FESTIVAL: Cinemalaya 2010

The most prestigious Filipino independent film festival, Cinemalaya will start off tonight, July 9, 2010 at the Tanghalang Nicanor Aberlardo (CCP Main Theatre) with Ganap Na Babae, an anthology film directed by Rica Arevalo, Ellen Ramos and, introducing, new director, Sarah Roxas.


Winning the short-screenplay contest, Sarah Roxas' piece is an adaptation of Mike Portes' 2004 article, Minsan May Isang Puta. When I talked to her several weeks ago, she mentioned proudly and gratefully that her crew worked tirelessly without asking her for anything. What made her go on with the film, despite the challenge of budget,  is the confidence and trust of the people around her.

Cinemalaya 2010 will also feature Art Katipunan's Si Techie, Si Teknoboy at Si Juana B. for New Breed Competition and Kerwin Go's martial art documentary, Eskrimadors as part of ANI: Harvest of the Year's Best. The festival will close on July 18. 

For more information of Cinemalaya 2010 schedule, please visit: http://www.cinemalaya.org/competition.htm

EVENT: Kids Rock: A Concert for a Cause

Some of Cebu's indie artists will perform in a concert for a cause entitled, Kids Rock, this Friday, June 25, 2010 at the Outpost. The concert is for the benefit of 700 less fortunate children. Featured artists are Cattski, Shuffled, Bethany, Undercover Grasshoppers and Rescue a Hero.

CONTEST: 5th Indonesian Film Festival

eYeka invites you to submit your best short films or animations for a chance to be broadcast in the 5th Indonesian Film Festival in Australia!

Type:  Short Film/Animation Contest
Prizes: The best works for each category will be showcased at the festival screenings in Melbourne and Sydney.
Brief: Express your ideas and thoughts through short film, documentary or animation. Show your sense of art for a chance to prove your hidden talent as a true filmmaker!
Requirements: Your video must be 20 minutes maximum with English subtitles if the original language is not English. Film must have been completed within 3 years duration and must have not been broadcast commercially anywhere.

There are no maximum number of entries per participant so  feel free to submit the best that you have!

Deadline: August 7, 2010.

To participate, visit  http://en.eyeka.asia/partner/indonesian-film-festival (for English Brief and Rules) / http://id.eyeka.asia/partner/indonesian-film-festival (for Bahasa Indonesia) and join the group now.

It’s time! Get yourself discovered!

FESTIVAL: Cannes Film Festival 2010

(I know this is long overdue. I apologize, I have been really busy recently.)

The most glamorous film festival in the world, the Cannes Film Festival, was held from the 12th to the 23rd of May. As expected, a lot of famous celebrities graced the event. A-list stars like Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett were there promoting Ridley Scott's Robin Hood while Hollywood actors like Gerard Butler and Elizabeth banks were there to join the celebration.

The jury is star-studded as well, led by Tim Burton as the President of the Jury for Feature Film. Also part of the jury were Gael Garcia-Bernal, Benecio Del Toro, Kate Beckinsale, Shekhar Kapur and Claire Denis.

Aside from giving awards to exceptional international independent films, Cannes Film Festival has also been the avenue for producers to promote and give special screenings of upcoming movies. Aside from Robin Hood, some out-of-competition films were Gregg Araki's Kaboom, Stephen Frears' Tamara Drewe, Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Woody Allen's You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger.

The Palm D'Or is the highest award given to the best feature film in competition. Past recipients of this award is Steven Soderbergh for Sex, Lies and Videotape and Quentin Tarantino for Pulp Fiction. This year, this highly coveted award was given to Thai director, Apichatpong Weerasethakul for his film, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat).

Below is a list of the winnersof this year's Cannes Film Festival:

IN COMPETITION :

FEATURE FILMS

• Palme d'Or

  LUNG BOONMEE RALUEK CHAT (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) directed by Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL

• Grand Prix

  DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX (OF GODS AND MEN) directed by Xavier BEAUVOIS

• Award for Best Director

  Mathieu AMALRIC for TOURNÉE (ON TOUR)

• Award for Best Screenplay

  LEE Chang-dong for POETRY

• Award for Best Actress

  Juliette BINOCHE in COPIE CONFORME (CERTIFIED COPY) directed by Abbas KIAROSTAMI

• Award for Best Actor Ex-aequo

  Javier BARDEM in BIUTIFUL directed by Alejandro GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU
  Elio GERMANO in LA NOSTRA VITA (OUR LIFE) directed by Daniele LUCHETTI

