The Quezon City International Film Festival (QCinema) 2017 opens with a major splash with the advance Philippine premiere of “Loving Vincent” and digital comeback of Mike De Leon’s “Batch 81.”
In “Loving Vincent,” dubbed as the “world’s first fully painted feature film,” directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman paint the life and times of the Vincent van Gogh, the controversial 19th-century post-impressionist artist, through letters, paintings, and fictional interviews.
QCinema will bookend the festival with Mike De Leon’s “Batch 81,” labeled as one of the “best Filipino classics.” It tells the story of the vicious cycle of brutality in a fraternity through the eyes of neophytes.
QCinema will take place from October 19 to 28, 2017, at establishments within Quezon City.
Competition sections
QCinema will set the stage for its original films and other titles that are part of its competitions.
The features that are part of the “Circle Competition” are:
“Balangiga: Howling Wilderness” written by Jerry Gracio, Achinette Villamor, and directed by Khavn Dela Cruz;
Synopsis: 1901, Balangiga. Eight-year-old Kulas flees town with his grandfather and their carabao to escape General Smith’s “Kill & Burn” order. He finds an infant amid a sea of corpses and together, the two boys struggle to survive the American occupation.
“Dapol Tan Payawar Na Tayug 1931 (The Ashes And Ghosts Of Tayug 1931)” by Christopher Gozum;
Synopsis: Set in Pangasinan, Dapol Tan Payawar Na Tayug 1931 follows the story of rebel leader Pedro Calosa and the Tayug Colorum Uprising of 1931. The events are retold from three sources: a silent film on Calosa’s return to his hometown in 1927; the story of writer F. Sionil Jose following the aging supremo as he searches for sacred cave in 1966; and a filmmaker who revisites the sites of the uprising for a film on the subject.
“Dormitoryo” by Emerson Reyes;
Synopsis: Dormitoryo features the lives of eight individuals who all spend the evening tucked away in personal galaxies, talking about collective experiences and sharing a similar fate.
“Kulay Lila Ang Gabi Na Binudburan Pa Ng Mga Bituin” by director Jon Steffan “Jobin” Ballesteros and writer Jimmy Flores;
Synopsis: Aries and Chai sign up for a couple’s retreat program where they are given free rein to fix their marriage in whatever way possible or impossible.
“Medusae” by Pam Miras;
Synopsis: A documentarist’s son goes missing when she films a story on the disappearances of the firstborns in a remote island. Her search reveals the presence of a cult and an abductor who looks like her, whom her son claims to be his real mother.
“Neomanila” by Mikhail Red;
Synopsis: Toto, a teenage orphan, is recruited by a notorious death squad. Irma, the group’s leader, soon becomes a maternal figure to the young boy. As the two form a familial bond, their loyalties will be put to the test when one of their targets turns out to be a familiar face.
“The Write Moment” by Dominic Lim;
Synopsis: When he fails to get back with an old flame, a writer finds himself living in the scenes of a “romantic-hugot” script he wrote. He is forced to follow everything verbatim, or he’s forced to relive the scenes in an endless loop.
and “The Chanters” by writers Andrian Legaspi and John Bedia and directed by James Mayo.
Synopsis: Sarah Mae, a 12 year old school girl, the grand-daughter of the last chanter of the Panay Bukidnon tribe. She obsesses with pop culture and readies herself for the visit of a sensational TV star to her school. As she perfects her dance, her grandfather, Lolo Ramon suffers the onset of dementia. As her Lolo starts losing his precious memories, Sarah Mae is tasked to help him complete the last of the remaining 12 epics, their tribe’s vanishing tradition.
For the QC Shorts roster, the films included are:
“Anya Iti Nagan Mo? (What is Your Name?)” by Ice Idanan;
Synopsis: A six-year-old girl gets lost in a cemetery in her mother’s hometown. Despite the language barrier, a local stranger helps her find her way back home.
“Babylon” by director Keith Deligero and writer Gale Osorio;
Synopsis: Two young girls travel through time to assassinate a barangay dictator to revise history.
“Gikan Sa Ngitngit Nga Kinailadman (From The Dark Depths)” by Kiri Dalena;
Synopsis: A spiritual exorcism drives a woman to relive the disappearance of a young activist that took place years ago. But when prodded about the details of the tragedy, she sinks into herself and recreates a story that coalesces memory, delirium, and forgetting.
“Kun’ Di Man” by Phyllis Grae Grande
Synopsis: Blind musicians, CINDY, 61, and DAVID, 63, strive to provide for themselves as they work as singers at public transit stations. However, when one of the blind singers in the organization suffers a heart attack, the duo is forced to perform at separately. Apart, they grow anxious for each other and realize that their partnership goes beyond musical. Not letting one day pass, Cindy disappears from her assigned post. The two end up in a search, hoping to find each other despite the absence of sight.
