Nine Filipino filmmakers will take part in 39th Rotterdam IFF

The 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam will take place in the Netherlands from January 27 to February 7, 2010. This year's edition presents a strong Philippine selection of eleven works in various festival sections.


Among these, three films were supported by the festival's Hubert Bals Fund, Rotterdam's fund aimed at supporting filmmakers from developing countries.


Filmmakers Adolfo Alix Jr, and Khavn De La Cruz each present two films. Other filmmakers in Official Rotterdam 2010 Selection are Pepe Diokno, John Torres, Mes De Guzman, Joanna Vasquez Arong, Sari Lluch Dalena, Raya Martin and Raymond Red.


John Torres presents Ang Ninanais (Refrains Happen Like Revolutions), a Hubert Bals Fund supported feature film in which the protagonist, the girl Sarah, moves among the inhabitants of Guimbal on the island of Panay and improvises her scenes. The filmmaker also follows his dreams and collects stories and poetry. The great poets Eric Gamalinda and Joel Toledo are quoted. Dialogues in the Hiligaynon language are included without translation in the film for their sound, as music.


Mes De Guzman's Hubert Bals Fund supported feature film Ang Mundo sa Panahon ng Bato (Stone is the Earth). De Guzman wraps the topical issue of child labor in a small family story: on the day when Vergel returns from the mines, the calm life of his little brothers and his sister is disrupted. When gold is then found on their agricultural land, his caring slowly changes to greed.


Khavn De La Cruz presents the feature film Cameroon Love Letter (For Solo Piano), his contribution to the IFFR 2010's focus program on African cinema. He gave his take on Cameroon, an outspoken musical and poetic form, which takes root in the Philippine soap series Pangako Sa 'Yo (The Promise). At a serious level, Khavn refers to the film couple Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc, who were brutally murdered in 2009.


Ultimo: Distintas Maneras A Matar Un Heroe Nacional (Ultimo) is Khavn's second film in Official IFFR 2010 Selection. This short documentary, part of Rotterdam festival's theme section "After Victory" is an adaptation of the poem Mi ultimo adiós (My Last Goodbye) by Jose Rizal (1896).


"After Victory" a program of films about the consequences of warfare, also includes the U.S./Philippine documentary Memories of a Forgotten War (2001) by Sari Lluch Dalena & Camilla Benolirao Griggers and Raya Martin's Independencia.


Telling the story of the American occupation of the Philippines in the early 20th century, Independencia was selected for CineMart in 2007, took the Prince Claus Fund Film Grant for Best CineMart Project and was supported by Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund. It went on to premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 62nd Cannes Film Fest.


Beijing-based Philippine filmmaker Joanna Vasquez Arong also contributes to IFFR 2010's focus on African cinema. She presents Sunday School, a 45-minute film about an encounter between two women filmmakers: Arong Vasquez went to Zambia to make a portrait of the Zambian film maker Musola Cathrine Kaseketi, who has made documentaries and short films. The African focus programme includes Kaseketi's first full-length feature, Suwi.


Pepe Diokno's feature film Engkwentro (Clash) is part of Rotterdam's main section "Bright Future" for first and second time filmmakers. This compelling début by twenty-two-year-old Diokno was awarded the Venice Film Festival's Lion of the Future Award for a Debut Film and Orizzonti Prize for new trends in cinema. Raw and realistic, Engkwentro tells the story of two brothers who fight in a Philippine slum against gangs and government supported death squads.


Three Filipino films have been selected for Rotterdam's main section "Spectrum." According to the organizers of Rotterdam, this section includes works of experienced filmmakers who "give an essential contribution to international film culture."


Adolfo Alix Jr presents two new works: Karera (Ante), an intense drama feature about the Domingo family trying to survive in their own clumsy way and wrestling with dilemmas in an immoral society, and the Hubert Bals Fund supported feature film Aurora in which Alix Jr tackles a political subject for the first time: in the heart of the jungle, social worker Aurora is kidnapped by a group of Moslem rebels.


The third Philippine film in IFFR's main section "Spectrum" is Raymond Red's feature film Himpapawid (Manila Skies). The film tells the story of Raul, a country boy who is desperately searching for work in Manila. He commits a robbery but panics at the high point and flees before finally breaking out of the vicious circle with violence. In reaction to the grainy, hand-held style that is now popular in Filipino independent cinema, Manila Skies was filmed with the very sharp digital Red One system.