Lawas Kan Pinabli at the UP Film Center

Sine Caboloan Co., Ltd. & UP Film Center presents

Lawas Kan Pinabli (Forever Loved)

a film by Christopher Gozum

A neophyte migrant Filipino worker from the Pangasinan province in the northern Philippines arrives at a bustling city in the Middle East in search of his missing wife who first came to the Arab country three years earlier. While searching for her, he has brief and transient encounters with his fellow Filipino migrant workers. He listens to the testimonies and epiphanies about their present lives in exile as well as bits and pieces of the memories of their former lives from the motherland they all had left behind. The protagonist also meets another lonely foreign worker, a beautiful Malaysian woman with whom he has a passionate affair.

Combining fiction and documentary, specifically interviews of eight Filipino migrant workers, along with voice-over narration of various texts translated in the Pangasinan language – selected passages from the Holy Bible, selected poetry about exile, and selected lines from classical noh plays, the film creates an intimate portrait of the Filipino diaspora in the Middle East. The film’s title Lawas Kan Pinabli is based from a popular folk love song in the Pangasinan province with the same title.

Saturday - May 11, 2013

1:00 pm

UP Film Center - Cine Adarna

Free Admission

Q&A after the screening with the Director.

Fund-raiser for "The Search for Weng-weng"

been long overdued now, finally, Andrew Leavold is finishing his docu on the Filipino Midget James Bond and B-Cinema.

"Just over 3 weeks to go on Kickstarter to finish my doco on the two-foot-nine Filipino James Bond, so it's time to bang the tin can even louder. Please click http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/210613803/the-search-for-weng-weng-1 and pledge (even $1 makes a difference), share, tweet, send to media, make it go viral, support DIY filmmaking, and help make my dream project a reality. Thanks!"

Team Weng

Notes on Dwein Baltazar's Mamay Umeng (2012)

Was reading reviews all morning. I saw Baltazar's Mamay Umeng as the most misunderstood film of 2012 despite the acclaim. I never saw any hint of death in the film's theme (of course, except of that obvious scene of a wake), it is rather an exploration of life of a young soul trapped in an old man's body. How the young ones' mindset of today of living life in the fullest, of being a rebel, and being free. Whatever that Mamay Umeng is waiting on those long scenes, I know for sure, it's not his death, but rather his freedom: he is an image of the oppressed. Remember the scene when his guardian (played by Sue Prado) took away the candle he lit in the altar? He replaced it with his birthday candle, his act of rebellion, a scene just before he got away for good from the house that enslaves him.

This Year's Best: For those who care

for those who care, since I might not be online for a while, here's kawts kamote's initial year-end "best list", 2012.


Film: Whammy Alcazaren's Colossal and Jon Lazam's Nang Gabing Maging Sing Laki ng Puso ang Bato ni Darna

TV: Lupin III: A Woman Named Fujiko Mine (Sayo Yamamoto|NTV) & Be Careful with My Heart (Jeffrey Jeturian &Mervyn Brondial|ABS CBN_

Music:
Single: Tao Lang (Loonie Ft. Quest)
Album: Blunderbuss (Jack White) & Pandora's Piñata (Diablo Swing Orchestra)

will have a full write up by January or February. Thanks for reading Kawts Kamote this year!

Call for Entries: LFC's Ateneo Video Open 14

The Loyola Film Circle’s premiere national undergraduate film competition, the 14th Ateneo Video Open, is now accepting entries! Visit http://ateneovideoopen14.tumblr.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/AteneoVideoOpen14 to view the rules, regulations, and mechanics.

I'm an easy to please guy, Cinema One Originals Log 1

Day 1 (Nov 30) (Was tired and sleepy, went straight to the mall after the shift)

Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Madilim (Arnel Mardoquio, 2012) 5/5. - it's how the first scene of Johnnie To's Exiled's effect on me: quiet, dark, then there's a sudden change of feel from heavy to light. The film's pretty much dark and heavy that if Mardoquio never have placed those light moments, I would've had a heart attack. One of the first I've seen that's very vocal about it's criticism on the Islam and it's practices. Kudos to Mardoquio and his balls!
PS. Fe Hyde is fantastic here.

Baybayin (Auraeus Solito, 2012) 3/5. There's something that confuses me about being an artist. Some say that you should find your style, and some says that you should experiment more and try something new all the time. I never really know what was right. Solito is probably the product of the first one. Busong was fantastic, and this work proves that he has found his comfort zone, but apparently, it never really had a great effect on me. I can feel it's message, on what it wants to protect and preserve, but I don't feel much of his soul here as much as there is in Busong.

Mamay Umeng (Dwein Baltazar, 2012) 4/5. I was talking with girlfriend about this, I said that it felt like I was in the UPFI Thesis Defense. Me being tired at that time don't really know myself if what I said was good or bad. I fell asleep because of tiredness around two times but, thank God, it's all in the right scenes (the long ones). It's pretty simple, the film. Mamay Umeng is Forever Young, Wild and Free. Age was never a hindrance for him on his search for freedom.

Day 2 (Dec 1)

Mater Dolorosa (Adolf Alix, Jr, 2012) 5/5. Been said a lot of times that this felt like and holds heavy influence from The Godfather. True. But this having the setting more familiar to us gave more personal touch to the experience. Mercedes Cabral's performance here stuck on me, even though it's never really one of the big roles. I cried with her in that scene with Gina Alajar.
I can smell that Alix is cooking something else in the future by seeing this. Since he proved that he can do it, please do make a full blown Action Film, Adolf!

Slumber Party (Emman Dela Cruz, 2012) 4/5. There's one thing that I've proven to my self after seeing this: I'd never understand the problems of other gender, much like Jonel's confusion while Elle is crying, calling herself ugly, and not having an easy life because of it. I never understood anyone's fascination over beauty contests. I never understood why Scorpio Rising is erotic. And, I think, I can never understand the gays, lesbians, and even women. But we can always love them, it's much easier and better to love and accept than to try to understand things that you'd never get in your whole life. And for me that's what Slumber Party is all about, about loving and trusting everyone despite of the confusion and complications of the state each one of us.

EDSA XXX (Khavn, 2012) 5/5. My muscles and nerves were shaking after the film. The final scene while the camera shakingly pan-away while the last lines "Kung may pag-ibig, may pag-asa" were repeating then cut to the credits while the Tagalog L'Internationale was playing gave me a chill that I've never felt before on any film in the past years. While still being shown on a work-in-progress status, it felt more complete than Khavn's Greaseman. Like Nico Quijano said later that day, it being shown on Work-in-Progress, being raw and those obviously fake gore has been it's most powerful aesthetic statement. And I don't think it would be unfair to say that this is one of the best films this year despite of it being "uncomplete" (while much more "complete" films suck way too much).

Palitan (Ato Bautista, 2012) 2/5. Was a fan of Bautista's first four features, maybe I just expected too much. Mon Confiado was great here though, it doesn't really felt like he made a pact with the Devil, he looks like the Devil himself.