16th Valdivia International Film Festival 2009 from 15 - 20 October 2009
Se cierra el telón
There are no translations available.
Con la presencia de autoridades e invitados especiales, la organización del Festival Internacional de Cine de Valdivia cerró su décimo sexta versión.
Durante la noche del 20 de octubre, con una ceremonia en el Aula Magna de la Universidad Austral de Chile, se dio por terminada la fiesta del cine en la región de Los Ríos. Esto tras una intensa semana, llena de actividades culturales, conferencias y lo mejor del cine chileno e internacional.
El evento fue conducido por los actores de la recién estrenada película de Cristian Jiménez, ‘Ilusiones Ópticas’: Iván Álvarez de Araya y Paulina Eguiluz. Con su carisma, los animadores conquistaron a los más de 400 asistentes que fueron a despedir la jornada.
Luego de escuchar la canción ‘Valdivia en niebla’ de Patricio Mans, interpretada por Juan Pablo Miranda y Álvaro Morgan, se proyectó un pequeño resumen de lo que fueron los pasados seis días.
Por supuesto, se dieron a conocer los ganadores de las diferentes categorías en competencia.
Competencia Oficial Largometraje
Mejor Película: La Pivellina, de Rainier Frimmel y Tizza Covi.
Mejor Director: Esmir Filho por Os Famosos e os Duendes da Morte.
Premio Especial del Jurado: Independencia de Raya Martin.
Premio de la Crítica: Independencia de Raya Martin.
Competencia Oficial Cortometraje
Mejor Cortometraje: Goleshovo de Ilian Metev.
Menciones especiales del jurado:
Lucía de Niles Atallah, Joaquín Cociña y Cristóbal León.
Despair de Galina Myznikova y Sergey Provorov.
Competencia Oficial Gente Joven
Mejor Cortometraje Categoría Gente Joven: El Hijo, de Carlos Leiva.
Sección Work in Progress 2009
Ganador: Metro Cuadrado de Nayra Ilic.
Foro de Inversiones y Sesiones de Coproducción
De Jueves a Domingo de Dominga Sotomayor (Chile).
Marimbas del Infierno de Julio Hernández Cordón (Guatemala).
2º Concurso de cortometrajes HD Videocorp-VGL-VTR
Ganador: La ley del Hielo, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago.
Mejor Película Chilena - (Voto del Público)
Premio TVN: La Nana de Sebastián Silva.
Premio Movie City: El Poder de la Palabra de Francisco Hervé.
Como ocurrió en varias oportunidades dentro de la semana, la organización del FICV le dio la oportunidad a la Federación Plataforma Audiovisual, para leer el Manifiesto de los Audiovisualistas de Chile por la Ley de TV Digital.
Tras las premiaciones, el público fue convidado a disfrutar la película belga ‘Lost Persons Area’, de Caroline Strubbe. Mientras, los invitados partieron a un cóctel en la prestigiosa Cervecería Kuntsmann.
http://www.ficv.cl/f16/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1&lang=en
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Into the Woods by Michael Joshua Rowin
Into the Woods
by Michael Joshua Rowin
Independencia
Dir. Raya Martin, Philippines, no distributor
Raya Martin does not lack for ambition. A rising young star of Filipino cinema with seven films chronicling the history of his country already under his belt, Martin initially received laudatory notices for 2005’s A Short Film About the Indio Nacional (or the Prolonged Sorrow of the Filipinos), has completed the first two parts of a planned “Box Office Trilogy” (Now Showing and Next Attraction), and now with this year’s Independencia can claim to be the first filmmaker to represent the Philippines in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard competition. He’s all of 25 years old. Independencia is obviously the work of a promising filmmaker, yet even while it displays confidently sumptuous imagery in the service of a cleverly ironic critical indictment of cultural colonialism, it also betrays an incoherence and incompleteness that a more seasoned talent would most likely not commit to celluloid.
The film opens on a small marketplace in the Philippines before the turn of the 20th century. It’s shot in a very specific quality of luminescent black-and-white that reminds of certain 1920s and 30s Hollywood cinema—gauzy, diffuse, a little dreamy. Cannon shots startle the marketplace crowd, and soon a mother (Tetchie Agbayani) and son (Sid Lucero) are shown packing their belongings to escape the oncoming chaos of the revolution against Spanish rule. The only thing they need to bring on their journey, according to the mother, is their faith.