• Jury Prize

  UN HOMME QUI CRIE (A screaming man) directed by Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN

SHORT FILMS

• Palme d'Or - Short Film

  CHIENNE D'HISTOIRE (BARKING ISLAND) directed by Serge AVÉDIKIAN

• Jury Prize - Short Film

  MICKY BADER (BATHING MICKY) directed by Frida KEMPFF
  
  

  UN CERTAIN REGARD :

  • Un Certain Regard Prize - Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema

    HAHAHA directed by HONG Sangsoo

  • Jury Prize - Un Certain Regard

    OCTUBRE (OCTOBER) directed by Daniel VEGA, Diego VEGA

  • Un Certain Regard Award for Best Actress

    LOS LABIOS (THE LIPS) played by Victoria RAPOSO, Eva BIANCO, Adela SANCHEZ
    
    

    CINEFONDATION :

    • 1st Prize Cinéfondation

      TAULUKAUPPIAAT (THE PAINTING SELLERS) directed by Juho KUOSMANEN

    • 2nd Prize - Cinéfondation

      COUCOU-LES-NUAGES (Anywhere out of the world) directed by Vincent CARDONA

    • 3rd Prize Cinéfondation Ex-aequo

      HINKERORT ZORASUNE (THE FIFTH COLUMN) directed by Vatche BOULGHOURJIAN
      JA VEC JESAM SVE ONO ŠTO ŽELIM DA IMAM (I ALREADY AM EVERYTHING I WANT TO HAVE) directed by Dane KOMLJEN

    GOLDEN CAMERA :

    • Caméra d'or

      AÑO BISIESTO directed by Michael ROWE

Reference: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/2010/allAward.html

MUSIC: Deeper Manila

An independent record label dedicated to house and downtempo sounds, Deeper Manila is the brainchild of Justin de Guzman and Kass Ilagan.

Justin cites London-based label Defected Records as the main inspiration for putting up Deeper Manila. Justin mentioned, "we wanted to put our music out for the public to hear. Luckily, I had a distributor available at the time. We needed a name and after just a few trials, we decided on Deeper Manila Records, or simply, Deeper Manila."

He also added, "there are very few house music producers in the country. I wanted the Filipinos to be know about local house music, which exists. I wanted to let the world know that there is an existing house music scene in the Philippines. This will promote tourism if we are successful."

Despite having difficulty promoting house music, Justin is confident that the market is continuously growing. Thanks to the steady flow of events and parties featuring international electronic dance artists, there is, now, a growing demand for great house music especially from places like Pampanga, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.

Deeper Manila has its own pool of local and international artists. Most of the local artists were acquaintances of the producer while the foreign artists, like LALA, Marc Systematic and C-Beg, contacted the producer via email. They expressed their desire to work with the label. How they got his contact information, Justin has no clue.

As a proud owner of Deeper Manila, the first and only Philippine-based house music label. He said, "we are a new market in the scene and people around the world will be curious about us. We all have our different influences but we have something that the others do not have. It's our being Filipinos. There's definitely something Pinoy about our music. So, you have to watch out for our releases to know how that actually sounds. Soon, house music in the Philippines will grow and we will be recognized globally."

OUT OF THE BOX: Walang Hanggang Paghihintay

WALANG HANGGANG PAGHIHINTAY

Apat Na Kwento ng Naulilang Pag-ibig

a short film by Popo Diaz

“Walang Hanggang Paghihintay – Apat Na Kwento ng Naulilang Pag-ibig” is the story of four individuals who eulogize the passing of the love of their life. In the short film, water is referred to as a great love lost. From the farmer’s perspective, he realizes too late that without water he cannot harvest his fields even if he toils all day. The woman, talks about the hurt and the pain that one feels when losing a loved one. She goes about her day to day chores trying to put a brave face but inside she is in mourning. A young lady, refers to water as her first love, reminiscing about the times they spent together and wondering if she will ever experience such a love again. Lastly, a boy expresses an ode about water and referring to it as his best friend with whom he has spent the best days of his youth. Each declares promises that they would change so that their lost love will return. All express the hope the one day they will be reunited this great love. - POPO DIAZ

This is Popo's first (attempt) in making a short film. Invited by his boss, Monster Jimenez, to join the short film competition, his inspiration came from very unique and diverse places - taking a bath, his fascination with eulogies and Fernando Amorsolo.

