Local 'faces, voices, stories' at the 2nd Sineng Pambansa film festival

The 2nd Sineng Pambansa National Film Festival: All-Masters Edition showcases the home provinces of the 10 participating veteran directors in a bid by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) to exhibit the splendid diversity and colors of Philippine culture to local audiences used to Hollywood fare.

Briccio Santos, chairman of the FDCP, said the aim to highlight the home provinces of the “master directors” by using them as locales for their cinematic productions is “to bring focus to the faces, voices, and stories” of the regions.

“The Sineng Pambansa aims to develop the nation’s film industry by encouraging and supporting the production and exhibition of quality films. It is our hope to be able to bring Filipino films to more Filipinos,” Santos said at the festival's launch.

The festival will run from Sept. 11 to 17, with the films shown at all SM cinemas nationwide.

“It is our vision at the FDCP to build a national cinema that is truly reflective of the diversity and richness of our culture spanning throughout our beautiful archipelago,” said Santos.

“It is with this vision that we pursue the development and empowerment of filmmakers across our country as to bring focus to the faces, voices, and stories in various regions of the Philippines. The films included in this festival will tell the engaging stories of our people and put a spotlight on various locations of our beautiful land.”

Masters of the craft

The FDCP describes a master director as one “whose bodies of work have substantially formed as part of Philippine cinema heritage for decades.”

The filmmakers elevated to this pantheon and their films are:

- Mel Chionglo, "Lauriana"
- Maryo J. Delos Reyes, "Bamboo Flowers"
- Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes, "Sonata"
- Joel Lamangan, "Lihis"
- Elwood Perez, "Otso"
- Gil M. Portes, "Ang Tag-araw ni Twinkle"
- Jose Javier Reyes, "Ano ang Kulay ng Mga Nakalimutang Pangarap?"
- Chito Roño, "Badil"
- Romy Suzara, "Tinik"
- Tikoy Aguiluz, "Eman"

Chionglo, director of “Lauriana,” said his film was inspired by a story in a Quezon village in the 1950s which centered on the “dark, disturbing secret of a soldier and his common-law-wife.”

“This film takes the protagonists on 60 years of journey to find remorse, forgiveness, and retribution,” Chionglo said. Bangs Garcia, Allen Dizon, and Victor Basa are among the talents in “Lauriana.”

Delos Reyes said he used the metaphor of “Bamboo Flowers” in narrating the contradictions in the lives of the people in Bohol: the married ones and the singles, young lovers, strangers, including tourists trying to experience various facets of the province and the scores of cultural workers in the tourism industry.

“Ours is a child-friendly film,” he emphasized. “Bamboo Flowers” stars Mylene Dizon, Max Collins, Orlando Sol, and Irma Adlawan.

“Sonata” is directed jointly by Peque Gallaga, of the classic “Oro, Plata, Mata” and “Scorpio Nights” and Lore Reyes. Shot in Negros Island, “Sonata is about a woman whose whole life if her art, and when she lost her art, she is disconnected from life and from the people around her, because her life was her art,” said Gallaga.

Cherie Gil, who is one of the producers of the film, leads the cast, together with Chart Motus, Joshua Pineda, and Richard Gomez.

Lamangan said he and Ricky Lee conceptualized “Lihis” “many, many years” before Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal became a worldwide rage in 2005.

“Sadly, when we were pitching the story of two male members of the New People’s Army falling in love with each other, we were rejected left and right. Now that 'My Husband’s Lover' is a hit, they want my story. I told them: please watch it in Sineng Pambansa,” Lamangan said.

Jake Cuenca, Joem Bascon, Lovi Poe, Isabelle Daza, and Gloria Diaz star in “Lihis.”

Elwood Perez said his “Otso” is his “most personal film” as it is about his life, his neighbors, and “the neighbors I’ve always imagined.”

With Manila as the locale, “Otso” stars Vince Tañada, Anita Linda, Jun Urbano, and Vangie Labalan, and tackles the demons and despairs of a male writer attempting to craft a script for an indie film until he discovers that his “illusions of film-making, romance, and the city itself are at odds with the truth.”

Portes said “Ang Tag-araw ni Twinkle” is a story of a baby girl, found in an overrun NPA camp, who was raised by a military officer and grows up to be a drug-dependent, rebellious teen-ager. One day, her dying biological father shows up after almost 18 years of separation.”

Ellen Adarna, Chris Villanueva, Arnold Reyes, Dominic Roco, and Pinky Amador star in “Tag-araw.”

Javier Reyes said he had always wanted to direct a movie with a very long title and thus, he called his film “Ano ang Kulay ng Mga Nakalimutang Pangarap?,” which is about loyalty, old age, mortality, and memories.

He said “Ano ang Kulay” is a “quiet and tragic story of Teresa, who dedicated 60 years of her life to serving a middle-class family at the expense of her own happiness and fulfillment.”

Suzara said “Tinik” presents “a sober and impartial study of homosexuality through the story of a middle-aged gay couturier and his attempts to hold onto his dignity amid the dilemmas and problems of his being gay.”

“Tinik” stars Ricardo Cepeda, Lemuel Pelayo, Alexis Navarro, Bembol Roco, Lance Raymundo, and Angeli Bayani.

Aguiluz said “Eman” is a coming-of-age story about Emmanuel A. F. Lacaba, a brilliant, young poet who cast his lot with the armed struggle in 1975 until his death in a clash with military men in Asuncion town in Davao del Norte on March 18, 1976. Lacaba was only 27 years old when he died.

“The film will attempt to fuse the genre thriller with Eman’s poetry as a device to tell the compelling story of Eman Lacaba: poet, warrior, poet/warrior,” Aguiluz said.

Actor Derek Ramsey plays the role of Eman, who was only was only 27 years old at the time of his death. Aguiluz had directed another biopic in the 1980s, “Balweg,” about dissident priest Conrado Balweg.

Roño’s “Badil” is “a window into how flawed and corrupted our voting system has become” as seen from the eyes of a young boy named Nonoy.

The 2nd Sineng Pambansa National Film Festival also pays tribute to directors Celso Ad Castillo, National Artist Manuel Conde, and Lino Brocka for their “influence in shaping the Philippine cinema to what it is today.”

Castillo’s last film “Bahay ng Lagim,” Conde’s recently restored “Genghis Khan,” and Brocka’s “Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag,” which was also restored early this year, will be screened during the festival.

Another highlight of the festival is the showing of “Salvi,” by director TM Malones in the category of “first-time director feature.”

“Salvi,” which gave Malones the Best Thesis Technical Award during his graduation at the Central Philippine University, takes the viewers in a post-apocalyptic Philippines ravaged by a mysterious disease. Salvi is one of the survivors who try to look for her family members in the wasteland Philippines.

Brittany Marie Baldoza, Ulysses Apocay Jr., and Rodgee Borja lead the cast of “Salvi.” — BM, GMA News

All films at the 2nd Sineng Pambansa National Film Festival: All-Masters Edition will be screened from Sept. 11 to 17 at SM Cinema’s 246 cinemas in 45 branches nationwide. For screening details, please visit http://www.smcinema.com.

Film posters courtesy of the Film Development Council of the Philippines