Into the woods they flee. But the forest is conspicuously phony: beautifully painted backdrops blend with lifelike plants and trees in the foreground, amplifying the setting’s artificiality. A cabin left behind by the Spanish provides their new home, one they must restore to properly live in. A third person joins their party: The son discovers in the forest a young woman (Alessandra de Rossi) who is suggested as having been raped by American soldiers (“Wait ’til they hear what you did to that girl,” an offscreen voice says in English), and brings her back home. The mother develops a disturbing jealousy toward this stranger, dreaming—in a superimposed sequence that plays out above her sleeping head—of her only child taking the young woman from behind on a luxurious bed. Before she dies during a powerful squall, mom will also dream of repeatedly slapping the young woman. The young woman has meant no ill-will, but she has quickly succeeded the mother, and is soon seen pregnant and in the throes of birthing pains.
In a moment recalling the fake malfunction that bifurcated Tropical Malady, Independencia is abruptly interrupted when the film is made to look as if it’s sliding away from the projector lens (A Short Film is also, from what I’ve read, similarly divided). A colonialist propaganda newsreel is briefly shown in its place, explaining in an English voiceover the necessary actions of an American soldier who shot a local boy on the pretense of shoplifting. When we return to the main narrative it is many years later, and the son is now a longhaired father with a son (Mike Aguilos) of his own. The forest has become thoroughly part of the grown man: he explains to his boy that the reason they dwell apart from civilization is that townspeople are warlike, a point he illustrates by telling a story about two villages that once fought over hunting grounds until they all killed each other. But even his family’s isolation cannot stave off war, and it encroaches when Americans enter the forest during their siege of a nearby community.
Independencia works best as a metacinematic allegory of cultural resistance and perseverance in the face of imperial domination. Using classical Hollywood syntax, Martin links the United States’ inherited occupation of the Philippines with the emergence of that superpower’s greatest ideological weapon: the movies. The fake newsreel, featuring a villainous soldier sporting a preposterously false moustache, makes the connection explicit, but Martin also exaggerates soundstage illusion to mock Hollywood’s exotic fantasies, even as he simultaneously re-enlists that illusion in the service of a shimmering, lush myth closer to indigenous and oral storytelling traditions.
Unfortunately Independencia ends up with a ton of thematic loose ends. What is the significance of the mother’s Freudian sexual envy to the rest of the story? What of the son’s desire to reach the sea and become a fisherman? What happened to the precious amulet the son speaks of as a lost heirloom once owned by his revered father? The son wishes to recover it to ward off the Occidental invaders—does the climactic, strobe lightning storm mean it’s fallen into the hands of an unworthy possessor? Is the dark specter with a hand-drawn outline around it the savior referred to as the forest’s protector (and supposedly glimpsed by the child at one point)? If so, is its power ferocious or negligible? These questions seem to be left hanging due not to ambiguous intent but directorial sloppiness—at only 77 minutes, Independencia contains either a strangely inordinate amount of filler or a poorly conceived narrative (as co-written by Martin and Ramon Sarmiento), with a rushed ending that bafflingly conflates colonial repression with natural disaster.
Despite all these problems, Martin’s proficiency with lighting, mise-en-scène, and sound design is never in doubt, not exactly faint praise for someone who’s just reached the quarter-century mark. Even if the available evidence shows he can build properly on some ideas more than others, Martin clearly possesses a visual intelligence that portends terrific exploration and originality, two qualities that almost guarantee refinement.
by Michael Joshua Rowin
Independencia
Dir. Raya Martin, Philippines, no distributor
Raya Martin does not lack for ambition. A rising young star of Filipino cinema with seven films chronicling the history of his country already under his belt, Martin initially received laudatory notices for 2005’s A Short Film About the Indio Nacional (or the Prolonged Sorrow of the Filipinos), has completed the first two parts of a planned “Box Office Trilogy” (Now Showing and Next Attraction), and now with this year’s Independencia can claim to be the first filmmaker to represent the Philippines in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard competition. He’s all of 25 years old. Independencia is obviously the work of a promising filmmaker, yet even while it displays confidently sumptuous imagery in the service of a cleverly ironic critical indictment of cultural colonialism, it also betrays an incoherence and incompleteness that a more seasoned talent would most likely not commit to celluloid.
The film opens on a small marketplace in the Philippines before the turn of the 20th century. It’s shot in a very specific quality of luminescent black-and-white that reminds of certain 1920s and 30s Hollywood cinema—gauzy, diffuse, a little dreamy. Cannon shots startle the marketplace crowd, and soon a mother (Tetchie Agbayani) and son (Sid Lucero) are shown packing their belongings to escape the oncoming chaos of the revolution against Spanish rule. The only thing they need to bring on their journey, according to the mother, is their faith.
