In Focus: Metropolis

Screenings of collected cinematic works

By anahatacommunity

A creative city is an immersive experience, a place where we communicate, converge and exchange (http://charleslandry.com/). As part of this complex and sensory landscape, In Focus: Metropolis aims to showcase local and international films utilising alternate urban spaces to ignite integrative social engagement and discourse.

Session 6 & 7 | Thursday 20 & Saturday 22 Feb

What Isn’t There (Philippines)

Directed by Marie Jamora

Thursday 20 Feb 5:45pm & Sat 22 Feb 1:15pm Port Adelaide Library | 2-4 Church St. Port Adelaide

Theatrical Trailer: http://www.whatisntthere.com/

Cool interview:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IySox2hscH8

Gibson Bonifacio stopped speaking when he was a child. Now twenty years old, he returns home to Manila from his studies abroad, his first visit in three years. He finds his family trying to keep it together, his mother still hurting from a tragic loss in the past. Against the backdrop of the vibrant local music scene, his childhood best friend tries to reconnect with him, while he unexpectedly finds a chance at a first, real romantic relationship. Amidst the holidays, Gibson reconsiders and redefines his relationships with his family, his friends, and with himself. An Adelaide Fringe Festival screening. The film will be in Filipino with English subtitles.

Get tickets:  http://www.adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/in-focus-metropolis-featuring-what-isnt-there/2694bc55-2eee-4014-8244-89765a0b56f6

Session 5 | Wednesday 13 Nov

I Am Divine (USA)

Directed by Jeffrey Schwartz

2:15pm Port Adelaide Library | 2-4 Church St. Port Adelaide

Jeffrey Schwarz’s documentary I Am Divine profiles the world-famous drag queen, who became a celebrity thanks to a series of transgressive comedies from director John Waters that included gross-out classics like Pink Flamingos, Mondo Trasho, and Polyester. The filmmakers interview a variety of people who worked closely with the performer, born Harris Glenn Milstead, and detail his journey of self-expression and self-discovery. A Feast Festival screening presented in conjunction with Feast Festival.

Session 3 & 4 | Saturday 19 Oct

Life In Movement (Australia)

Directed by Bryan Mason

2:15pm Port Adelaide Library | 2-4 Church St. Port Adelaide

In 2007 the Sydney Dance Company appointed 29-year-old choreographer Tanja Liedtke as their first new artistic director in 30 years. However before she could take up the position, she was struck and killed by a truck in the middle of the night.

Admired internationally as a dancer and celebrated for her fresh choreographic voice, she was known as a dedicated artist, intelligent, dorky, funny and generous. Eighteen months after her death her collaborators embark on a world tour of her work, and in the process they must deal with their grief and explore the reasons for her death.

Interspersed with intimate footage of her artistic process and previously unseen interviews, LIFE IN MOVEMENT is a film about moving creatively through life and loss. Filmmakers Bryan Mason and Sophie Hyde give us a powerfully rendered take on art and artists, creativity and our own mortality. A Port Festival screening.

Here I Am (Australia)

Directed by Beth Cole

12:15pm Port Adelaide Library | 2-4 Church St. Port Adelaide

Here I Am wears its heart on its sleeve in celebrating the resilience of Indigenous Australian women.

Beck Cole’s story of a young mother’s efforts to reconnect with her family is, like its lead character, something of a rough diamond, but Cole’s deep affection for her characters and the strong central performances withstand the occasionally uneven support players and bouts of sentimentality.

Karen (Shai Pittman) emerges from her South Australian prison cell with the intention of reconnecting with her young daughter, Rosie, and a resolve to amount to more in her mother’s estimation than a “druggo slutting around the streets”. Old habits are hard to break and, with all of her bridges heretofore burned, Karen makes the familiar trip to Hindley Street and a seedy hotel hook-up to make the strange first night of ‘freedom’ tolerable.

Daybreak brings with it sobering realities, and the worst possible circumstances for reunion with Rosie’s legal guardian – Karen’s own embittered mother, Lois (a searing Marcia Langton). A Port Festival screening.

