It's a mix of established names and fresh faces in this year's Cinemalaya independent film festival. A total of 24 films — the biggest number so far in the film festival's history — are competing for top prizes in Cinemalaya 2010, which introduced a number of innovations this year to cater to its growing audience. For the first time this year, festival organizers decided to introduce a new category called the "Directors' Showcase," which includes five films from mostly mainstream veteran filmmakers. Among the films in competition under this category are: Mario O'Hara's "Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio," Gil Portes' "Two Funerals," Joel Lamangan's "Sigwa," Mark Meily's "Donor" and Joselito Altarejos' "Pink Halo-Halo." Competition director and award-winning filmmaker Laurice Guillen said Cinemalaya's promise of "artistic freedom" may have attracted the more established directors to participate in this year's independent film festival. "Cinemalaya offers freedom to the director — the freedom for the director to choose his subject matter and the freedom to shoot it the way he wants to shoot it. On the part of Cinemalaya, we select the subject and the material that fits into our vision. In effect, we are partners," Guillen told GMANews.TV in an interview during the festival's opening on Friday night. "All these established directors have been coming and watching every year. I know deep inside their hearts, they want to have their own films. That's why now they are joining Cinemalaya. They want to see what they can also do," she added. Filmmaker Joselito Altajeros, one of the directors competing under the "Directors' Showcase" category this year, agreed that independent filmmaking really provides a certain kind of artistic freedom not present in the mainstream film industry. "Independent films allow us to express more...
Kami namang mga direktor, parang nauuhaw din kami na magawa namin 'yung mga gusto talaga naming gawin (On our part as directors, it's like we're thirsting to do what we really want to do)," he said in a separate interview.
Indie in HD Apart from the inclusion of works from more established filmmakers, Cinemalaya will likewise introduce the use of high definition (HD) technology in the screening of the entries this year, which will run from July 10 to 18 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City. Guillen said the use of HD technology in this year's screenings aims to improve the viewing experience of the festival's audience, which has ballooned fron 8,000 in 2005 to 42,000 last year. "We want to improve. Every year, we set our targets in terms of quality of films and how we screen them," she said. The multi-awarded filmmaker likewise expressed hopes that Cinemalaya 2010 will attract a greater number of people, given the wider selection of movies and the participation of more mainstream actors in this year's filmfest.
Entry point for 'the new breed' Despite the technological innovation and the inclusion of mainstream directors this year, festival organizers said Cinemalaya 2010 will continue to bear its trademark of showcasing "artistic integrity" among new directors. "We really want to give the new breed, the new directors an entry point to the industry," Guillen said. Twenty aspiring filmmakers were given the opportunity to showcase their works in the sixth installment of Cinemalaya this year. In competition under the "New Breed-Full Length" category this year are:
- Sheron Dayoc's "Halaw"
- Gutierrez Mangansakan II's "Limbunan,"
- Kim Homer Garcia's "Magkakapatid,"
- Dan Villegas and Paul Sta. Ana's "Mayohan,"
- Danny Anonuevo's "Rekrut,"
- Francis Xavier Pasion's "Sampaguita,"
- Arthur Katipunan's "Si Techie, Si Teknoboy at si Juana B,"
- Ian Loreno's "The Leaving," and
- Dennis Marasigan's "Vox Populi."
Competing under the "New Breed- Short Feature" category are:
- Zurich Chan's "Boca,"
- Steven Flor's "Breakfast with Lolo,"
- Janus Victoria's "Dalaw,"
- Borgy Torre's "Despedida,"
- Mikhail Red's "Harang,"
- Joey Agbayani's "Lola,"
- Milo Tolentino's "P,"
- Jerrold Tarog's "Faculty,"
- Pam Miras' "Wag Kang Titingin" and
- Hubert Tibi's "Hay Pinhood Ya Scooter."
The winners for this year's festival will be announced on July 18. For complete schedules of screenings and other Cinemalaya 2010 activities, you may log on to
www.cinemalaya.org.
- RJAB Jr./JV, GMANews.TV 
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