Into the woods they flee. But the forest is conspicuously phony: beautifully painted backdrops blend with lifelike plants and trees in the foreground, amplifying the setting’s artificiality. A cabin left behind by the Spanish provides their new home, one they must restore to properly live in. A third person joins their party: The son discovers in the forest a young woman (Alessandra de Rossi) who is suggested as having been raped by American soldiers (“Wait ’til they hear what you did to that girl,” an offscreen voice says in English), and brings her back home. The mother develops a disturbing jealousy toward this stranger, dreaming—in a superimposed sequence that plays out above her sleeping head—of her only child taking the young woman from behind on a luxurious bed. Before she dies during a powerful squall, mom will also dream of repeatedly slapping the young woman. The young woman has meant no ill-will, but she has quickly succeeded the mother, and is soon seen pregnant and in the throes of birthing pains.
In a moment recalling the fake malfunction that bifurcated Tropical Malady, Independencia is abruptly interrupted when the film is made to look as if it’s sliding away from the projector lens (A Short Film is also, from what I’ve read, similarly divided). A colonialist propaganda newsreel is briefly shown in its place, explaining in an English voiceover the necessary actions of an American soldier who shot a local boy on the pretense of shoplifting. When we return to the main narrative it is many years later, and the son is now a longhaired father with a son (Mike Aguilos) of his own. The forest has become thoroughly part of the grown man: he explains to his boy that the reason they dwell apart from civilization is that townspeople are warlike, a point he illustrates by telling a story about two villages that once fought over hunting grounds until they all killed each other. But even his family’s isolation cannot stave off war, and it encroaches when Americans enter the forest during their siege of a nearby community.
Independencia works best as a metacinematic allegory of cultural resistance and perseverance in the face of imperial domination. Using classical Hollywood syntax, Martin links the United States’ inherited occupation of the Philippines with the emergence of that superpower’s greatest ideological weapon: the movies. The fake newsreel, featuring a villainous soldier sporting a preposterously false moustache, makes the connection explicit, but Martin also exaggerates soundstage illusion to mock Hollywood’s exotic fantasies, even as he simultaneously re-enlists that illusion in the service of a shimmering, lush myth closer to indigenous and oral storytelling traditions.
Unfortunately Independencia ends up with a ton of thematic loose ends. What is the significance of the mother’s Freudian sexual envy to the rest of the story? What of the son’s desire to reach the sea and become a fisherman? What happened to the precious amulet the son speaks of as a lost heirloom once owned by his revered father? The son wishes to recover it to ward off the Occidental invaders—does the climactic, strobe lightning storm mean it’s fallen into the hands of an unworthy possessor? Is the dark specter with a hand-drawn outline around it the savior referred to as the forest’s protector (and supposedly glimpsed by the child at one point)? If so, is its power ferocious or negligible? These questions seem to be left hanging due not to ambiguous intent but directorial sloppiness—at only 77 minutes, Independencia contains either a strangely inordinate amount of filler or a poorly conceived narrative (as co-written by Martin and Ramon Sarmiento), with a rushed ending that bafflingly conflates colonial repression with natural disaster.
Despite all these problems, Martin’s proficiency with lighting, mise-en-scène, and sound design is never in doubt, not exactly faint praise for someone who’s just reached the quarter-century mark. Even if the available evidence shows he can build properly on some ideas more than others, Martin clearly possesses a visual intelligence that portends terrific exploration and originality, two qualities that almost guarantee refinement.
At the New York Film Festival: Independencia
At the New York Film Festival: Independencia
Posted by Andrew Schenker on Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Raya Martin's Independencia played on Sunday afternoon at the New York Film Festival. The film is currently without distribution.
Although it occasionally gets carried away by its own reflexive spirit, Independencia is far more than the cute formal exercise its premise suggests. As he spins his myth-like tale of three generations of Filipino villagers hiding out in the forest from the threat of occupying Yankees, director Raya Martin fits his colonialist story with a colonized aesthetic to match. Understanding the ways in which cultural imperialism is often grounded in the cinematic image—a point he perhaps stresses too hard through a mid-film mock-propaganda newsreel—he steeps the picture in the look of early Hollywood silents, an appropriate framework through which to process the experience of the colonized Filipinos who were likely exposed to these very movies. But for all the studied artificiality of the film’s look—the use of the 4:3 frame, matted backgrounds, a subtle flicker effect—Martin’s images can’t be reduced to mere model-mimicry. Simply put, they’re too lovely: oozy, silvery glimpses of trees, bodies, faces that look like something, not so much ripped from the studio era, but out of some hazy dreamscape instead.