“Link” by director Mike Esteves and writer Jael Mendoza;
Synopsis: A writer is approached by a strange man who claims to be a character in her story. The man tries to make sense of his situation as they walk along an empty street, but lurking underneath the words are their most violent, bodily, desires.
“Love Bites” by filmmaker Carl Joseph Papa and writer Aica Riz Ganhinhin;
Synopsis: In “Love Bites,” the spotlight is on the young at heart. A grieving old man meets a spirited old woman in a search. Together they learn that two halves make one whole.
“Pixel Paranoia” by Epoy Deyto;
Synopsis: Kiko, constantly being hired by Lily to upload videos on Deep Web for a pay-per-view website, was given a task to upload a mysterious video which origins they do not know of, but would be a sure hit once it is up. Ever since he viewed the video, he’s been receiving ghost calls and constantly feels like someone is watching him.
and “Si Astri Maka si Tambulah (Astri and Tambulah)” by Joseph Vincent “Xeph” Suarez in collaboration with writer Cenon Palomares.
Synopsis: Astri is a 16-year old transwoman in a relationship with 17-year old Tambulah. Although it’s an unusual sight at the Bajau community where they live, nobody bothers them. Subsisting on the coins people throw at them when they perform their traditional dance at the sea, everything seems perfect except that Bajau traditions and a pact made long ago require Astri to marry a woman she hardly knows.
Another tilt is “Rainbow QC” that showcases a broad spectrum of LGBT narratives across the world. Films to be screened here are “Beach Rats” by Eliza Hittman; “Close-Knit” by Naoko Ogigami; “Fathers” by Thai helmer Palatpol Mingpornpichit; “Those Long Haired Nights” by debuting filmmaker, Gerardo Calagui; “Signature Move” by Jennifer Reeder; and “Tom of Finland” by Dome Karukoski.
For “Asian Next Wave,” QCinema’s competition sections for up-and-coming Asian filmmakers with less than three features, the films are“Dragonfly Eyes,” the debut film of distinguished Chinese artist Bing Xu; “In Between Seasons” by Dong-Eun Lee; “KFC” by Le Binh Giang; “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts” by Mouly Surya; “Snow Woman” by Kiki Sugino; and “Pop Aye” by Kirsten Tan.
Non-competition sections
QCinema allocates a space for classic titles that have been remastered by ABS-CBN Film Restoration Group and international entities.
In its “Digitally Remastered Series,” the films that will have a second life are “High School Scandal” directed by Gil Portes; “Karma” by Danny Zialcita; “Tatlong Taóng Walang Diyos (Three Godless Years)” a 1976 period film directed by Mario O’Hara; “All About My Mother” by written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar; “Blow-Up” directed by Michelangelo Antonioni; and “The Graduate” by Mike Nichols.
As with the classic titles, new films are among the highlights of QCinema. This year, the film fest brings in critically acclaimed movies from across the globe in “Screen International.” The films to be shown here are “120 Beats Per Minute (BPM)” by Robin Campillo; “Loveless” by Andrey Zvyagintsev; “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” by Yorgos Lanthimos; and “The Square” by Ruben Östlund.
Another section is QCinema’s “Before Midnight” an unrated section composed of controversial titles meant to shock and stir cinephiles. This category will show “68 Kill” by Trent Haaga; “A Prayer Before Dawn” by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire; “Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)” by Eva Husson; and “Revenge” by Coralie Fargeat.
In “Special Screenings,” QCinema will showcase thrillers such as “Diamond Island” by Davy Chou; “Fading Paradise” directed by Aurel Ayson; and “Out Run” by S. Leo Chiang and Johnny Symons.
QCinema’s collection of films created by different regional directors will be screened in “Cinema Rehiyon.”
Events
QCinema, in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), will hold the Film Industry Conference to be graced by representatives from the global film industry.
This event will take place from October 21 to 22 in Novotel Manila Araneta Center.
Other highlights are the LGBT Night sponsored by FDCP October 21. There will also be a Media Night.
About QCinema
Since its start in 2013, QCinema has contributed to the country’s burgeoning film scene with its original feature-length and short movies. It is a one-of-a-kind film festival that appropriates up to P1 million worth of production grants to select filmmakers and allows them to retain ownership of their movie rights.
QCinema is sponsored by Japan Foundation Asia, US Embassy, Solar Films, Marichu Maceda for Sampaguita Pictures, Motion Picture Association of America, Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), ABS-CBN Film Restoration Project, Cinerent Philippines, Inc., CMB Film Services, Inc., and Central Digital Lab.
The QCinema media partners include Cinema Bravo, Film Police Reviews, Inquirer.net, Philippine Star, and WhenInManila.com.
For more information, visit For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/QuezonCityFilmFest/.
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