2013 CINEFILIPINO FILM FESTIVAL

THE highly-anticipated CineFilipino Festival will have its gala week starting on September 18 that will showcase eight full-length films and 10 short films.

Angel Aquino, Jasmine Curtis Smith and Nora Aunor are some of the stars that joined in this debuting cinematic festivity.

The film festival is spearheaded by PLDT-Smart Foundation, MediaQuest, Studio 5 and Unitel Entertainment with Newport Cinemas of Resorts World Manila, Lucky Chinatown Mall and Gateway Cineplex as partner venues. 

The Newport Cinemas at Resorts World Manila will be hosting the Gala Night of the participating films starting on September 18. Puti, starring Ian Veneracion and TV5 primetime princess Jasmine Curtis-Smith and helmed by Mike Alcazaren, is set at 7PM. Ron Bryant’s Bingoleras, a comedy of errors that boasts an impressive cast led by Eula Valdes and Mercedes Cabral, is expected to make viewers laugh in the evening’s night cap.

On September 19, Tuesday Vargas gets her first lead in the romantic cross-cultural comedy Ang Turkey Man ay Pabo Rin directed by Randolph Longjas. Cebuana filmmaker Janice Perez’s The Muses tells the story of a sibling rivalry in the music business that features Janelle Jamer and rock goddess KitchieNadal.

Ms. Nora Aunor and Angel Aquino are expected to grace the September 20 Gala Night. The family drama Ang Kwento ni Mabuti by Mes de Guzman, that features the Superstar in the titular role, opens the special Friday evening. Angel plays Pilar the woman Anita pines for in Sigrid Bernardo’s AngHuling Cha-Cha ni Anita to cap off the evening.

Filmmaking siblings Sari and KiriDalena commemorate the 41^st Martial Law declaration with the premiere of the docu-drama Guerilla is a Poet, which is based on the life of activist JomaSison. Capping the evening on September 21 is Ato Bautista coming-of-age love story Mga Alaala ng Tag-ulan starring sexy performer Mocha Uson and Artista Academy alumnus Akihiro Blanco.

Catch the feature film entries that will also be shown at the Shang Cineplex of Shangri-la Plaza Mall on September 21-22 weekend. The ten short films will be shown at the various venues from 5:30PM to 6:30PM.

The feature films are competing for awards including Audience Choice and Best Acting Ensemble.

FEATURE FILM CATEGORY

Ang Huling Cha-Cha ni Anita by Sigrid Andrea Bernardo 

A 12-year old Anita falls in love with the new woman in town; years later, a girlhood crush blossoms during the Fiesta of Santa Clara in Obando, Bulacan.

Cast: Angel Aquino, Teri Malvar, Marcus   Madrigal and Lui Manansala 
Produced by: Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo, Jalz Zarate/ Screenplay by: Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo/ Edited by: Lawrence Ang/ Cinematographer: Alma Dela Pena/Music by: Diwa De Leon/Production Design by: Popo Diaz      

 
Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo is a freelance Artist doing Film &Theater productions. She's a graduate of Theater arts in the University of the Philippines and pursued a scholarship in Tanghalang Pilipino under the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Her works include short films such as "Babae"/Woman, which won various, awards local and abroad. She won as the "Best Director" in Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and won as best short film in Cinemagaylesbico International Film Festival in Milan, Italy.

Ang Kwento ni Mabuti by Mes De Guzman

Mabuti accidentally finds a stash of money that could bring an end to her family’s financial problems:  is the solution that simple or is it loaded with complications?

Cast: Nora Aunor, Ama Quiambao, Mara Lopez, Sue Prado and Arnold Reyes

Line Producer: Rhea De Guzman/ Screenplay by: Mes De Guzman/ Edited by: Abbas Tabas/ Cinematographer: Albert Banzon/ Music by: Mes De Guzman/ Production Design by: Cesar Hernando 

Mes De Guzman has won numerous Don Carlos Palanca awards for his scripts and Grand prize from the NCCA for his manuscript novel, “Rancho Dyanggo” Recently, he won the Cinemanila 2011 Best Picture and Best Director for “Sa Kanto ng Ulap at Lupa” and also bagged the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Asian Film (NETPAC Award) at the 2012 Cinemalaya Film Festival for “Diablo”

Ang Turkey Man Ay Pabo Rin by Randolph Longjas

A cross-cultural comedy about a Filipino American couple who celebrates life with karaoke music, superstitious in-laws, immigration laws, unexpected pregnancies, brown-outs, Thanksgiving turkey, with some love on the side.

Cast: Tuesday Vargas, Travis Kraft, Julia Clarete, Cai Cortez and JM De Guzman

Produced by: Tonee Acejo/ Screenplay by: Allan Habon/ Edited by: Carlo Manatad, Joris Fernandez/ Cinematographer: Tom Redoble/ Music by: Jedd Dumaguina/ Production Design by: Butch Garcia, Nette Madrid 

  
Randolph Longjas is a man of tenacity and many talents. Being the youngest director in this year’s Cinefilipino roster, one might reckon his venture into filmmaking to be one of sheer caprice. But nothing could be further from the truth, for it is in fact a product of hard work and a lifelong love affair with the performing and visual arts.  Longjas has directed and performed in numerous stage productions, most notably as part of UP Broad Ass. Immediately after graduating cum laude from UP Diliman with a degree in Broadcast Communication, he joined the advertising industry as a freelance production staff for TV commercials for a couple of years and later started Bodega Productions, an event coverage company, with three others.