Unfolding sometime in the early part of the 20th century, the film begins with a mother and son fleeing the danger of the city for the relative seclusion of a tropical forest. They're joined by a battered woman seeking asylum, and the three live in relative peace in a makeshift shack until the mother succumbs to illness. Then, after a few scratches on the screen and a few frames of white leader mimic a reel change, we jump a couple years ahead, with the son and woman living in the same forest, now married and raising a child of their own. Throughout it all is the constant threat of the Americans, their presence never overstated, but always felt. When they finally do arrive, they seem like a foreign conception of U.S. soldiers: their voices sound like Filipinos trying to speak American English and their actions are uniformly brutish. It’s as if they were called into being by the cinematic imagination of the oppressed. And, in a way, they are, since it’s Martin, reflecting on his country’s legacy, who has created them.
Ultimately, Independencia doesn’t really take us deep into the workings of the colonial situation—after registering its initial insight about cultural hegemony and the film image, it’s content to simply present the Americans as the enemy. Instead it proceeds by a certain strain of mythologizing, seemingly drawn from oral tradition—we see the father pass it on to his son—which imagines the struggle in terms of allegorical figures like “the man in the river” and “the evil army” while the villains are kept largely off-screen. When an actual threat finally emerges, it’s preceded by an earth-rending thunderstorm which, in its monumentality, seems like the real enemy—and whose presentation, with its images of figures curled up against the rain and its claps of thunder, wind and swirling strings on the soundtrack, represents the film’s aesthetic peak—rather than the soldiers whose brief presence immediately follows the storm. In moments likes this, Martin succeeds in conjuring up a smoky dreamworld—which we recognize at last as the world of the movies—and then, summoning the weight of history, tears a rude hole through its gauzy fabric.
Posted by Andrew Schenker on Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Raya Martin's Independencia played on Sunday afternoon at the New York Film Festival. The film is currently without distribution.
Although it occasionally gets carried away by its own reflexive spirit, Independencia is far more than the cute formal exercise its premise suggests. As he spins his myth-like tale of three generations of Filipino villagers hiding out in the forest from the threat of occupying Yankees, director Raya Martin fits his colonialist story with a colonized aesthetic to match. Understanding the ways in which cultural imperialism is often grounded in the cinematic image—a point he perhaps stresses too hard through a mid-film mock-propaganda newsreel—he steeps the picture in the look of early Hollywood silents, an appropriate framework through which to process the experience of the colonized Filipinos who were likely exposed to these very movies. But for all the studied artificiality of the film’s look—the use of the 4:3 frame, matted backgrounds, a subtle flicker effect—Martin’s images can’t be reduced to mere model-mimicry. Simply put, they’re too lovely: oozy, silvery glimpses of trees, bodies, faces that look like something, not so much ripped from the studio era, but out of some hazy dreamscape instead.
Unfolding sometime in the early part of the 20th century, the film begins with a mother and son fleeing the danger of the city for the relative seclusion of a tropical forest. They're joined by a battered woman seeking asylum, and the three live in relative peace in a makeshift shack until the mother succumbs to illness. Then, after a few scratches on the screen and a few frames of white leader mimic a reel change, we jump a couple years ahead, with the son and woman living in the same forest, now married and raising a child of their own. Throughout it all is the constant threat of the Americans, their presence never overstated, but always felt. When they finally do arrive, they seem like a foreign conception of U.S. soldiers: their voices sound like Filipinos trying to speak American English and their actions are uniformly brutish. It’s as if they were called into being by the cinematic imagination of the oppressed. And, in a way, they are, since it’s Martin, reflecting on his country’s legacy, who has created them.
Ultimately, Independencia doesn’t really take us deep into the workings of the colonial situation—after registering its initial insight about cultural hegemony and the film image, it’s content to simply present the Americans as the enemy. Instead it proceeds by a certain strain of mythologizing, seemingly drawn from oral tradition—we see the father pass it on to his son—which imagines the struggle in terms of allegorical figures like “the man in the river” and “the evil army” while the villains are kept largely off-screen. When an actual threat finally emerges, it’s preceded by an earth-rending thunderstorm which, in its monumentality, seems like the real enemy—and whose presentation, with its images of figures curled up against the rain and its claps of thunder, wind and swirling strings on the soundtrack, represents the film’s aesthetic peak—rather than the soldiers whose brief presence immediately follows the storm. In moments likes this, Martin succeeds in conjuring up a smoky dreamworld—which we recognize at last as the world of the movies—and then, summoning the weight of history, tears a rude hole through its gauzy fabric.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
We were all very honored and happy that ‘Independencia’ won not just one but two prizes— Grand Prize in the Southeast Asian Competition
http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view/20091004-228264/Lea-Salonga-sings-for-Ondoy-victims
Only in Hollywood
Lea Salonga sings for ‘Ondoy’ victims
By Ruben V. Nepales
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:34:00 10/04/2009
Filed Under: Celebrities, Ondoy, Flood
Most Read
LOS ANGELES—“Ondoy” may have wrought terrible devastation to our country but in its wake, something beautiful and profound arose: the unprecedented support Filipinos all over the world have shown to help the flood victims and relief efforts in every way possible.
