ToFarm Bares Film Festival and Songwriting Competition Finalists

TOFARM ushers 2017 with two grand events that celebrate the lives of farmers in a non-conventional yet highly artistic way. 

The 2nd TOFARM Film Festival is set to light up the silver screen once more with a new batch of entries. Following its succesful debut in July 2016, this year’s edition of the TOFARM Film Festival promises to be another bountiful harvest of cinematic excellence. 

“We were overwhelmed with the turnout of lasy tear’s festival,” says Festival Director Maryo J. Delos Reyes “The festival was warmly received by the movie industry, and a lot of independent producers and directors expressed their interest to join this year.” 

He also notes that the number of script submitted doubled this year. 

With this year’s theme, “Planting the seeds of change”, a total of six films were chosen to be this year’s official entries. “Baklad” by Topel Lee, “High Tide” by Tara Illenberger, “Instalado” by Jason Paul Laxamana, “Kamunggay” by Victor Acedillo, Jr., “Sinandomeng” by Byron Bryant and “What a Home Feels Like” by Joseph Abello. 

Baklad by Topel Lee

A coming of age story of a fish pen boy who is learning to dream big, triggered by his sexual awakening from his boss' new lover. He starts to find ways to elope with the woman. But his dreams will only produce devastating results, not only for him but also for people around him.

High Tide by Tara Illenberger

When Unyok lost both his parents to super-typhoon Ising, he lost his ability to speak. He and his family used to live in a small island with about 20 other families, but due to climate change, the sea level has become so erratic and dangerously high that small island has become a "no-man-island". As a disaster risk-reduction measure, the local government forcibly resettled all the families to the mainland.

Instalado by Jason Paul Laxamana

Instalado is a social science fiction set in farming village in the not-so-distant future. Victor lives in a time when the dominant form of education is through installation, a process wherein bodies of knowledge can be installed directly into people's brains using technology owned by big corporations.

Kamunggay ("Malunggay") by Victor Acedillo Jr.

Lolo Peping (65) built his backyard farm in his hometown in Mindanao, out of vegetable scraps or whatever edible plant life he could find in the garbage heap. His neighbors get free food from his garden while he does all the work. They don't even bother to pay him or say thank you. So Lolo Peping decided to put a bamboo fence around his garden to keep neighbors out.

Sinandomeng by Byron Bryant

When her husband unexpectedly died, Sinang had to take over their farm. A strong-willed daughter of an old farmer, she has the heart and the touch. While her sisters consider selling their inherited parcels of the land to a subdivision developer, Sinang firmly refuses to sell hers.

What Home Feels Like by Joseph Abello

What Home Feels Like tells the home life of father and seaman. Antonio, who is forced to spend most of time at home upon learning that he can never board a ship again. Facing struggles as he doesn't know what to do next, he follows the footsteps of his parents and buys a farm using their family savings.

On the other hand, TOFARM also announces the list of entries that qualified for the first ever TOFARM Singwriting Competition. Launched in May 2016, the competition is open to both amateur and professiona songwriters, whose task is to come up with an original composition about the agricukture, with the central theme “ Planting the seeds of change.”

Notes musical director Ria-Villena Osorio is at the helm of the competition, together with the selection panel composed of Josefino Chino Toledo, Luchie Roque, Olivier Ochanine and Jedf Balsamo. “I am excited to work on this new project of TOFARM . This is the first time I will be heading a competition that celebrates farmers and farming,” Osorio enthuses. 

The finalists are “Langit Ng Tagumpay” by Elmar Jan Bolano, “Bayani Ng Lupa” by Agila Malaya, “Magtatani Ako” by Edwin Marollano, “Binhi Ng Pagbabago” by Gino Torres, “Ika’y Mahalaga” by Henry C. Aburo, “Balik Na Salinlahi” by En Gallardo, “Binhi Ng Pagbabago” by John Christian P. Jose, “Tayo” by Daryl Cielo, “T’yaga Lang At Sipag” by Robert David and “magtanim Ng Bago” by LJ Manzano. 

The finals night is slated on April 9 at the Samsung Hall in SM Aura Premier.

Both TOFARM Film Festival and Songwriting Competition are under the patronage of Dr. Milagros O. How, TOFARM Chief Advocate and Executive Vice-President of Universal Harvester, Inc. Her vision is to give due recognitionto the selfless contribution of farmers to the nation