Missing the Best of Cinemalaya 2010

There are 365 days in the calendar but somehow, activities manage to clump together on the same dates. Choosing where to go is often a tug-of-war of decisions.

This happened again one Saturday this month. My boys and I had planned on watching as many movies as we could at the annual Cinemalaya (Independent Film Festival and Competition) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), which we do every year. We even invited my sister and a niece to join us.

Suddenly, two other important activities crowded in—book signing at a Book Expo and graduation rites of the university where I teach. It was like being ripped in three different directions all at once. Each affair was important to me.

“How does one decide in a squeeze like this?” I asked my younger sister who always has older wisdom.

“Pick the one where you are most needed,” she said without missing a beat.

Cinemalaya 6 went out the window, so did the graduation ceremonies. To the book expo I went and although I was drooling over the activities I skipped, I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon with kids.

“You're too late!” My friend Lilit exclaimed when he saw me at CCP one week later. “You missed the best ones.”

We missed our first three choices: Two Funerals, Donor, and Halaw. My boys and I settled for other three full-length movies and five short features with snacks, lunch, coffee, and dinner in between.

No, we didn't exactly miss all the good ones—Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio (The Trial of Andres Bonifacio) was both poetic and symbolic. It made us peek into a part of history not often told.

A theater aficionado, I was delighted over the theatrical garnishing the director, Mario O'Hara, boldly incorporated into the historical drama. It has to be watched again, to take in all the many symbols and deliberate details (too many, my sons said) the director put into every scene.

The short films I relished. Harang was well-written and particularly riveting in its simplicity. Scooter was rib-tickling and surprising, and P was very creative and heartwarming in a funny sort of way.

The Cinemalaya is a venue for interaction between alternative filmmakers and those in the mainstream. The Cinemalaya Foundation website reads, “It supports other projects such as national outreach, seminars and workshops on production, marketing and distribution of independent films. It hopes to strengthen the presence of Filipino independent films in foreign festivals and competitions, encouraging Filipino filmmakers to enter and be part of the international film circuit.”

Being a part of art development in the Philippines, albeit as a spectator (an avid one!), is a privilege and full-length grace.