Also thanks to the Internet and texting technology, Pinoys galvanized together in an instant fashion. The outpouring of “Bayanihan” spirit, 21st century style, is very moving.
Take the case of Lea Salonga’s special fund-raising performance for the tropical storm victims on Monday, Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m. at The Philippine Center’s Kalayaan Hall located at 556 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Lea, her friend Victor Lirio, the good folks of the Ayala Foundation USA and the Philippine Consulate General were able to organize the event in less than 24 hours!
We’ll let Victor, Diverse City Theater Company artistic director, tell the story. Here is his e-mail account:
Heartbreaking news
“The event was planned just last night (Wednesday evening, Sept. 30). Earlier yesterday, I was in communication via e-mail with Deputy Consul General Millie Thomeczek, expressing my desire to do something for the victims. I had been consumed by all the news about the calamity, and the photographs online were simply heartbreaking.
“I knew Lea was scheduled to be in town for concert engagements in upstate New York. But I also knew that she had very limited time due to work. At 5:15 p.m. yesterday, I was in a meeting with Bob Perlstein, Lea’s legal counsel and who is helping me with a deal memo for another project. Bob told me he spoke to Lea who expressed the same desire to do something for the storm victims. So while I was in Bob’s office, I called Lea and left a message on her voicemail. I found out later that she was already on an LA-bound flight.
“At around 8:30 p.m. last night, Lea called me. She had just landed in LA. We talked about the victims of the storm and the insufficient help and relief available to them. She said, ‘We definitely have to do something, no matter how small.’ She was originally scheduled to leave earlier, but she changed her schedule so she can do a benefit event. So we agreed on a date and logistical things.
“At 10:47 p.m. last night when I got home, I e-mailed Consul General Cecil Rebong, Millie, Ayala Foundation (AF) USA president Vicky Garchitorena, secretary (New York Team) Marilyn Abalos and officer Ronna Sieh. By 11:33 p.m., I had received an e-mail from Vicky confirming her support. By 11:48 p.m., I was communicating with Ronna regarding logistical arrangements. A few minutes after midnight, I had almost simultaneous responses expressing support from Millie, Marilyn Abalos and Consul General Cecil Rebong. All Millie needed to do was to confirm the Kalayaan Hall’s availability, which she did at 10:30 a.m. the following day. By 2:40 p.m., we had sent out the announcement.”
In a joint statement, Victor and Lea revealed details of the special performance: “There are limited seats. To RSVP, e-mail rsvp@diversecitytheater.org. Donation: $50 general admission; VIP Donation: $150+ which includes a pre-show cocktail reception. All proceeds to benefit the typhoon relief fund.
“If you are unable to attend but would like to make a donation, visit http://www.af-usa.org. Go to ‘Donate Now’ and select ‘AF-USA Typhoon Relief Fund.’ For check donations, make checks payable to Ayala Foundation USA and mail them to 255 Shoreline Drive, Suite 428, Redwood City, CA 94065. Please put ‘flood victims’ on the memo portion of your check. For questions, please e-mail ronna.sieh@gmail.com.”
Bangkok win
Arleen Cuevas, back home from Thailand where “Independencia,” which she produced and Raya Martin directed, won two prizes, e-mailed us her thoughts: “We were all very honored and happy that ‘Independencia’ won not just one but two prizes— Grand Prize in the Southeast Asian Competition and the Netpac Jury award, and also happy that Sherad Anthony Sanchez’s ‘Imburnal’ won Special Mention as well. We were glad that there was a strong Filipino presence in the festival this year, with three Filipino films in competition. I also co-produced the other Filipino entry, ‘Aurora,’ directed by Adolfo Alix Jr. which was also in competition. And Brillante Mendoza was one of the jurors in the Main Competition...
“Raya is in New York for the New York Film Festival,” she disclosed. “Independencia” is an official entry in that ongoing festival. “I talked to Raya who wished he was in Bangkok with us.
“There were no speeches during the awarding ceremony,” Arleen said. “It was a straightforward event with Princess Ubolratana of Thailand giving out the awards...”
Before flying to Bangkok, she attended the Vladivostok International Film Festival where “Independencia” was in competition.