The film is an entry to the 1st Clean Water Video Contest and will be screened at NCCA theater tomorrow, April 22, 2010 at 1pm.

*Author's Note: Popo Diaz's Walang Hanggang Paghihintay - Apat Na Kwento ng Naulilang Pag-ibig is the grand prize winner of the 1st Clean Water Video Contest.

INTERVIEW: CoolieDread

If you are not from Cebu and not into reggae chances are, you have not heard of CoolieDread and The Microphone Commander. 

Started as a DJ/MC duo in 2005, CoolieDread (James D'Lonsod) and Microphone Commander (Greggy Polo) paved the way for dancehall reggae. From a duo, they expanded into becoming a full band with a drummer, bassist, two guitar players, a keyboardist and three MCs.

For half a decade, CDMC has been touring and promoting Filipino reggae music all over the country. But, all good things must come to an end and on Saturday, April 17, CDMC will be having their farewell gig at The Outpost. Cebuanos and reggae-lovers alike are baffled by this decision.

The Independent Crowd brings you this interview with CoolieDread as he sheds light on this unforeseen declaration.

TIC: You've been in the business for five years and there are not that many reggae bands out there, but why did you decide to stay in Cebu? Why not go to Manila?

CD:  First reason was to finish the album in Cebu. Second, we haven’t got any deals that would convince the rest of the band to move to Manila when we first started. Third, most of us were yet to finish college. 

TIC: But, I'm sure you have had offers...

CD: We were offered record deals but none of them could satisfy our wants as a group. So, it would have been really risky if we moved to Manila without venturing more and playing in other places. 

TIC: Would you say that CDMC has reached its peak already?

CD: No. The band is too young. Too much room for improvement, I would've wanted for us to tour the whole country extensively and do several albums. 

TIC: Let's face it, reggae is not as big in other provinces as it is here in Cebu. 

CD: Back in the early 90's, Cebu has already been active in educating people about reggae. The Bob Marley Foundation would hold regular reggae radio shows, parties and music festival like The Annual Bob Marley Fest, which is now known as Cebu Reggae Fest. In 2002, there were roughly about 40 reggae bands just in Cebu and that is a fact. But, radio stations from other cities are now starting to play our music and have reggae sessions in bars, which I think are a good thing.

TIC: Advocating reggae seems really arduous, but what has been the most challenging thing the band has to go through?

CD: The greatest challenge for CDMC was our 2006 Motorola Manila Bar Tour. For two months, we lived together in one roof, performing every night and arguing now and then.

TIC: Any memorable gigs?

CD: September 31, 2006. Winning the Motorola Rock’Moto Band Competition to Endorse Motorola Products for a year. That started it all.

TIC: You mentioned that you wanted more for CDMC. But, why are you having a farewell gig already?

CD: I don't know if I'm coming back after six months in China. Budoy (of Jr. Kilat) and I (his DJ) were chosen to perform with the Philippine Pavilion in Shanghai World Expo 2010. The band has also come to an agreement not to perform without the complete original members. They said, they would be crippled since I initiated everything.

TIC: With you going to China, what's the next step for the other members?

CD:  I cannot speak for the whole group but I am sure that they will be moving to other bands and continue with their music. 

TIC: With CDMC's farewell, which band will take over the reggae scene?

CD: Sefyla, Stiff, Skankin Brews and Pohaku (or Skank My Mood)

TIC: That was a good five-year run for CDMC, for sure, you will be missed.

CD: I can see that in the next couple of years, there will be more DJ’s and electronic musicians in Cebu’s music scene. All indie bands will still be around, but will somehow still be underground till they themselves start to elevate the music business to another level.

TIC: What do you want to say to the fans?

CD: Always remember that even CDMC will not be around, we sure did have some fun years jamming, we knew you’ll always be part of us, that forever in our minds: We always “ROCK TO THE RIDDIM”

Microphone Commanders:
Gene Gong - Gene Caballes - Vocals
WajahRhymes - Ryan Yu - Vocals
CoolieDread - James D'Lonsod - Vocals, dj samples
The Band:
Eric Yrigan - Drums
Mark Villanueva - Bass
Francis “ Dang” Yrigan - Guitars
Paul “Pauldo” Cañada - Guitars
Yani Sagun - Keyboards & Synths