Author Topic: Cinemalaya 2022  (Read 244 times)

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Offline Klaus Weasley

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Cinemalaya 2022
« on: Aug 05, 2022 at 06:37 PM »
An in-person festival returns this year. I will try to watch as much as I could and I will post my reviews here.

List of films.

Offline Klaus Weasley

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Re: Cinemalaya 2022
« Reply #1 on: Aug 14, 2022 at 08:42 AM »
12 Weeks (Anna Isabelle Matutina) ***1/2 - A forty-year old woman is trying to get out of a toxic relationship. But then she finds herself pregnant and she considers getting an abortion. This is the first film I checked out during the Cinemalaya Film Festival, a Filipino indie film festival (which has finally returned to in person screenings). This is quite possibly one of the very few Filipino films I've seen that tackled this subject matter in this way. It feels real and honest and refreshingly free of preachiness. Max Eigenmann plays the lead and once again proves she's one of the best working Filipino actresses today. It does get a tad too long and repetitive but still compelling. All in all, a solid entry to the festival.

Offline Klaus Weasley

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Re: Cinemalaya 2022
« Reply #2 on: Aug 15, 2022 at 12:10 AM »
The Baseball Player (Carlo Obispo) *** - A teenage boy from the Muslim region of the Philippines wants to play baseball but is being pushed to become a child soldier for a Muslim rebel group. This is a very tasteful, honest look into the lives of children born into poverty and conflict in the context of what is going on in Mindanao. The baseball elements does not feel like it jives with the rest of the film. It literally could have been anything else. There's very little cohesion in these two elements. The ending also feels a bit abrupt. But it's a film with its heart in the right place and the performances are all natural and lovely. It's overall a flawed but solid drama.

Batsoy (Ronald Batallones) ** - It is just before the end of Martial Law. Two boys are gathering firewood and bringing down from the mountain. They get a hankering for the titular "batsoy", a rich Filipino noodle dish. Going into this, I was expecting a comedy. It is not. I could only guess what the director was trying to go for with this. It honestly feels like it was conceived as a short film and then just padded it out to barely qualify as a feature (it's just a little over an hour). So it goes into all these sorts of vignettes and directions which are all over the place. It toys with both horror, thriller, political commentary and magic realism, none of which very successfully. This needed another script pass I think.

....and that's probably it for Cinemalaya for me this year, barring any additional screenings.

Offline Klaus Weasley

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Re: Cinemalaya 2022
« Reply #3 on: Aug 15, 2022 at 12:30 AM »
Awards:

Audience Choice Award (Short Film)

Short Film - "Mga Handum Nga Nasulat sa Baras" by Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay and Richard Jeroui Salvadico
Full Length Feature Film - "Kargo" by TM Malones

Best Sound Design (Full Length Main Feature Film)

Pepe Manikan, "Bula Sa Langit"

Best Original Musical Score (Full Length Main Feature Film)

Isha Abubakar, "Retirada"

Best Production Design (Full Length Main Feature Film)

Marxie Maolen Fadul, "Blue Room"

Best Editing (Full Length Main Feature Film)

Zig Dulay, "The Baseball Player"


Best Cinematography (Full Length Main Feature Film)

Neil Daza, "Blue Room"

Best Screenplay

Short Film - Zig Dulay, "Black Rainbow"
Full Length Feature Film - Carlo Obispo, "The Baseball Player"

Best Supporting Actor (Full Length Main Feature Film)

Soliman Cruz, "Blue Room"

Best Supporting Actress (Full Length Main Feature Film)

Ruby Ruiz, "Ginhawa"

NETPAC Award

Short Film - "Black Rainbow" by Zig Dulay
Full Length Feature Film - "12 Weeks" by Anna Isabelle Matutina

Best Actor Award (Full Length Main Feature Film)

Tommy Alejandrino, "The Baseball Player"

Best Actress Award (Full Length Main Feature Film)

Max Eigenmann, "12 Weeks"

Special Jury Award

Short Film - "Dikit" by Gabriela Serrano
Full Length Feature Film - "Blue Room" by Ma-an L. Asuncion Dagñalan

Best Director Award

Short Film - Gabriela Serrano, "Dikit"
Full Length Feature Film - Ma-an L. Asuncion Dagñalan, "Blue Room"

Best Film Award

Short Film - "Black Rainbow" by Zig Dulay
Full Length Feature Film - "The Baseball Player" by Carlo Obispo