Confessional, written and directed by Jerrold Tarog and Ruel Dahis Antipuesto, received the Best Southeast Asian Film award, while Imburnal by writer-director Sherad Anthony Sanchez won the Lino Brocka Grand Prize at the 10th Cinemanila International Film Festival last October 20. Held at the Malacañang Palace, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo personally handed the awards along with Cinemanila festival director Amable "Tikoy" Aguiluz, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) chairperson and Department of Education Undersecretary Vilma Labrador, and NCCA executive director Cecile Guidote Alvarez.
Produced, written and directed by Tarog and Antipuesto, Confessional won seven awards in the 2007 Cinema One Originals Awards, 6 awards at the 24th PMPC Star Awards for movies and Best Film in the First Features Section of the 10th Osian Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema in New Delhi, India last July 19, 2008.
Initially making his mark in the digital film Huling Balyan ng Buhi in 2006, writer and director Sanchez follows this triumph this year with Imburnal. One of the strongest contenders for the 2008 Cinema One Originals Awards this November, this is a tale of manhood that is about to erode two pubescents. While always hanging out in the crevasses of Punta Dumalog, Joel and Allen both find solitary, dent their friendship and shape their orientations in life, taking about what they witness and encounter daily in their neighborhood. Slowly they are eroding their childhood and set forth their different desires towards "manhood."
Here is the Dekada Cinemanila schedule until October 29 (Wednesday):
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26
Cinema 1
12:30 Milkyway Liberation Front (Korea)
2:00 Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers (Cambodia/France)
3:30 DEKADA CINEMANILA WINNER: The Amazing Truth About Queen
Raquela (Iceland/Philippine s/France) ,
Lino Brocka Grand Jury Prize (International Competition)
5:00 Red Awn (China)
7:00 DEKADA CINEMANILA WINNER: Imburnal, Digital Lokal Grand Prize
Cinema 2
12:00 DA HUANG FOCUS: Breathing In Mud (Malaysia)
1:30 United Red Army (Japan)
5:00 Darling! The Pieter Dirk-Uy's Story (Australia)
6:30 Yugong Yishan: The Old Fool Who Moved Mountains
(China/Philippines)
7:30 Director in Focus (Brillante Mendoza): Manoro
9:30 DEKADA CINEMANILA WINNER: Next Attraction, Digital Lokal
Grand Jury Prize
Cinema 4
12:30 I'm A Cyborg but That's OK (Korea)
2:30 California Dreamin' (Romania)
5:30 Director in Focus (Brillante Mendoza): Foster Child
7:00 Not Quite Hollywood (Australia)
9:00 Love Of Siam (Thailand)
MONDAY, OCTOBER 27
Cinema 1
1:00 SEA Shorts: G16, G17, (Malaysia), Frou Frou... Shh Wag Mo
Sabihin Kay Itay (Philippines) - Best SEA Short, Half Teaspoon
(Indonesia), Jai (Thailand), Retrace (Malaysia), My Sars Lover
(Singapore)
3:00 Tropical Manila (Korea/Philippines)
5:00 Cannes Directors' Fortnight Focus: Now Showing by Raya Martin
8:30 Director In Focus (Brillante Menzdoza): Tirador
Cinema 2
12:00 Da Huang Focus: Village People Radio Show (Malaysia)
2:00 - 5:00 Master Class in Editing: Miranamedina
6:30 Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France)
8:30 Love Of Siam (Thailand)
Cinema 4
12:00 You, The Living (Sweden)
2:00 Director in Focus (Brillante Mendoza): Kaleldo
4:00 United Red Army (Japan)
7:30 Director In Focus (Brillante Mendoza): Masahista
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28
Cinema 1
12:00 California Dreamin' (Romania)
3:00 You, the Living (Sweden)
5:00 Diving Bell & the Butterfly (France)
7:00 Youth Without Youth (USA)
9:30 God Man Dog (Taiwan)
Cinema 2
12:30 Pieter Dirk-Uy's Story (Australia)
2:00 With A Girl of Black Soil (Korea)
3:30 Da Huang Focus: Flower in the Pocket (Malaysia)
5:00 Panudlak - Block Screening by VSO Bahanginan
Cinema 4
12:30 Noise (Australia)
2:30 The Photograph (Indonesia)
3:30 Vanished Empire (Russia)
5:30 12 Lotus (Singapore)
8:00 Love Of Siam (Thailand)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29 - LAST DAY OF THE FESTIVAL
Cinema 1
1:30 Dreams from the Third World (Singapore)
3:00 Sita Sing The Blues (USA)
4:30 Milkyway Liberation Front (Korea)
6:30 Boxing Day (Australia)
Cinema 2
12:30 Da Huang Focus: Waiting For Love (Malaysia)
2:00 Kisapmata (Philippines)
4:00 PVC 1 (Colombia)
6:00 Shahida - Brides Of Allah (Israel)
8:30 Diving Bell & the Butterfly (France)
Cinema 3
12:30 Youth Without Youth (USA)
2:30 Tsotsi (Africa)
5:00 I'm a Cyborg But That's OK (Korea)
7:00 Blind Pig That Wants to Fly (Indonesia)
9:00 Love Of Siam (Thailand)
Cinema 5
7:00pm DEKADA CINEMANILA CLOSING FILM: Bayan Ko, Kapit Sa Patalim by Lino Brocka
Note: Schedules are subject to change without prior notice.