Locally and internationally produced films that thrill, raise awareness or spur the imagination compose this year’s entries and exhibition movies in the 7th QCinema International Film Festival (QCinema).
Considered as the flag-carrying international film festival in the country, QCinema will feature cinematic treasures from October 13 to 22 at the Gateway Mall, Ayala Trinoma, Robinsons Galleria, UPFI Cine Adarna, Cinema 76 Anonas and Cinema Centenario.
Opening, closing films
Leading the roster are two much-awaited Asian titles – Sigrid Bernardo’s “Untrue,” which is the opening film and “Wet Season,” by Singaporean director Anthony Chen, as the closing film.
Christine Reyes and Xian Lim topbill the festival opener, Bernardo’s follow-up project after the indie hit, “Kita Kita.” The Hooq-produced “Wet Season” is Chen’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed film, “Iloilo.”
Rising wave
QCinema 2019 focuses on the strides Asian filmmakers have been making in world cinema, with Asian filmmakers bagging the Palm d’ Or award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival for two consecutive years.
Furthermore, the theme recognizes the growing number of women filmmakers participating in competitions for documentaries and short films. To add, this year’s QCinema sections have female-centric themes.
As one of the leading festivals in Southeast Asia, QCinema is the launching pad for world premieres, not only for the three Filipino features in the Asian Next Wave competition, but also for new local shorts and documentaries, who all received grants from QCinema, where filmmakers own the rights to their films.
Local film grantees
QCinema recently relaunched its main competition, AsianNext Wave, to include three Filipino titles which each received a P1.5 million seed grant — Arnel Barbarona’s “Kaaway sa Sulod,” “Babae at Baril” by Rae Red, and “The Cleaners” by Glenn Barit, which is his debut feature.
The QCShorts lineup features “Judy Free” by Jean Cheryl Tagyamon; “Tokwifi” by Carla Pulido Ocampo; “Here, Here” by Joanne Cesario; “SPID” by Alejo Barbaza and Mervine Aquino; “Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss” by Sonny Calvento; and “Isang Daa’t Isang Mariposa” by Norvin De los Santos.
The six filmmakers each received P200,000 production grants in the shorts competition.
Three new Filipino documentary features, recipients of post-production grants of P500,000 each, will premiere in the section, DocQC. They are “For My Alien Friend” by Jet Leyco, “A is for Agustin” by Grace Pimentel Simbulan and “Spring by the Sea” by Aleia Garcia.
International selections
Five other films will showcase Asian talents at the Asian Next Wave. These are “Nakorn-Sawan” by Puangsoi Aksornsawang of Thailand, “Ave Maryam” by Robby Ertanto of Indonesia, “Fly By Night by Zahir Omar of Malaysia, “The Long Walk” by Mattie Do of Laos and “Suburban Birds” by Sheng Qiu of China.
Three critically acclaimed Asian documentaries round up the non-competitive documentary section with “The Future Cries Beneath Our Soil” by Pham Thu Hang of Vietnam, “Talking About Trees” by Suhaib Gasmelbari of Sudan and “Kabul, City in the Wind” by Aboozar Amini of Afghanistan.
In Screen International, awarded titles from Cannes and Berlin will receive their Philippine premieres. They are “Beanpole” by Kantemir Balagov, “By The Grace of God” by François Ozon, “Nina Wu” by Midi Z, “Bacurau” by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, “Frankie” by Ira Sachs, “Synonyms” by Nadav Lapid, “The Whistlers” by Corneliu Porumboiu, “God Exists Her Name is Petrunya” by Teona Mitevska, “On A Magical Night” by Christophe Honore and “High Life” by Claire Denis.
The Special Screenings section will showcase “Lingua Franca” by Isabel Sandoval, “Dogs Don’t Wear Pants” by J.P. Valkeapää, “Top End Wedding” by Wayne Blair, “No Data Plan” by Miko Revereza, “The Cave” by Tom Waller, “Krabi, 2562” by Ben Rivers and Anocha Suwichakornpong, “A Girl Missing” by Koji Fukada which is presented by Japan Foundation, and recent Locarno winner, “Vitalina Varela,” by Pedro Costa.
A special program of Australian short films, Flickerfest, rounds up this section.
New section
This year, QCinema introduces a new section — New Horizons — a platform for debut films or second features from around the world. It explores a range of genres such as “The Bare Necessity” by Erwan De Luc, “Buoyancy” by Rodd Rathjen, “Homeward” by Nariman Aliev, “The Red Phallus” by Tashi Gyeltshen, “Chola” by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan and “System Crasher” by Nora Fingscheidt.
Top End Wedding, Flickerfest Shortfilms and Buoyancy are sponsored by the Australian Embassy.
LGBTQ spectrum
Continuing its partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) in promoting equality and representation, QCinema will screen six films representing the LGBTQ spectrum in the section, RainbowQC.
These are Venice Queer Lion winner, “Jose” by Li Cheng, “Song Lang” by Leon Le, “Port Authority” by Danielle Lessovitz, “Where We Belong” by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, “And Then We Danced” by Levan Akin, and the Berlinale Teddy awardee, “Brief Story from the Green Planet” by Santiago Loza.
Part of the centennial celebration of Philippine cinema are two QCinema sections reflecting the rich heritage of classic and mainstream works by major directors, including the country’s national artists for film.
Centennial Classics will feature digitally restored films by ABS-CBN Film Restoration Project and FDCP. Part of the list are “Biyaya ng Lupa” by Manuel Silos, “Malvarosa” by Gregorio Fernandez, “Insiang” and “Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag” by Lino Brocka, “Noli Me Tangere” by Gerardo de Leon and “Tisoy” by Ishmael Bernal.
A Special Life Achievement Award will be presented to Vicente del Rosario Jr., who established Viva Entertainment as one of the main, enduring pillars in the entertainment industry for more than fifty years.
QCinema is presenting the section, Viva Classics, in recognition of his outstanding contributions of “Boss Vic,” as he is fondly called, to the industry.
Three of the previous decades’ well-loved hits will be shown in this section — “Bituing Walang Ningning” by Emmanuel Borlaza, “Scorpio Nights 2” by Erik Matti and “Working Girls” by Ishmael Bernal.
