Benilde student's thesis film 'Tahanan' bags bronze award in California

A Benilde student's thesis project bagged bronze at a film fest held in San Francisco, California!

"Tahanan" by Alsen Estrella was awarded the Bronze award in the short film category of the 26th Annual Filipino International Cine Festival and Competition at the International Hotel Manilatown Center.

The film tells the story of Sabel (Junyka Santarin) who searches for his younger brother Bert (Rein Matudan) as they escape from an evil entity inside their home.

Estrella said that he actually got the concept during his first few years at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts film program.

"It's just a concept that I never got to shoot, because I haven't figured out how to write the narrative for it just yet. When the time to shoot our thesis came, I was burnt out. It took me some time but eventually, it became a clear choice that I should use the concept for my thesis project," he said.

^{"Tahanan" production team}

Arby and Christine Laraño’s “Liwanag,” Lawrence Fajardo’s “Memories of the Rising Run” and Ralph Quincena’s “Bisperas” won the Gold award, Juan Carlo Torobal’s “Nilalang” got the Silver, while King Abalos’ “Maria” shared the Bronze with “Tahanan.”

“Tahanan” was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for the Screen (Estrella), Outstanding Lead Actress (Santarin), Outstanding Supporting Actor (Matudan) and Outstanding Supporting Actress (Mari Joy Cacho).

It was also a finalist in the student short film competition of the Cebu International Film Festival last August.

—JCB, GMA News