The Philippines takes center stage as the Country-Of-Focus in the 2018 Singapore Media Festival, which has started last November 28 and will be concluded on December 8.
That Philippine Cinema is also celebrating its centennial year adds prestige to the four Filipino film selections that are being shown in the festival.
These include Christopher Gozum's The Ashes and Ghosts of Tayug 1931 (Dapol Tan Payawar Na Tayug 1931), Shireen Seno's Nervous Translation, Lav Diaz's Season of The Devil (Ang Panahon ng Halimaw), and Mikhail Red's Eerie.
Below are descriptions of the four official selections:
The Ashes and Ghosts of Tayug 1931 starring Fe GingGing Hyde, Donna Cariaga, Brigida Concepcion Calosa-Rodico (Singapore premiere)
A layered historical docudrama centered on a forgotten Filipino revolutionary who led a peasant revolt against American colonialism.
The Ashes and Ghosts of Tayug 1931 was shown yesterday, December 3 at the National Gallery Singapore.
Nervous Translation starring Jana Agoncillo, Angge Santos, and Sid Lucero (Singapore premiere)
A magical-realist tale of the fantastical world dreamed up by a girl left to her own devices in her Manila home.
The girls of St Lucia Convent are dying mysteriously—and their deaths may be related to a student suicide committed years before.
Nervous Translation is showing at the National Gallery Singapore on December 5.
Season of The Devil starring Piolo Pascual, Shaina Magdayao, and Pinky Amador (Asian premiere)
Lav Diaz’s latest film is a bleak and surreal musical drama set in the brutal era of Martial Law in the Philippines.
Ang Panahon Ng Halimaw was shown last December 2 at National Gallery Singapore.
Eerie starring Bea Alonzo, Jake Cuenca, and Charo Santos-Concio (world premiere)
The girls of St Lucia Convent are dying mysteriously—and their deaths may be related to a student suicide committed years before.
Eerie marked its world premiere at the 29th Singapore International Film Festival at Singapore's Capitol Theatre last December 3.
Celebrities spotted at the red-carpet event were Bea Alonzo (in glittery black dress), Charo Santos-Concio (in black top and white skirt), Jake Cuenca (in all-white suit), Gillian Vicencio (in blue dress), Gabby Padilla, Japanese actor Masahiro Higashide (not in photo), and Singaporean singing sensation Nathan Hartono (not in photo).
SHORT FILMS
For the Southeast Asian Short Films Competition, four entries from the Philippines made the cut.
These are The Imminent Immanent (Baga't Diri Tuhay Ta't Pamahungpahung) by Carlo Francisco Manatad, Manila Is Full Of Men Named Boy by Andrew Stephen Lee, Please Stop Talking (Wag Mo 'Kong Kausapin) by Josef Gacutan, and Judgement by Raymund Ribay Gutierrez.
Below are short descriptions of the said Filipino short films:
The Imminent Immanent (Baga't Diri Tuhay Ta't Pamahungpahung)
A rural town carries on its mundane existence, unaware that strong forces of nature are silently conspiring against it.
Manila Is Full Of Men Named Boy
A man travels from the U.S. to the Philippines to attend his estranged father’s birthday party. Hoping to impress his dad, he purchases a child to pass off as his own son.
Please Stop Talking (Wag Mo 'Kong Kausapin)
An animated film centered on Sixto, an elderly man who tries to repair his relationship with his estranged son, Please Stop Talking explores loneliness, regret and isolation at old age
Judgement
Joy, the mother of a young girl, decides to file charges against her abusive partner after a horrific incident. But the court case adds more woes to her already troubled life.
Other emerging Filipino filmmakers also get to participate in exhibits, talks, master classes, and an intense boot camp that covers the whole spectrum of filmmaking—from conceptualization to production and screening of films.
Liza Diño, chairperson of the Film Development Council of The Philippines (FDCP), is leading Filipino delegates in establishing media collaborations and content production at the Asia Television Forum.
FDCP is hosting a Philippine booth where 30 producers and filmmakers will showcase their content at the Asia Television Forum (ATF), one of the key events during the Singapore Media Festival.
FDCP's participation at ATF is scheduled today, December 5, at the Marina Bay Sands hotel.