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Cinemalaya 2013 Experience


photo courtesy of Iona Magsombol
So Cinemalaya 2013 has just wrapped up. Congratulations to all the winners! :) I'm happy because, finally, I was able to attend a real film fest in the Philippines. Well, I've watched a few films at the MMFF the past few years, but, it's not really... it just doesn't feel like... uhmmm... Anyway, I've been an attendee of film fests abroad, and what kind of Filipino would that make me if I didn't support our own now that I had the chance?

Given my work schedule, I was able to watch just three films at Cinemalaya this year -- which, btw, are all superb:

SANA DATI
courtesy of cinemalaya.org
Thanks to the director of the film, Jerrold Tarog, for giving us free tickets to Sana Dati's gala night! (The company I work for co-produced the film Senior Year with Jerrold. Hence, the association and the free tickets. Hihi.) I'm happy that this was the first film I watched because it made me want to watch more films. Even though my boss had told some of us how the story would end (he has a copy of the script), we were still all very excited to see it on the big screen. I heard this film won "Best Film" under the Director's Showcase category. A big CONGRATS! It's a well-deserved award!

The Digitank Studios team with Jerrold Tarog at Sana Dati's Gala Night

TRANSIT
courtesy of cinemalaya.org
Okay, this film deserves international recognition. Seriously. The word outstanding is even an understatement. It's something I'd watch at TIFF. I heard it's going to the Berlin International Film Fest. I hope it would make it big there. Hands down to Hannah Espia and the rest of the team for winning "Best Film" in the New Breed Category! And I don't know why, but while watching the film, I just knew that Jasmin Curtis-Smith would win the supporting actress award. The actors were all very good but newcomer Jasmin and child actor Marc Justine Alvarez really stood out for me. Also, kudos to their Hebrew language coaches! I was so amazed that their Hebrew sounded so legit. 

EKSTRA
courtesy of cinemalaya.org
Of course, Vilma Santos's performance in this film is stellar, as it is in all her films. It's no big question why she won Best Actress. What I liked about the film so much is that it showed the reality of media production. Being a person who works for the same industry, I totally related to the story. Well, I don't work for a drama series, or as an "Ekstra", but I like how the film presented that the media industry is not all glitz and glamour as a lot of people think.


I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend Cinemalaya Film Fest 2014 because I might be back in Canada around the same time next year. But if ever one of these films make it to TIFF, I will be first in line, supporting Filipino-produced films. :)

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