Bingoleras by Ron Bryant

A surprise-filled comedy about six single women and a priest, whose lives intersect when a bingo marathon is launched in their church for the barangay fiesta, turning expectations and relationships upside down and inside out.

Cast: Max Eigenmann, Charee Pineda, Eula Valdes, Liza Diño, Mercedes Cabral and Hazel Orencio 

Produced by: Chantel Garcia/ Screenplay by: Ron Bryant/ Edited by: Joe Lachica/ Cinematographer: Regiben Romana/ Music by: Mark Laccay/ Art Director: Tey Lopez, Gico Lipit, Joe Lachica 

Ron Bryant- Best Director of the 2^nd Cinemalaya Film Festival for his film Rotonda, Ron Bryant is an electronics and communication graduate working as a recording engineer when in 1998 he decided to pursue his first love—the cinema. His screenplay Buhay Ay Langit, a story of love in time of war, became his pass to the movie industry. From 2000 he was with the creative department of Star Cinema, Inc. until 2003. 

Mga Alaala ng Tag-ulan by Ato Bautista

                

A coming-of-age love story about a young man’s first encounter with love, romance, and heartbreak, told in bits and pieces of poetic and melancholic memories that began on one rainy night.

                    
Cast: Akihiro Blanco, Mocha Uson, Mon Confiado, Issa Litton and Lance Raymundo

Produced by: Ato Bautista/ Screenplay by: Shugo Praico/ Edited by: Benjamin Tolentino/ Cinematographer: Rain Yamson II/ Music by: Dodoy Ongleo/ Production Design by: Marxie Maolen Fadul    

 

Ato Bautista is one of the most exciting genuine filmmakers in the Philippines today. He is known as a young maverick producer and director who make strong and acclaimed genre films.  At the age of twenty four, he made his debut film SA AKING PAGKAKAGISING MULA SA KAMULATAN (My Awakening from Consciousness), a street violence-drama-thriller that reached acclaimed status locally and internationally.

Puti by Mike Alcazaren

A psychological thriller about a counterfeit painter who figures in a freak car accident that renders him color blind; while recuperating, strange things start to happen to him.

Cast: Ian Veneracion, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Lauren Young, Leo Rialp and Bryan Pagala

Produced by: Mike Alcazaren, Lizanne Alcazaren, Paulo Alcazaren, Isabel Alcazaren-Pangilinan/ Screenplay by: Mike Alcazaren/ Edited by: Kelly Cruz-Abano/ Cinematographer: Roberto Yñiguez/ Music by: Mark Laccay/ Production Design by: Rious Caliso

Mike Alcazaren is a veteran advertising commercial director. He is also co-founder of the pioneering stop-motion animation group Alcazaren Bros.. He has done hundreds of commercials for over two decades, directing award-winning live-action and animation commercials for multinational companies like Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Splash, Nestle’, Coca-Cola Phils., and Colgate-Palmolive but he never gave up his first love: film, as his roots were in alternative cinema, creating several animated and experimental short films with his brother Juan in the late 80s. “Puti” marks his feature film debut.

The Guerrilla is a Poet by Sari and Kiri Dalena 

The tale of an activist’s journey during the turbulent years of Martial Law, until his capture in the mountains and the dark, nine years of imprisonment that followed, leading to his birth as a  poet.

                                                                                               

Cast: Karl Medina, Angeli Bayani, Bong Cabrera, RK Bagatsing, Channel La Torre, Marcus Madrigal

Produced by: Keith Sicat/ Screenplay by: Ericson Acosta, Kerima Tariman, Keith Sicat, Kiri Lluch Dalena/ Edited by: Keith Sicat/ Cinematographer: Kiri Lluch Dalena/ Music by: Raffy Magsaysay/ Production Design by: Emerson Baltazar

SARI LLUCH DALENA(Co-Director/Production Design) – A graduate of the Master’s Program of the prestigious New York University’s TISCH School of the Arts (where the likes of Martin Scorcese, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, and Ang Lee are alumnus), Dalena has    been no stranger to awards ever since winning two URIANs for her short films.

KIRI LLUCH DALENA (Co-Director/Cinematography) – Kiri is a graduate of the University of the Philippines in Los Banos and studied 16mm documentary film making at the Mowel fund Film Institute. She is a critically acclaimed visual artist who feels equally comfortable in other mediums such as sculpture and installation.

The Muses by Janice Perez

The Muses’ vocalist, Marthe, and her guitarist younger sister, Marie, discover hidden truths about fame, music, family and their own selves on the night of an all-important music competition.

Cast: Kitchie Nadal, Janelle Jamer, Ranz Andri Medina, Chicoy Romualdez and Josh Manning

Produced by: Above-The-Line Productions, Project Kaleidoscope/ Screenplay by: Janice Y. Perez, Kitchie Nadal, Janelle Jamer/ Edited by: RJ Aquino/ Cinematographer: Ruel Dahis Antipuesto/ Music by: Jay Chiongbian Young/ Production Design by: Kaloy Uypuanco

Janice Perez graduated from the University of San Carlos in Cebu City. She completed a 6-month course on 16MM Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy. She has videographed and edited several commercial projects in New  York City, such as Kiehl’s, the skin care  brand, and Limité Magazine, to name a few.  She has also collaborated with independent musicians on their music videos, including Bessie Badilla's  Magkaisa  and Kitchie Nadal’s soon to be released Malaya.