Sineng Pambansa / National Film Festival 2013 – All-Masters Edition starts Sept 11-17 in all SM Cinemas nationwide

Today is the start of the big day for Filipino movies, because this Sept 11-Sept 17, 2013, we celebrate a week of National Film Festival or the Sineng Pambansa. It’s a new film festival organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines in cooperation with SM Cinema, they feature 12 movie masters to present fresh movie masterpieces for this year. The National Film Festival marks its 2nd year today, the 1st one was in Davao last 2012 and now they feature the 12 of the best and most prolific film directors in the country.

Namely - Tikoy Aguiluz, Mel Chionglo, Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes, Joel Lamangan, Elwood Perez, Gil Portes, Jose Javier Reyes, Maryo J. Delos Reyes, Chito Rono, Romeo Suzara and Celso Ad Castillo.

The tie up and partnership of FDCP and SM Cinema will start a new light for pinoy films and I’m very happy to see familiar names of the directors showing up again and creating their own movie magic. It was like the 80’s or 90’s again when we read and hear the big names of pinoy movie directors like Peque Gallaga, Joel Lamangan, Maryo J. Delos Reyes, Mel Chiongo, Celso Ad Castillo and many others. For me its like a travel back in time where our pinoy movies are one of the best medium for entertainment, I don’t want to blame the new technology for grasping away our attention and not watching our own movies, I admit that some of our pinoy films (well created for the MMFF) are not that good and mostly created for the mainstream mass level, but I am searching for that essence, that formula, and feeling that these movie will invite us back to sit, relax and enjoy watching our own – there’s a hype already for example that Erik Matti’s OTJ movie going viral for a good review, it means that we still have the energy to rise up.

I heard that indie films are said to be dominating the mainstream movies, its hard to accept or to believe with it. but hearing the comments from the movie master directors, I nod right away to agree, I just don’t want to say that there’s an ongoing war between old and new breed of film makers, bec. as they say, the new breed directors still learns from the old masters and when I heard from a director mentioned that pinoy movies should be filmed to communicate using our own native language and not for the language of foreign audience. It means movie that is marketable for us and not for foreigners, I totally agree with it, you can see that Japanese, Korean, German, or any European films are so marketable in every parts of the world, because the success started from their own land and then it was distributed and let the foreign audience adjust….and not the movie should adjust to the audience.

I heard this from Joel Lamangan and he said that foreign audience or producers should not dictate to us what we can film for them, bec. we film these movies for us pinoys to be entertained and be inspired from it.

Do you think that Sineng Pambasa or the National Film Festival can replace the Metro Manila Film Festival ? For me.. I hope so… or I hope this festival will get more support from the mainstream networks, medias and local government, bec. for what I observe this might be a start to bring back the energy of Filipino films. Its all new, different, digitally filmed but the essence of real pinoy movies is still here.

And with the tie up with SM Cinema, all 45 branches of SM Cinema nationwide will show the 12 movies starting Sept 11-17, 2013. There will be no other foreign movies to be shown in all cinemas, in observance of the National Film Festival. Ticket prices will be Php 100 only, it’s the lowest movie ticket for this generation.

I also learned that this film festival is not a way to compete the 12 movie master directors, they said that they don’t want to compete, they are not interested to know who’s the best, who’s the top grossing and who’s the best actor, the main goal here is that the National Film Festival serves as a shout out that pinoy films should go back again in our “PINILAKANG TABING” and we should go out and patronize our own films.

Here are the list of movies to be shown in National Film Festival

Each of the director’s film is set in their respective hometowns: Maryo J. de los Reyes in Bohol, Tikoy Aguiluz in Davao, Peque Gallaga in Bacolod, and Mel Chionglo in Quezon, with undisclosed places for Chito Roño and Jose Javier Reyes.

Mel Chionglo"Lauriana"
In 1955, the residents of a small idyllic village in Quezon are jolted to discover the dark, disturbing secret of a soldier and his common-law wife. The incomprehensible act takes the protagonists on a six-decade journey to find remorse, retribution, and forgiveness.

Peque Gallaga & Lore Reyes "Sonata"
Sonata is the story of a woman whose whole life is her art, and when she loses it, she loses her hold on the world until a young boy brings it back to her doorstep. The movie features veterans Cherie Gil and Richard Gomez.

Joel Lamangan"Lihis"
Set in the 70s, two young male NPA warriors find themselves entangled in a web of frustrations, despair, and victory as they struggle to fight for their love in the middle of war against despotism and dictatorship.Lihis is a story of a fight for freedom and against bigotry.

Gil Portes"Ang Tag-araw ni Twinkle"
Twinkle is a rebellious young lady undergoing drug rehabilitation spends time in the company of her adoptive parents -- a retired Army general and his wife -- and her biological father, a former NPA leader with terminal cancer.

Jose Javier Reyes"Ano ang Kulay ng mga Nakalimutang Pangarap?"
Teresa has dedicated sixty years of her life to the service of a middle class family at the expense of her own happiness and fulfillment. Now that the family's matriarch has died, the children who were under Teresa's care have to decide on the fate of their aged nanny.
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Maryo J. de los Reyes"Bamboo Flowers"
Bamboo Flowers talks about the lives of the young and the old Boholanos who have adapted to the changing behaviors of their lifestyles because of the dawning or tourism, technology and the demands of new age.

Elwood Perez"Otso"
With hopes to reconnect with his roots, Lex returns to Manila and writes a screenplay for an indie film based on his neighbors. In the process, he discovers that his illusions of filmmaking, romance, and the city itself are at odds with the truth.

Chito S. Roño "Badil"
Nonoy is assigned to take over the role of monitoring and guarding a number of people who are in their list of voters committed to support their party candidates. Badil is a window into how flawed our basic political right has become.

Romy Suzara"Tinik"
"If you are gay, this is your story. If you are a lover, this is your story." Tinik promises an impartial study of homosexuality through the story of a middle-aged gay couturier and his attempts to hold on to his dignity amidst the dilemmas of his being a gay.

NFF will also feature a Masters’ Master Tribute to the late grate Celso Ad Castillo with the screening of his last film Bahay ng Lagim with the documentary The Gospel According to Celso Kid. The festival, in honor of two other Philippine cinema legends Lino Brocka and Manuel Conde, will also screen the late directors’ films namely the restored version of Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag and Genghis Khan, respectively.

Sineng Pambansa National Film Festival 2013 will run from September 11 to 17 at all SM Cinema branches nationwide.