Gamiaw Entertainment: Cinemalaya 12 opens with 123

Directors of this year’s Cinemalaya film entries

by Rita Salonga via RH News

Manila, Philippines - The 12^th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival opens its doors to the public on a rainy Friday night.

The audience was welcomed by the festival’s organizing head director Laurice Guillen-Feleo.  This year’s festival welcomes back the Full length category, wherein Cinemalaya will be featuring nine full length films.

Also, there are two categories for the short film category.  Short A includes “Ang Maangas, ang marikit at ang makata”, “Bugtaw”, “Mansyong papel”, Nakauwi na” and “Pektus.”  For Short B, the films are “Ang Hapon ni Nanding”, “Butas”, “Fish out of water”, “Get Certified”, and “Forever Natin”,

For the full-length categories, mainstream actors and actresses are now moving to independent film genre, claiming that this form of movie-making is raw and out of their comfort zones.  The nine films competing for the Best Full-length movie award include “Ang bagong pamilya ni Ponching”,
“Dagsin”, “Hiblang Abo”, “I America”, “Kusina”, “Lando at Bugoy”, “Mercury is Mine”, “Pamilya Ordinaryo”, and “Tuos.”

For this year’s opening film, Cinemalaya presented “123”; a film by Carlo Obispo. Obispo’s film is disturbing.  It depicts reality in its most raw and unadulterated version.  The good, the bad, and the in-your-face problem of society wherein the most affected are its people, those who tried to make ends meet and are force to do things because it is what will keep them alive, though sometimes, these are also the same things that can get as killed.

Cinemalaya 12 “Breaking the Surface” will have its run from August 5 to 14.