Arleen is glad to be back home. “Yes, we were all affected by Ondoy,” she disclosed. “I live in Manila (very near España, UST area) and my area gets flooded all the time. It was good our immediate families and friends were safe.”
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
Only in Hollywood
Lea Salonga sings for ‘Ondoy’ victims
By Ruben V. Nepales
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:34:00 10/04/2009
Filed Under: Celebrities, Ondoy, Flood
Most Read
LOS ANGELES—“Ondoy” may have wrought terrible devastation to our country but in its wake, something beautiful and profound arose: the unprecedented support Filipinos all over the world have shown to help the flood victims and relief efforts in every way possible.
Also thanks to the Internet and texting technology, Pinoys galvanized together in an instant fashion. The outpouring of “Bayanihan” spirit, 21st century style, is very moving.
Take the case of Lea Salonga’s special fund-raising performance for the tropical storm victims on Monday, Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m. at The Philippine Center’s Kalayaan Hall located at 556 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Lea, her friend Victor Lirio, the good folks of the Ayala Foundation USA and the Philippine Consulate General were able to organize the event in less than 24 hours!
We’ll let Victor, Diverse City Theater Company artistic director, tell the story. Here is his e-mail account:
Heartbreaking news
“The event was planned just last night (Wednesday evening, Sept. 30). Earlier yesterday, I was in communication via e-mail with Deputy Consul General Millie Thomeczek, expressing my desire to do something for the victims. I had been consumed by all the news about the calamity, and the photographs online were simply heartbreaking.
“I knew Lea was scheduled to be in town for concert engagements in upstate New York. But I also knew that she had very limited time due to work. At 5:15 p.m. yesterday, I was in a meeting with Bob Perlstein, Lea’s legal counsel and who is helping me with a deal memo for another project. Bob told me he spoke to Lea who expressed the same desire to do something for the storm victims. So while I was in Bob’s office, I called Lea and left a message on her voicemail. I found out later that she was already on an LA-bound flight.
“At around 8:30 p.m. last night, Lea called me. She had just landed in LA. We talked about the victims of the storm and the insufficient help and relief available to them. She said, ‘We definitely have to do something, no matter how small.’ She was originally scheduled to leave earlier, but she changed her schedule so she can do a benefit event. So we agreed on a date and logistical things.
“At 10:47 p.m. last night when I got home, I e-mailed Consul General Cecil Rebong, Millie, Ayala Foundation (AF) USA president Vicky Garchitorena, secretary (New York Team) Marilyn Abalos and officer Ronna Sieh. By 11:33 p.m., I had received an e-mail from Vicky confirming her support. By 11:48 p.m., I was communicating with Ronna regarding logistical arrangements. A few minutes after midnight, I had almost simultaneous responses expressing support from Millie, Marilyn Abalos and Consul General Cecil Rebong. All Millie needed to do was to confirm the Kalayaan Hall’s availability, which she did at 10:30 a.m. the following day. By 2:40 p.m., we had sent out the announcement.”
In a joint statement, Victor and Lea revealed details of the special performance: “There are limited seats. To RSVP, e-mail rsvp@diversecitytheater.org. Donation: $50 general admission; VIP Donation: $150+ which includes a pre-show cocktail reception. All proceeds to benefit the typhoon relief fund.
“If you are unable to attend but would like to make a donation, visit http://www.af-usa.org. Go to ‘Donate Now’ and select ‘AF-USA Typhoon Relief Fund.’ For check donations, make checks payable to Ayala Foundation USA and mail them to 255 Shoreline Drive, Suite 428, Redwood City, CA 94065. Please put ‘flood victims’ on the memo portion of your check. For questions, please e-mail ronna.sieh@gmail.com.”
Bangkok win
Arleen Cuevas, back home from Thailand where “Independencia,” which she produced and Raya Martin directed, won two prizes, e-mailed us her thoughts: “We were all very honored and happy that ‘Independencia’ won not just one but two prizes— Grand Prize in the Southeast Asian Competition and the Netpac Jury award, and also happy that Sherad Anthony Sanchez’s ‘Imburnal’ won Special Mention as well. We were glad that there was a strong Filipino presence in the festival this year, with three Filipino films in competition. I also co-produced the other Filipino entry, ‘Aurora,’ directed by Adolfo Alix Jr. which was also in competition. And Brillante Mendoza was one of the jurors in the Main Competition...
“Raya is in New York for the New York Film Festival,” she disclosed. “Independencia” is an official entry in that ongoing festival. “I talked to Raya who wished he was in Bangkok with us.
