My Movie World: QCinema Reveals Local and Foreign Titles for Its Fourth Edition, Runs From Oct 13-22

Wednesday, 28 September 2016

QCinema Reveals Local and Foreign Titles for Its Fourth Edition, Runs From Oct 13-22

With this year’s theme, “One City for the World”, the 2016 QCinema International Film Festival (QCinema) continues its thrust as a world-class event through an interesting mix of new homegrown films and award-winning international movies.

QCinema will run from October 13 to 22, 2016. It will be held at four mall venues namely, Ayala Trinoma, Gateway Cinemas, Robinson’s Galleria, and UP Town Center. It will also hold special film forum series at the QCX, the new museum complex of the Quezon Memorial Circle.

Honing Talents

Since its foundation in 2012, the Quezon City Film Development Commission (QCFDC) has been providing grants to help filmmakers produce their own works. QCinema is its annual platform where the new cinematic gems are given the chance to be appreciated by the public.

This October marks the premieres of QCinema’s new seven features and eight short films which the QCFDC funded. The Circle Competition grants are unique in that filmmakers own the rights to their features while #QCShorts is the only local funding platform for short films.

The list of the new feature films in the “Circle Competition” are: "Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B” directed by Prime Cruz; “Baboy Halas” directed by Bagane Fiola; “Best. Partee. Ever.” directed by Howard “HF” Yambao; “Hinulid” by Kristian Sendon Cordero; "Patay Na Si Hesus” directed by Victor Kaiba Villanueva; “Purgatoryo” directed by Roderick Cabrido; and “Women of the Weeping River” by Sheron Dayoc.

In the category “#QCShorts”, the finalists are “Hondo” by Aedrian Araojo; “If You Leave” by Eduardo “Dodo” Dayao; “Contestant #4”by Joshua Joven and Kaj Palanca; “Padating" by Gabrielle Tayag; "Papa’s Shadow” by Inshallah Montero; “Sayaw sa Butal” by Victor Nierva; and “Viva Viva Escolta” by Janus Victoria.

“Asian Next Wave” is the most recent addition to the QCinema competitions. This category showcases the works of Asian filmmakers with less than two directorial features.

The movies in this international section include: “By the Time It Gets Dark” directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong of Thailand; “Old Stone”, a Chinese-Canadian collaboration film directed by Johnny Ma; “Singing in Graveyards”, a Filipino-Malaysian movie directed by Bradley Liew; “Solo, Solitude” directed by Yosep Anggi Noen of Indonesia; “Apprentice”, a Singaporean film by Boo Junfeng; and “Woven Wings of Our Children”, a Filipino piece by Anton Juan.

Gathering Movies From Across the Globe

The festival’s opening film is Park Chan-wook’s recent Cannes winner, “The Handmaiden” starring Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, and Tae Ri Kim.

For its “Screen International” section, QCinema bestows Philippine premieres to some of the films recently lauded in the international festival circuit.

Part of the roster are “One Week and a Day”, an Israeli film by Asaph Polonsky; “The Teacher” from the Czech Republic and directed by Jan Hřebejk; “I, Daniel Blake”, a film from the United Kingdom made by Ken Loach; “Godless”, a Bulgarian movie created by Ralitza Petrova; “Under the Shadow”, an Iranian film directed by Babak Anvari; “Headshot”, an Indonesian movie from Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel; and “The Ornithologist”, a Portuguese film directed by João Pedro Rodrigues.

In keeping with the festival’s tradition of featuring a film trilogy every year, QCinema presents a special section, "Tribute to Kieślowski". To commemorate the 20th death anniversary of the celebrated Polish auteur, Krzysztof Kieślowski, the acclaimed triptych about European reunification includes “Blue” (1993), “White” (1994), and “Red” (1994).

Vibrant and diverse narratives unravel in "RainbowQC", a category of features about the LGBTQ experience that include: “Spa Night” from Andrew Ahn of USA; “#BKKY” by Nontawat Numbenchapol from Thailand; “Kiki”, a collaboration between USA and Sweden directed by Sara Jordenö; and “Jonathan” by Piotr J. Lewandowski of Germany.

Old and New Filipino Films

Two digitally-restored screen gems from ABS-CBN get their due revival in the section, "Back ThrowBack". It will feature “Kasal” (1980) directed by Laurice Guillen and “Haplos” (1982) filmed by Butch Perez. The former marks Guillen’s debut feature and the latter top bills the exciting team-up of Vilma Santos, Christopher de Leon, and Rio Locsin.

QCinema celebrates the thriving film communities outside of the National Capital Region (NCR), through its "Cinema Rehiyon" section, featuring the compilation of regional titles from Mindanao Rising, Across Luzon and Visayas, and Ilonggo Tales of Horror and Imagination. Also included is the Manila premiere of the new Cebuano indie by Christian Linaban, “Superpsychocebu”.

Filipino film master, Mike De Leon, gets his QCinema homage for his three popular restored titles, “Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising” (1977), “Hindi Nahahati ang Langit” (1985), and “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?” (1980).

Under the "Pinoy Spotlight" section, two new social-realists get their QCinema premieres: “Blanka” of Kohki Hasei from Japan and “Area” by Filipino Louie Ignacio.

Awarding Ceremony

The awarding ceremony for the QCinema filmmaking competitions will be on October 19, 2016.

Quezon City International Film Festival to Host Free Film Seminars

Carrying the theme, “One City for the World”, the QCinema International Film Festival (QCinema) convenes local film industry stalwarts for discussions on the challenging issues that will further fuel industry growth.

QCinema’s film forums are all free and open to the public. It will be conducted at the Quezon Memorial Circle’s Quezon City Experience (QCX) Mini Theater.

List of Activities

The forum entitled, “Animation Nation” will be held on October 17, Monday, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Spearheaded by the Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. and the First Academy of Computer Arts, the discussion will make known the current state of animation in the country.

The next day, on October 18, Tuesday, the discussion “Road to QCinema: The Filmmaker’s Journey” will happen. Circle Competition, #QCShorts, and Asian Next Wave filmmakers will be there to share their experience in working with QCinema. Ed Cabagnot will be the moderator of the event, which will take place from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

Two events will happen on October 19, Wednesday. From 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM, film bloggers Jonell Estillore, Michael Edillor, and Richard Bolisay will share their knowledge in the forum, “Wide Wild World of Web Criticism”. Lilit Reyes will moderate the discussion.

Starting on 2:30 PM is the “Perspectives On National Cinema” where Choy Pangilinan and Nick Deocampo will talk about the issues surrounding independent cinema. It will be moderated by Patrick Campos.

Panelists Elvert Banares, Jason Paul Laxamana, and Teng Mangansakan will talk about the film communities outside Manila in the forum, “Charting the Course of Regional Cinema” to be held on October 20, Thursday, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Laxamana runs Cinekabalen Kapampangan Film Festival (Luzon); Banares handles Cinekasimanwa: The Western Visayas Film Festival (Visayas); and Mangansakan oversees Salamindanaw Asian Film Festival (Mindanao). It will be moderated by Teddy Co.

On October 21, Friday, the concluding event will be graced by Chris Millado, Ed Rocha, Lisa Dino, Madonna Tarrayo, Maryo de los Reyes, Ronald Arguelles, and Wilson Tieng who will give the audience an overview of film financing in “Film Funding: Who Can I Turn To?”. Joe Alandy will be there to moderate the event, which will run from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

Please note that the slots in each forum are limited to a maximum of 120 attendees. To register, visit QCinema’s official website (http://qcinema.ph).

For more information, visit www.qcinema.ph.