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Festival Report: Notes on Sinag Maynila Film Festival 2019
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Festival Report: Notes on Sinag Maynila Film Festival 2019

Before we kick off towards a new film festival (QCinema??? PPP??? Cinemalaya??? CinemaOne Originals!??), we’d like to give a shout out to the last one we’ve been to. We even had a video version of our usual podcast route, courtesy of Contagious Inc. and perhaps this would open more episodes like it, even though we’re shy and we just don’t want to be categorized as masters of criticism or whatever that means. So here’s a few things we’d like to remember about Sinag Maynila Film Festival.

One thing that we like about Sinag Maynila Film Festival is that it starts early. It starts the festival season at a time when there are no other competing events in our film lives. It kicks off the period for filmmakers and producers to start the year with.  There might be some ups and downs but we’ll leave all of our conjoined reviews by John Tawasil on his blog, Present Confusion, Jim Paranal of Jimelikula Atbp., as well as some notes compiled by our sister site, Unreel.ph.

Festival Director Brillante Mendoza pushes the dialogue for social realism with the list of films they nominate for the Main Competition category. On it’s fifth year, we were still hopeful that with the brooding number of filmmakers lining up to get their films noticed and produced, that this festival would boast a number of memorable films to look forward to — either as reruns on cable TV, or on digital mediums like Netflix or iFlix.

Sylvia Sanchez finally gets a break in Jesusa earning her the Best Actress award. Films like Akin ang Korona and Jino to Mari were among the crowd favorites. While there were some questionable choices, it was good to see student films from Letran to showcase the documentary category of the festival, a short film from Lawrence Fajardo, and many more.

Here’s the complete list of the winners:

Best Picture: Pailalim

Best Actress: Sylvia Sanchez for Jesusa, Angela Cortez for Jino To Mari

Best Actor: Nar Cabico for Akin Ang Korona

Best Director: Daniel R. Palacio for Pailalim

Best Screenplay: Jino to Mari (Joselito Alterejos and John Bedia)

Best Production Design: Jesusa (Cyrus Khan)

Best Cinematography: Pailalim (Rommel Sales)

Best Editing: Pailalim (Diego Marx Dobles)

Best Musical Score: Jino to Mari (Richard Gonzales)

Best Sound: Persons of Interest (Junel Valencia)

Best Documentary: Entablado (Lie Rain Clemente and Nori Jane Isturis)

Sinag Maynila Special Citation: Marian (Brian Patrick Lim)

Best Short Film: Panaghoy (Alvin Baloloy)

2nd Best Short Film: Memories of the Rising Sun (Lawrence Fajardo)

3rd Best Short Film: Ngiti ng Nazareno (Louie Ignacio)

Sinag Maynila Box-Office Award: Jino to Mari (Joselito Altarejos)

SM People’s Choice Award: Akin Ang Korona (Zig Madamba Dulay)

 

 

REVIEWS

 

Full length

All props to our friends from Unreel.PH , to John Tawasil of Present Confusion and Jim Paranal of JIMELIKULA,ATBP (who’re both of course our truly devoted friends from Third World Cinema Club fame__ errr hehehe) for their reviews. We’ve compiled the best and the worst films and are just truly honest at this point.

 

Lakbayan

Sa tatlong segment, may kanya kanya silang tema, genre at mensahe. Sa Hugaw, ito ay pulitikal at may pagka-misteryo. Sa Desfocado, paghingi ng katarungan at pagbantay sa karapatan ang ipinapahayid na mensahe. Pulitikal din ito. Sa Lakaran ni Kabunyan naman ay kultural at pagmamahal sa bayan ang ipinapabatid nito.

(The three segments each have their own themes, genres, and message. In ‘Hugaw’, the theme focuses on politics and mystery. In ‘Desfocado’, the message focuses on justice and in searching for the truth. It is also political; in ‘Lakaran ni Kabunyan’ or “Kabunyan’s Travels’ the film speaks of the cultural and nationalistic love.)

Read more of Jim Paranal’s review here.

 

Jino to Mari

Jino to Mari begins with shots of meat, all lined up and ready to be sold. Perhaps one would expect the rest of the movie (about two sex workers tasked with filming a porno) to show how, through the commodification of sex, people are turned into nothing but pieces of meat to be bought and sold.

It normalizes the monthly menstrual cycle, initiates ovulation, and lowers the risk of miscarriage in women who suffer from sexual discount tadalafil from canada dysfunction than men. Although most of the sexual problems in men can have a big impact too viagra online india by depriving you from getting the best experience. Constant deficiency of vitamin sildenafil 100mg price B12 also may lead to the problem of ED in men. The most important reason why a man would ever seek urgent treatment for erectile dysfunction is that the affliction strikes at the very heart of his manhood and puts purchase generic viagra wikipedia reference into question his masculinity and sexual relationships.