“There were no speeches during the awarding ceremony,” Arleen said. “It was a straightforward event with Princess Ubolratana of Thailand giving out the awards...”
Before flying to Bangkok, she attended the Vladivostok International Film Festival where “Independencia” was in competition.
Arleen is glad to be back home. “Yes, we were all affected by Ondoy,” she disclosed. “I live in Manila (very near España, UST area) and my area gets flooded all the time. It was good our immediate families and friends were safe.”
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Independencia’ wins two major awards in Bangkok
Only in Hollywood
‘Independencia’ wins two major awards in Bangkok
By Ruben V. Nepales
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:06:00 10/03/2009
Filed Under: Cinema, Awards and Prizes
LOS ANGELES — News of Raya Martin’s “Independencia” winning the Grand Prize in the Southeast Asia Competition and the Netpac (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) at the just concluded seventh Bangkok International Film Festival provides a much-needed boost after the terrible devastation wrought by Ondoy.
Arleen Cuevas, who produced “Independencia,” accepted the awards during the closing ceremonies held last Wednesday at the Chatrium Suites Bangkok. Raya is attending the New York Film Festival, where his American Occupation-set drama will also be entered.
Interestingly, this first Filipino film to compete in the Un Certain Regard section in the Cannes Film Festival shows a violent storm that has a profound impact on a family played by Sid Lucero, Alessandra de Rossi and Mika Aguilos.
Arleen flew to Bangkok from Vladivostok, where “Independencia” competed in the seventh Pacific-Meridian International Film Festival. She posted in her Facebook page that the very first question she was asked during the Q&A with the audience after the film’s screening was, “Why is there is so much rain in the Philippines (as shown in the movie)?” This was before Ondoy struck, so Arleen’s post drew amused comments, including one from this columnist.
Another Philippine entry, Sherad Anthony Sanchez’s “Imburnal,” along with Malaysia’s “Call If You Need Me,” won the Special Mention Prize in the Southeast Asia Competition of the Thai film festival, which hopes to champion films from the region. The Special Jury Prize went to Thailand’s “Nymph.”
Rock icon
Berlin-based journalist and film critic, Vincenzo Bugno, Singaporean filmmaker, Royston Tan, and Thai indie rock icon and poet, Tul Waitoonkiat, made up the jury for the Southeast Asia Competition.
As we write this, Arleen is flying back to the Philippines. She promised to e-mail us about “Independencia’s” triumph once she’s home.
Brillante “Dante” Mendoza served as a juror in the main competition along with Chinese filmmaker, Li Yang, and Thai stage and movie director, Ekachai Uekrongtham. Dante and his two colleagues gave the top prize to an entry from Belgium, Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth’s “Altiplano,” which was described by Screen Daily as “a hyper-stylized environmental drama set in a Peruvian village.”
The other winners in the main competition were China’s “The Search,” which clinched the Special Jury Prize and Canada’s “I Killed My Mother,” which bagged the Special Mention honors.
Incidentally, we’ve been able to watch some of the Cannes entries by filmmakers whom Dante edged out for the Best Director award. These include Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” and Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon,” which won the Palme d’Or. These are excellently crafted films, so we can’t wait to see “Kinatay,” the film that Dante won for and made him the first Filipino to win the Cannes’ coveted Best Director plum.
The filmmaker, who is reported to have a large following in Thailand, just got back to the Philippines. “Medyo pagod pa ako,” he wrote via e-mail. “Nag-alala ako while I was in Bangkok, kasi a lot of people were texting me, asking if we were OK.” We asked Dante to share his thoughts on being in the jury, and he obliged:
“It’s not easy judging other filmmakers’ work, because you can’t help judging them from your own point of view. Kasi mahirap maging director, lalo na kung ang pelikula ay galing sa Third World countries like ours. I’m saying this because the festival had good choices. But, I’m happy because most of my choices won, like ’The Search’ and ’I Killed My Mother.’
Long discussion
“We had a long discussion over the Grand Prize winner, ‘Altiplano,’ because of the use of religion in the film. Coming from a Catholic country, I pointed out some of its flaws, which my fellow jurors, Li Yang and Ekachai Uekrongtham, who are both Buddhists, didn’t quite understand—like the use of images, etc. But in the end, we agreed to give the prize to ‘Altiplano,’ which was also screened at the Critics Week in Cannes.
“I’m very happy but not surprised that Raya bagged the Grand Prize in the Southeast Asia Competition. In fact, biniro ko sina Adolf (Alix Jr.) na dapat makuha natin ang Grand Prize, Special Jury at Special Mention, pati Netpac. Nagkatotoo nga. There’s no doubt the Filipino independent cinema now has a very strong presence, not only in Asia, but in the whole world as well.
