Cinema One Orignals 2013 Official Entries: Cinema One Currents Category

Bendor is about an obscure 55-year old woman who experiences life’s absurdities at the crossroad of her journey through old age. Blondie (Vivian Velez) lives a contemplative daily life as a candle vendor around the periphery of Quaipo Church. On the side, she sells illegal pills of Cytotec, an abortifacient, serving desperate pregnant clients. The story covers 3 days in her outrageously unusual life.

Starring: Vivian Velez, Sue Prado, Lester Llansang, Simon Ibarra, Evelyn Vargas, Ana Luna, Sunshine Teodoro, Chanel Latorre and Apollo Abraham

Written By: Marizaly Quitania and Ralston Jover
Directed By: Ralston Jover

A spacecraft lands through the geographies of the fictional film, ISLANDS and the reality in which it is being filmed as a movie.

Islands explore a cinematic journey of two astronauts. As they enter Earth’s atmosphere the structure transforms. The spacecraft becomes the meteor from a myth of a tribesman; it triggers an old lady’s memory of a lover from her past. As these diverse characters converge in a plane of reality, we confront a particular form of gravity we covertly feel—falling in love.

Starring: Benjamin Alves, Luis Alandy, Peque Gallaga, and Marita Robles
 
Written By: Giancarlo Abrahan and Whammy Alcazaren

Directed By: Whammy Alcazaren

A coming of age, thriller, crime film. About 3 Chinoy friends who got involved in the world of illegal sports betting scheme.

The film follows the lives of three long-time Chinoy friends: MARK, JEFF, and JOHN who seem to be on their quarter life crisis. MARK is working for his family’s business in Chinatown, Manila. JOHN is a call-center agent in Makati, and JEFF is a womanizing bum.
 Aimless and bored with their everyday lives, the three often spend their weekend nights together hanging out in brothels and bars. One night, the guys bump into BRIAN, their former class loser. Later on, the guys find out that BRIAN is a reputable “Banka” (bookie) in the illegal sports gambling scheme (Odds) in the Philippines. With their eagerness to be released from their average lives, MARK, JEFF and JOHN enter the world of “Odds”. Soon enough, the guys are already earning big money, but all good things are meant to come to an end when an unexpected incident will test their friendship and will permanently change their lives.

Starring: Rayver Cruz, Joseph Marco and Matteo Guidicelli

Also Starring: David Chua, Miko Raval and Nico Antonio

Written and Directed By: Ian Loreños

Don Victorino Hernandez, a creole secular priest from Manila, has two passions: botany and the total conversion of the native population particularly the Agtas, who in spite of the rigorous undertakings of Spanish colonialism continue to live in the hinterlands, giving them a notorious reputation in the minds of the lowlanders as well as the colonizers.

His initial assignment in an affluent parish in Bikol gives him the chance to pursue his interest in plants. The lush tropical landscape provides him with a variety of flora for his collection while he performs the task of conversion. He encounters Dunag, an Agta girl whose life will intertwine with his, along with Sikaw, her lover; and Guada, a former balyana or pre-colonial priestess.

Dunag, who eluded Sikaw in a tribal marriage practice, finds sanctuary in the church as well as in Don Hernandez. In her conversion to the Catholic faith, Dunag is guided by Guada, who continues to practice her animist beliefs despite being Hernandez’s convent help. In turn, Dunag helps Sikaw in his conversion when they decide to get married against the wishes of Don Hernandez. The priest sees this as an act of defiance against his own scheme for them; their marriage triggers his descent into paranoia and violence.

Don Hernandez is eventually reassigned by church authorities to a much smaller and much more desolate doctrina or mission post. Don Hernandez's faith and intellect are challenged by Natividad, a folk healer, who claims to have dreamt the Virgin Mary. Tormented by Natividad’s claim and after several haunting experiences, Don Hernandez decides his fate.

Starring: Alex Medina, Jazmin Llana, Vic Loquias, Michelle Smith and Maria Isabel Lopez

Directed By: Kristian Cordero

Riddles of my Homecoming tells the story of Alfad, a Lumad whose soul returns to his homeland to settle unfinished businesses and to finally rest. It is based on the Lumad’s belief that when a person dies his soul goes back to his homeland.

Starring: Fe Hyde, Perry Dizon, and Madz Garcia

Directed By:Arnel Mardoquio

A lower middle-class family moves in to an upper middle-class village where a mad scientist is keeping a snake-man.

Starring: Jaime Fabregas, Liza Lorena, Mervin and Kay Brondial

Directed By: Timmy Harn 

Time has a way of blurring history. Lives become numbers and memories become haze. On September 23, 1972, Martial Law was declared in the Philippines. For two decades, the country was plunged into darkness as the oldest democracy in Asia turned into a dictatorship.

It began with fear, then a collective stupor. As atrocities against institutions and the citizens mounted, every facet of Filipino society got corrupted by violence and greed. Families were torn apart; faith turned into fanaticism and civil society turned into rebellion.

“Bukas na Lang Sapagkat Gabi na (Leave it for Tomorrow for Night has Fallen)” is a film about four interconnected stories during the height of the Martial Law crackdown against rebels. The palpable aura of fear leaves Filipinos in a state of paralysis, unable or unwilling to move until the dark cloud of history passes over.

Starring: Nika Santiago, Raul Morit, and Dan de Guzman

Directed By: Jet Leyco  

One day, in the small peaceful town of Barrio Malinawon, seven young punks, who call themselves the Iskalawags because of their shared love for Filipino action movies (particularly those starred by their idol Jeric Raval), decide to set out on a mini quest to find the tree that according to Palot—the gang’s de facto leader—bears the lone papaya fruit as large as the belly of Intoy’s father.

Starring: Children from Camotes Island

Written By: Eric Tuban
Screenplay By:  Keith Deligero, Remton Zuasola, Gale Osorio

Directed By:  Keith Deligero

A cautionary tale about the dangers of male prostitution

Starring: Mark Gil and Jun Jun Quintana

Directed By: Benjamin Garcia

Estela, an idealistic, call center slacker is mentored by Trevor, a pragmatic, senior agent. Their interaction develops into an unconventional relationship that would challenge their most personal convictions.

Starring: Yeng Constantino and Felix Roco

Written and Directed By:Siege Ledesma

   

Cinema One Originals Festival 2013 will be held in Glorietta, Robinsons Galleria, and Trinoma on November 11-19 2013!