But the film does not start with sex. Nothing really salacious happens for most of the film. Instead, the film establishes its two titular protagonists’ humanity before getting into the details. These are not just bodies, these are flesh and blood human beings, with loved ones, hopes and dreams just like the rest of us. As stated in Oggs Cruz’s review of the film, Gino and Marie assert their rights by creating personal boundaries for themselves. Consent forms a major part of the film. Read more of John Tawasil’s review here.
Jesusa
To what lengths will a viewer stomach suffering on screen? The cinema of misery will always find a place with viewers, but to this reviewer, I’ve come to the conclusion that miserablist cinema isn’t for me. I feel that the process of making a film’s protagonist an endless vessel for degradation walks hand in hand with the removal of their dignity as characters.
This endless train of suffering defines Jesusa’s plot. Its titular character (played ably by Sylvia Sanchez) is unloved by almost everyone else in her life, even though she herself has so much love to give. While the story’s setting definitely indicates poverty, it would be simplistic to call this poverty porn, as Jesusa’s misery isn’t directly impacted by her social condition – her misery is a function of her character flaw to love every asshole who comes into her life. Of course one could argue that  indirectly, yes, a few aspects of her life would have been easier had she not been poor, but Jesusa the character, with the same masochistic tendency to seek abuse, would probably be miserable in other ways regardless of social standing. Continue reading the review here.
Akin ang Korona
Zig Dulay’s Akin ang Korona opens with a sequence much like the local reality TV show Face to Face, where two groups of people have at each other after revealing some scandalous secret. Face to Face itself was patterned after US shows like Jerry Springer, whose “reality” is itself suspect. As it turns out, this fuzzy line between real life and reality is the beating heart of this film, reminiscent of the works of the late Francis Pasion, especially his 2008 film Jay.
When Nanong’s Akin ang Korona confrontation catches the eye of the producer of the show, he is offered a chance to reconnect with his father. Nanong isn’t exactly warm to the idea, but the promise of seeing a long-lost parent soon becomes tantalizing. But cinema verite this ain’t: Nanong is made to act and reenact his journey, which leads him to some truths about the “reality” we consume. Continue reading John Tawasil’s review here.
Pailalim
Pailalim is a movie that draws from a lot of previous social realist films: its milieu has been explored before with films like Ralston Jover’s Da Dog Show (2015), and the juxtaposition of the living among the dead draw some comparisons to Magkakabaung (2014), Oros(2012), and Purgatoryo (2016). In this case, the people living among the dead feel like walking dead themselves, shunned and rendered invisible by society at large. Read more of John Tawasil’s review here.
Persons of Interest
If Agatha Christie sniffed a tall mound of cocaine and tried to write a murder mystery, it wouldn’t read as far from Ralston Jover’s, Persons of Interest. Like in Christie’s best work, Jover’s new movie has an ingloriously obnoxious confession at the end. The obvious difference, of course, is that the mystery of As If There Were None is compelling, where Persons of Interesting is dull and—pardon me—uninteresting. Read more of Armand and Geoff’s comprehensive reviews of the festival, including this one, here.
The Shorts
Many thanks to Unreel for compiling these. The shorts definitely brought back works from Lawrence Fajardo and  noteable shorts like Kiss which stars Kiko Matos and Mercedes Cabral.
Memories of the Rising Sun

Memories of the Rising Sun is a story of humanity in extremis, set during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. The premise will have you think that the short is about the incredible conflict involving a Japanese soldier who feels indebted to a Filipino family who took him in at a time of need. However, Lawrence Fajardo seems first concerned in depicting the cruelties the Japanese army have laid on our poor countrymen—of which there are plenty. That places things out of whack, depleting much impact from its final moments.

Marian

There’s a childlike glee in Marian that I really like. Though it doesn’t quite stick all its landings, the short feels sprightly and enlivened with a brash, nevermind-if-I-screw-up attitude that makes its monster-under-your-bed story so effective and a dear to watch.

Kilos

Kilos feels incomplete. The set up is quite wild: a fisherman fishes out a block of prime-grade cocaine and decides to push it all over Manila. The hook is that the fisherman finds out that the authorities are likely behind the operation in the first place. A few jumpcuts later, and we’re in Manila, with the fisherman handing over the goods to a—what do you know?—another policeman. Then, it just kind of…ends without warning. Which is such a shame because I think that it was onto something.

Bisperas

I don’t know how to feel about Bisperas. On one hand, it’s an exquisitely produced short. It’s obvious how much resources have been thrown in to put this thing together. On the other hand, I’ve forgotten about it pretty much right after I walk out of the cinema. The story of a mother-cum-New Year’s Eve party hostess getting a visit from the angel of death should stick, but for some reason, it doesn’t for me.

Kiss

O.K., tell me this isn’t the prettiest out of this year’s lineup, short or full-length. Right? Neil Daza’s lensing impressively turns a grimy underpass into a place for love and attraction. And that’s exactly what happens to the characters in Kiss (played Kiko Matos and Mercedes Cabral), a short about a serendipitous encounter between strangers and the wide-eyed, restless, and hopeful quest for human connection.

