The much anticipated line-up of finalists for the Cinema One Originals Festival of 2013 has, at last, been revealed.
The 15 chosen films showcase a new breed of Filipino filmmaking talent that is entirely its own.
The selected films fall under two categories, with the first having 2 million worth of production budget, and the second having 1 million worth of production budget.
Under the CINEMA ONE PLUS category (2 million production budget), there are five films:
“KABISERA” by director Borgy Torre tells the action-packed story of one man’s transformation from a naïve innocent citizen to a ruthless father and friend, eventually leading him into the bottomless pit of the drug trade.
“BLUE BUSTAMANTE” by director Miko Livelo is a family drama-comedy that focuses on the story of an OFW who suddenly becomes jobless in Japan. A friend introduces him to a Sentai director who convinces him to be a double for Blue Force, a superhero character in an upcoming Japanese show.
“SITIO” by director Mes de Guzman is a psychological drama about a family who moves from the city to the province in search of a simpler life, only to find more problems and setbacks instead.
“ALAMAT NI CHINA DOLL” by director Adolf Alix, Jr. tells the dramatic story of a woman named Helen who lives with her grandmother in an idyllic island down south. At the age of 25, she is hopeful about finally graduating from high school and starting a new life. However, an article entitled “China Doll” reveals details about a controversy and turns things around for Helen. Screenplay is by award-winning director Lav Diaz.
“WOMAN OF THE RUINS” by director Keith Sicat” is a mystery drama in which on a storm-ravaged island, a person assumed dead reappears and ignites a frenzy of reactions, ranging from ecstatic religious fervor to fear.
Under the CINEMA ONE CURRENTS category (1 million production budget), the 10 films are:
“ANGUSTIA” by director Kristian Cordero, is set in the 19th century Bicolandia where a Spanish friar falls for a woman of indigenous origins.
“ANG PAGBABALAT NG AHAS” by director Timmy Harn delves into a lower middle-class family who moves to an upper middle-class village where a mad scientist is keeping a snake-man captive.
“ISLANDS” by director Whammy Alcarazen, an experimental/science-fiction, is about a spacecraft that lands through the geographies of a fictional film entitled “Islands,” and the reality in which it is that is depicted as as a movie.
“BUKAS NA LANG SAPAGKAT GABI NA” by director Jet Leyco is a four-part narrative of three related occurrences sparked by an accident that happens to a Filipino-Spanish priest.
“ISKALAWAGS” by director Keith Deligero, a comedy, is an aching coming-of-age tale of friendship and youth set in a small town in Cebu.
“SUFFOCATING ETERNITY OF AN IMAGINED PURGATORY” by director Joseph Laban is a horror story about missing kids in Marinduque who are believed to have been kidnapped by spirits of the sea.
“PHILIPPINO STORY” by director Benjamin Garcia is a cautionary tale that reveals the dangers and drama behind male prostitution.
“SHIFT” by Siege Ledesma tells the story of an idealistic, tomboyish, call center slacker who is mentored by a pragmatic, gay senior agent. Their interaction develops into an unconventional relationship that eventually challenges their most personal convinctions.
“BENDOR” by director Ralston Jover is set in Manila’s Quiapo Church 40 days before the annual Good Friday procession of the miraculous 400-year-old Black Nazarene statue. An early morning mass is disrupted when a candle vendor finds a blood-soaked box containing a dead fetus.
“RIDDLES OF MY HOMECOMING” by Davao-based director Arnel Mardoquio presents an insight into the lives of Lumads and Moros of Mindanao as it depicts the belief that when a person dies, his soul returns to his homeland.
This line-up of films is proof that local filmmakers are taking things to whole new heights.
The Cinema One Originals Festival will showcase all 15 new films this coming November. Stay tuned for more information about the Cinema One Originals Festival 2013.
