THREE winners from this year’s Sinulog Film Festival are part of Cinema Rehiyon X to be held in Manila from February 25 to 28.
Ronaldo S. Tan, chairman of the Sinulog Film Festival, said that short films “Ginhawa” and “Merci” and video documentary “Unscathed” have been accepted to the Cinema Rehiyon screenings.
“From the start of Cinema Rehiyon, I make it a point that it becomes a part of the prize of the grand winners from the Sinulog Film Festival and other short films that I find worth the Manila exposure,” Tan told Cebu Daily News.
According to its official Facebook page, Cinema Rehiyon is a non-competition film festival that complements the film making frontiers of the various regions of the Philippines outside Manila.
This is also a flagship project of the National Commission for Culture and Arts’ National Committee on Cinema.
Tan has been a part of NCCA’s Cinema Rehiyon since it started in 2008.
Cinema Rehiyon also gives the chance to Cebuano filmmakers who are being invited to other film festivals like Cinemalaya and Cinema One.
“Every year, dili gyud na ma ignore ang Cebu group. Very diversified ang atong mga films,” Tan added.
“Unscathed,” a video documentary directed dy Denzel Yorong, a 20-year-old Mass Communication student from University of the Philippines Cebu is the first video documentary from Sinulog Film Festival that will be shown during Cinema Rehiyon.
It bagged the Best Video Documentary, Best Playbill, Best Packaging, Best Packaging, People’s Choice Award, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Engineering and Musical Scoring , and Best Story during the Sinulog Film Festival Awarding Ceremony last weekend at SM Seaside City Cebu. Yorong also won Best Director.
“Unscathed” is a video documentary which highlights the faith of people from Pasil and their resilience during a big fire in January.
“We felt ecstatic upon knowing our film is going to Cinema Rehiyon. This is an opportunity for us regional filmmakers to share our own stories, our own culturally-rooted narratives to the rest of the country,” Yorong told Cebu Daily News.
Christian Paolo Lat’s “Ginhawa” is the grand winner for Best Short Film category.
“Ginhawa” is a story of a man who found the meaning of life through boxing.
Aside from winning the Best Short film this year, “Ginhawa” also bagged the Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Production Design awards.
Lat, director and lead actor of the film, won the Best Actor award.
On the other hand, Eli Razo’s “Merci” won the second place in the Short Film category.
Written by Josh Eballe, “Merci” is based on the one-act play “Pit Senyor! Kay Merci Kini!”
The film received Best Story and Screenplay while its actor Nicolas Ampatin was named as Best Supporting Actor.
“We felt extremely happy that it was chosen to be part of Cinema Rehiyon X. And we are thankful to the Sinulog Short Film Festival organizers for
giving this platform and opportunity for ‘Merci’ to be seen and experienced outside Cebu,” Eballe said.
He said that when they made “Merci,” their intention was to use the story as a mirror of the sacrifices one makes for the people he or she loves.
“This film is for all the sons and daughters, straight or not, and fathers and mothers who love unconditionally,” he added.