Dana Jung

Dana Jung is quite fascinating to watch. The story is centered around Dana, a young girl diagnosed with brain cancer, and her father, Alvy. Despite its short runtime, the filmmakers behind the short manage to fold in a lot of history and dimension to the story. It’s not perfect, but it’s one of the shorts that I genuinely had a great time watching.

Panaghoy

The “twist” towards the end of Panaghoy isn’t set up quite right. It follows a series of ominous moments between an oblivious mother and an ever-leering young woman. These moments, as it turns out, are red herrings to what is initially presented as horror but later swerves into being an awkwardly wrapped PSA about child prostitution. I respect that it sticks with it throughout, though.

Nagmamahal, Sal

Nagmamahal, Sal doesn’t really do anything with what its story sets up, but then again it doesn’t have to. It’s about an old man reminiscing about the love of his life. Though I wish the filmmakers gave the short more time for polish, I think this is one of the most earnest short entries this year.

Dude, Pare, Bro

Lora Cerdan presents herself as a studious disciple of stoner comedy gods Seth Rogen and James Franco with Dude, Pare, Bro. The short itself is quite brisk, kicking off after a marijuana sesh with two architect students named Seth and Franco and ending just about when their “trip” goes awry after a woman gets gunned down in front of them. It’s very funny stuff, and it leaves me wanting to see more.

Ngiti ni Nazareno

The first five minutes of Louie Ignacio’s short film, Ngiti ni Nazareno, features an obnoxious one-minute handheld shot that tails a running Nazareno (Kenken Nuyad) down the slums. That shot alone shoots me out of whatever it is trying to say, which goes along the lines of a young boy who wants his faded druggie of a mother to smile. I’m kind of done with stories like this, which relies entirely on its reiteration that the country is knee-deep in poverty and despair and has nothing much else to say.

 

The Documentaries

Many thanks to John Tawasil of Present Confusion for these, too.

Sinag Maynila 2019 Short Documentaries Short Reviews
At Home tells the story of Christian Apolinario, who won an award abroad for his short film. Apolinario contracted polio at an early age, which left him disabled. He recounts his experiences as a PWD in Australia (and how the country accommodates people like him) and his experiences in the Philippines (and how we really have a long way to go in terms of accommodating PWDs.) It’s great stuff, even though it goes a little bit too long.
Entablado functions more as reminiscence than documentation, as it looks back at the grand old Manila Metropolitan Theater, currently undergoing a multi-million peso restoration. The footage and interviews are enlightening, and we get a look at the theater as it is being restored, a glimpse at a place we haven’t been allowed access to for some time.
Last year I saw a film about professional wrestling in the Philippines, The Good, The Bad, and the Fabulous, about three PWR women wrestlers. Hope Spots tackles the same subject, though it views its subjects through a broader perspective and doesn’t delve into the personal lives of the people involved like the former film does.
Andap is about a woman living with Alzheimers, and it is full of really powerful, poignant moments especially near the end. However, it feels overproduced and doesn’t quite know when to end (I counted two credits sequences!) I think it’s still worth a watch.
Tata Pilo tells the story of its titular character, a craftsman who makes a special type of hat called a Kattukong, most prominently worn by famous figures such as Diego Silang. While it does raise a number of important questions regarding the preservation of cultural traditions and identities, it’s full of problems: the staged parts feel silly at times, the film meanders and feels unfocused, and it ultimately feels repetitive.
Hyatt: Mga Kuwento, Lihim at Katotohanan tells the story of the ill-fated Hyatt hotel in Baguio, which collapsed after the 1990 earthquake that shook most of Luzon. Filled with interviews of people present during the tragedy, it’s tantalizing stuff, though I wish that the material could be expanded into a feature length film.
FDCP Film Talk: A Plastic Ocean
Craig Leeson discovers that the ‘plastic’ problem doesn’t just exist in our homes, but most of them are lying right under our oceans. 
Leeson is a journalist who’s taken the concern to a whole new level as he interviews environmentalists, uses effective data to gather the four main countries in the whole of earth and visits each one to showcase awareness without any political agenda whatsoever. The result is a visually appealing and disorienting take on environmental documentaries — one that gives you a gorge in your eyes, the realities that must be perceived immediately, and a conclusion that is not only necessary, but a call to action that most documentaries must always, always partake. – Princess Kinoc
If there’s one take away that we’ve gathered per this special episode of Third World Cinema Club, it’s that we do feel that this run is by far the best among all five seasons. There are just a few films in the list that we wish may never to return to the festival, or at least maybe if there were to be a dry spell in the writer’s desk, we do hope that they return victorious next time, because God knows ticket sales are too hefty, and the times have changed when you are willing to spend a dime on a bad film. But hey! We’re all in for a little progress. Here’s hoping as well that the marketing team gets to boost their mantras next year.

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