The 2016 QCinema International Film Festival (QCinema) is filled with interesting mix of new homegrown films and award-winning international movies with this year’s theme “One City for the World.”
QCinema will run from October 13 to 22, 2016. It will be held at four mall venues namely, Ayala Trinoma, Gateway Cinemas, Robinson’s Galleria, and UP Town Center. It will also hold special film forum series at the QCX, the new museum complex of the Quezon Memorial Circle.
Honing Talents
Since its foundation in 2012, the Quezon City Film Development Commission (QCFDC) has been providing grants to help filmmakers produce their own works. QCinema is its annual platform where the new cinematic gems are given the chance to be appreciated by the public.
This October marks the premieres of QCinema’s new seven features and eight short films which the QCFDC funded. The Circle Competition grants are unique in that filmmakers own the rights to their features while #QCShorts is the only local funding platform for short films.
The list of the new feature films in the “Circle Competition” are: “Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B” directed by Prime Cruz; “Baboy Halas” directed by Bagane Fiola; “Best. Partee. Ever.” directed by Howard “HF” Yambao; “Hinulid” by Kristian Sendon Cordero; “Patay Na Si Hesus” directed by Victor Kaiba Villanueva; “Purgatoryo” directed by Roderick Cabrido; and “Women of the Weeping River” by Sheron Dayoc.
In the category “#QCShorts”, the finalists are “Hondo” by Aedrian Araojo; “If You Leave” by Eduardo “Dodo” Dayao; “Kung Saan May Naiwan”by Joshua Joven and Kaj Palanca; “Nang Lumipad ang Batang Agila” by Mihk Vergara; “Padating” by Gabrielle Tayag; “Papa’s Shadow” by Inshallah Montero; “Sayaw sa Butal” by Victor Nierva; and “Viva Viva Escolta” by Janus Victoria.
“Asian Next Wave” is the most recent addition to the QCinema competitions. This category showcases the works of Asian filmmakers with less than two directorial features.
The movies in this international section include: “By the Time It Gets Dark” directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong of Thailand; “Old Stone”, a Chinese-Canadian collaboration film directed by Johnny Ma; “Singing in Graveyards”, a Filipino-Malaysian movie directed by Bradley Liew; “Solo, Solitude” directed by Yosep Anggi Noen of Indonesia; “Apprentice”, a Singaporean film by Boo Junfeng; and “Woven Wings of Our Children”, a Filipino piece by Anton Juan.
Gathering Movies From Across the Globe
The festival’s opening film is Park Chan-wook’s recent Cannes winner, “The Handmaiden” starring Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, and Tae Ri Kim.
For its “Screen International” section, QCinema bestows Philippine premieres to some of the films recently lauded in the international festival circuit.
Part of the roster are “One Week and a Day”, an Israeli film by Asaph Polonsky; “The Teacher” from the Czech Republic and directed by Jan Hebejk; “I, Daniel Blake”, a film from the United Kingdom made by Ken Loach; “Godless”, a Bulgarian movie created by Ralitza Petrova; “Under the Shadow”, an Iranian film directed by Babak Anvari; “Headshot”, an Indonesian movie from Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel; and “The Ornithologist”, a Portuguese film directed by João Pedro Rodrigues.
In keeping with the festival’s tradition of featuring a film trilogy every year, QCinema presents a special section, “Tribute to Kielowski”. To commemorate the 20th death anniversary of the celebrated Polish auteur, Krzysztof Kielowski, the acclaimed triptych about European reunification includes “Blue” (1993), “White” (1994), and “Red” (1994).
Vibrant and diverse narratives unravel in “RainbowQC”, a category of features about the LGBTQ experience that include: “Spa Night” from Andrew Ahn of USA; “#BKKY” by Nontawat Numbenchapol from Thailand; “Kiki”, a collaboration between USA and Sweden directed by Sara Jordenö; and “Jonathan” by Piotr J. Lewandowski of Germany.
Old and New Filipino Films
Two digitally-restored screen gems from ABS-CBN get their due revival in the section, “Back ThrowBack”. It will feature “Kasal” (1980) directed by Laurice Guillen and “Haplos” (1982) filmed by Butch Perez. The former marks Guillen’s debut feature and the latter top bills the exciting team-up of Vilma Santos, Christopher de Leon, and Rio Locsin.
QCinema celebrates the thriving film communities outside of the National Capital Region (NCR), through its “Cinema Rehiyon” section, featuring the compilation of regional titles from Mindanao Rising, Across Luzon and Visayas, and Ilonggo Tales of Horror and Imagination. Also included is the Manila premiere of the new Cebuano indie by Christian Linaban, “Superpsychocebu”.
Filipino film master, Mike De Leon, gets his QCinema homage for his three popular restored titles, “Kung Mangarap Ka’t Magising” (1977), “Hindi Nahahati ang Langit” (1985), and “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?” (1980).
Under the “Pinoy Spotlight” section, two new social-realists get their QCinema premieres: “Blanka” of Kohki Hasei from Japan and “Area” by Filipino Louie Ignacio.
Awarding Ceremony
The awarding ceremony for the QCinema filmmaking competitions will be on October 19, 2016.
For more information, visit www.qcinema.ph.
