecturer at St. Paul University Manila, and founder and adviser of the University of Makati Film Society while Richard is a part-time instructor at the University of the East College of Fine Arts in Caloocan.

The Muhr AfricaAsia competition was introduced this year to stimulate and expose filmmaking from emerging markets. Nashen Moodley, Director of AsiaAfrica Programming for DIFF, said: “Short films remain important because they are where a lot of filmmakers cut their teeth, while some directors prefer to remain in the form because its limitations challenge them. For audiences, a short programme is a delight because it allows them to sample stories from a vast region, incorporating a variety of different themes and forms. Viewers that prefer diversity should consider our short programmes, which will not disappoint.”

Three of the films originate from Africa: The Birthday is a submission by Burkina Faso’s legendary filmmaker Idrissa Ouedraogo which sees the beautiful Awa decide to marry for money rather than love; in Expectations, a young man returns to his village in Chad tired and listless, but must confront the people who lent him the money for his journey; Jesus and the Giant, set in Johannesburg, follows an avenging woman who seeks out the man that battered her friend.

Further to the east, Iran’s 35 Metriye Sathe Ab (35 Metres from the Water) depicts moments of connection and beauty between unlikely lovers; in Ayak Al Tinda (Downstairs), a Turkish manual worker’s monotonous life is shattered by a striking revelation; Kam Sanabanyz (Everything is OK),Kyrgyzstani director Akjol Bekbolotov’s film on the plight of the thousands of homeless children of Bishkek, is an impressive and moving glimpse of life on the streets; from Kazakhstan, Bakhytzhamal depicts a mentally disturbed man runs away from a sanatorium to meet his old flame, while India’s Dhin Tak Dha depicts another escape—a village garage mechanic who falls in with a troupe of traditional touring performers.

From East Asia, Japanese black comedy Daichi O Tataku Onna (Woman Who Is Beating the Earth) depicts a lonely and bored butcher. Shifting gears, Ambulancia (Ambulance) introduces a group of desperate Pilipino ambulance drivers who believe that running over stray street animals can save dying patients’ lives, while Shao Nian Xue (Young Blood) takes us on a fun ride to a crowded housing complex in late 1980s Shanghai where teenage hormones run rampant.

The Taiwanese Tian Hei (The End of the Tunnel) is another take on young love, wherein a blind high school student bonds with an unlikely friend by using his piano skills, and Malaysia’s Chicken Rice Mystery shows a young boy as he ponders one of the greatest mysteries of his life: why is his mother’s cooking so appalling?

Muhr AsiaAfrica shorts will be screened in three separate programmes during the fifth annual Dubai International Film Festival, from December 11 to 18. For further information or to buy tickets, please visit the festival website at http://www.dubaifil mfest.com/ en/films- explorer/ ?id=1375

If filmmakers could rewrite The Creation of the World, a lot of things would certainly change — it would be in digital format, black and white, linear, deleted scenes, re-takes and extras. But it would still begin with “Let there be light” — followed by camera and action.

.MOV (dot-mov) — the first digital film festival in the country — is a week-long festival that will showcase innovative films from independent filmmakers both from the local and international arena starting Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, at Robinsons Movieworld, Robinsons Galleria.

.MOV is the first digital film festival in the Philippines. Dedicated to the exhibition and promotion of digital filmmaking, the festival spotlights the future of filmmaking with a dynamic line-up of film screenings, in-depth panel discussions and hands-on technology presentations.

Digital Dekalogo 10×10

.MOV will have an exhibition of 10 of the very best local and international independently produced digital features explained through 10 local filmmakers with aims of mentoring the Filipino audience to appreciate world cinema with an expert’s eye and Filipino sensibilities.

Tribute.MOV

Cineastes may look forward to .MOV’s tribute to local filmmaking mavericks — Lav Diaz, Roxlee and Kidlat Tahimik — with a book, CD and DVD launch plus premieres of Melancholia, Green Rocking Chair and Maikli at Tahimik.

Retrospective.MOV

A retrospective on the wild, wired, digital world of prominent movers in digital filmmaking with this year’s theme of “Extreme Cinema Wasakero” highlights films and filmmakers that challenge the norm with the themes of their movies.

Shorts.MOV

The inaugural event will also have a program called Shorts.MOV, a showcase of the best digital short films in the world from two of the most prestigious international short film festivals, Clemont-Ferrand (France) and Oberhausen (Germany).

Silvershorts

A short film competition for students and professionals will range from narrative, experimental, documentary, animation, to music video. Finalists for the student category include: 123, Anomi, June 9, Kamatis, Kumot, Papelove, Pisi, Stop, Play and Pause, Ultra and Publico Makata. Finalists for the open category include: # Café, Ambulancia, Ampo, Andong, Libingan, Nekro, Saling Pusa, The Prayer, Tiangge and VTR.

Film Concert.MOV

A special programming of rare, out-of-print Filipino classic films scored live by the country’s most recognized independent bands such as Radioactive Sago Project, Pedicab and Queso will be featured with a digital twist that underscores the festival’s aim to showcase film’s ever changing language.

Cinemo: Young Artists Initiative

To develop a new breed of filmmakers to follow these legends’ footsteps, .MOV will have workshops led by world-renowned industry experts, as well as a young critics’ initiative that focuses on teaching how to write about films by tackling a new wave of criticism, retrospection, and commentary on films to help artists to interface with the international community.

So The Creation of the first digital international film festival was rewritten, reedited and redirected, and there was .MOV. And the film gods saw that it was good.

The event is sponsored by Filmless Films, Robinsons Movieworld, Swiftsure Group and Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. For more information, visit http://www.movfest.com or e-mail dotmov@gmail.com.