“Kapapanalo lang ni Pepe (Diokno) sa Venice, at eto na naman ang kay Raya. Pinoy indies are in focus at the Pusan and Thessaloniki International Film Festivals. I’m very sure that more Filipino independent productions will win in festivals. ’Serbis’ also won the Grand Prize in the Southeast Asia Competition last year. I was given a retrospective in Brazil early this month. Another retrospective will be given to my films in Lisbon, Portugal early next year. This year is indeed the golden year of Filipino independent films.”
We say, “Mabuhay!,” to Dante’s sentiments. We sure could use some good news at this time.
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com, and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
TimeOut New York review
Timeout New York
New York Film Festival 2009
Like Josef von Sternberg’s island adventure Anatahan (1953), Raya Martin’s weather-beaten melodrama is one hallucinatory emotional hothouse. During the 1898 American invasion of the Philippines, a mother (Tetchie Agbayani) and son (Sid Lucero) retreat to the woods. They eke out a meager existence until another woman (Alessandra de Rossi) arrives and pushes the family dynamic in a more feral direction. The 77-minute feature is divided into two parts, separated by a mock newsreel (at once satirical and horrific) that portrays a murder committed by an American soldier as if it were a Keystone Cops short. The comic and the tragic constantly intertwine: Martin uses the vernacular of early silent and sound films to explore how this particular bit of history is remembered and resonates through to the present. He saves his biggest flourish for the finale, when color intrudes on the elegant black-and-white aesthetic with an enlightening, blood-red vengeance. Sunday, Oct 4 at 3pm—Keith Uhlich
Read more: http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/film/78907/independencia#ixzz0Sso8D3gj
Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal Capsule review of Independencia
Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal
Capsule reviews
Independencia
Raya Martin stylistically mimics the look and feel of a stagey old black and white movie, with flickering movement and painted backgrounds, yet it's a lush and gorgeous thing to look at and listen to. Compared to other Filipino films I've seen, it's so clean. The story is about a mother and son (Tetchie Agbayani and Sid Lucero) who retreat to the woods in advance of the American invasion of the Philippines in the late 19th century. The son finds an abandoned young woman, presumably raped by a hilariously mustachioed American soldier, and soon the mother passes away. Not long after that, the couple has a mixed-race boy they call their son, and so another generation of Filipinos begins. Will it be free? (5/5)
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Independencia and Imburnal win awards in 7th Bangkok International Film Festival
Independencia and Imburnal win awards in 7th Bangkok International Film Festival
Jocelyn Dimaculangan
Friday, October 2, 2009
07:05 AM
Rating
Filipino filmmakers bring good news to their countrymen as thousands recover from the destruction brought about by typhoon Ondoy.
The black-and-white film Independencia bagged two prizes in the 7th edition of the Bangkok International Film Festival. Imburnal was given a Special Mention in the filmfest that took place in Thailand from September 24-30.
Independencia was the Grand Prize winner in the Southeast Asian Category and the recipient of the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Jury Prize Award. The period film set during the American colonization of the Philippines stars Sid Lucero, Tetchie Agbayani, and Alessandra de Rossi.
Meanwhile, the 2008 Cinema One entry Imburnal shared the Special Mention honor with Malaysian James Lee's Call If You Need Me.
Another Filipino indie film, Aurora, also competed in this year's edition of the Bangkok IFF.
The jury of the Southeast Asian Category was composed of Vincenzo Bugno, Royston Tan, and Tul Waitoonkiat.
Independencia producer Arleen Cuevas informed PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) that the Philippine delegation was composed of herself, Imburnal director Sherad Anthony Sanchez, Aurora director Adolfo Alix Jr., Imburnal producer Ronald Arguelles of Cinema One, and director Senedy Que.
Brillante Mendoza served as a jury member in the main competition of the Bangkok IFF and his obra Kinatay was screened in the non-competition section.
The Piolo Pascual-starrer Manila will also be screened in the Southeast Asian Panorama section. It was recently announced that the film, co-directed by Adolf and Raya, would compete in a separate film festival that will take place in Warsaw, Poland. (CLICK HERE to read related article.)
The jury awarded Independencia the Grand Prize in the Southeast Asian category "for its strong cinematic expression. The film is visually adventurous with humor, expressing historical aspects while also very friendly to the audience."
Meanwhile, Imburnal earned a Special Mention "for putting together a very risky concept with complicated sociopolitical background, and for the director's courage and bravery."
The NETPAC Award was given to Independencia "for its cinematic creation exploring the history of the Philippines and the history of Philippine Cinema within the limited space and with a few characters."
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