Hardened by the perpetual disappointment of her daughter’s life choices and paralysed by rusted-on grief, Lois has assumed legal guardianship of Rosie, and she shields the three-year-old from Karen with unrestrained ferocity. Her confrontations with Karen are one of several aspects of Cole’s screenplay that speak to generational friction between contemporary Indigenous women, and the burden of expectation that women of Karen’s age make good on their mothers’ and aunties’ struggles.

Pittman is striking as the battle-scarred Karen: prickly and proud as she tackles the challenges facing an ex-con with few discernible skills for menial employment; and hesitant, even timid, as she tries to reacquaint herself with the daughter she’s barely met. She surrenders to the background in the face of the formidable Langton’s tirades, as anyone would and should. (The esteemed academic and sometimes actor steals every scene.)

Cole keeps the tone from devolving into ‘message movie’ territory by populating the film with ballsy women who inject elements of brashness and comic relief, and intimate camerawork from Cole’s partner Warwick Thornton gives the film the necessary breathing space to accommodate Pitman’s contemplations. The drama is expertly offset with a soundtrack that blends PJ Harvey and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs with the eloquent lyrics of Archie Roach’s anthem, ‘Walking into Doors’.

Session 2 | Wednesday 16 Oct

Leona Calderon (Philippines)

Directed by Jowee Morel

8pm Lotus Lounge 268 Morphett St. Adelaide

Leona Calderon is a retiring altruistic music lover earning her living cleaning establishments and private homes. Having a fun loving nature she is fancied by her landlord who dreams of dancing with her to her favourite tune. Another admirer is a homeless man who gets endears by her jolly disposition and not by her loose pennies for a can of lager. She befriends an isolated elderly English lady, a migrant worker with no visa and a charitable middle age woman. As a breadwinner she looks forward to her much awaited retirement which is now doomed following a diagnoses of cancer. The island where she comes from where she plans to spend her life with her family becomes just a dream. She now faces a dilemma between losing her hard earned savings to medical expenses or losing the time with her family if she spends her retirement in a country where her treatment is free. Leona’s wit and fun nature will make you smile, laugh and cry. What happens to this happy lady in this funny world?

Session 1 | Wednesday 25 Sept

Those Little Secrets (Philippines)

Directed by Joey Reyes

8pm Lotus Lounge 268 Morphett St. Adelaide

The death of Mariel (JUDY ANN SANTOS) was met with such hurt by her three closest friends.  But it was her best friend, Carla (IZA CALZADO) that she leaves a most special gift, a box full of her diaries through the years.  Carla has been Mariel’s friend since their high school years; they have practically shared everything in their lives together.  Their two other girl friends, Sandra (AGOT ISIDRO) and Olive (JANICE DE BELEN) formed the quartet who would get together ever so often and served as a mutual support system.  Despite warnings from Sandra and Olive not to read the diaries left behind by Mariel, Carla could not help herself  to find out what was written on those volumes of handwritten materials.  True enough, what she discovered completely shattered all her perceptions and beliefs of the friendship shared by the four women through the years.  Inside those diaries were all the little secrets that the women kept from one another—all the hidden emotions, stories and comments that made their lives a sham.  Death should be a closure but it could also be a terrible beginning and realization of what was hidden by the living.

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Metropolis Cultural Film Nights

By anahatacommunity

Session 5 | Thursday 18 April

Father of the Family

Directed by Cesar Evangelista Buendia

8pm Lotus Lounge 268 Morphett St. Adelaide

“A values oriented independent film” –Catholic Education Association of the Philippines (CEAP)

Synopsis: Joselito Mirasol (Ariel Rivera) is a good man who only wants the best for his family, avoiding the graft that surrounds him in his low-paying government job. That is, until circumstances push him over the edge and he commits an act that could cost him everything. Set up by a crusading reporter, Joselito takes a fall intended for the corrupt mayor he works under, and now must find a way to put his life and reputation back together.

Session 4 | Thursday 28 Feb -Adelaide Fringe event

Vox Populi

Directed by Dennis Marasigan

8pm Lotus Lounge 268 Morphett St. Adelaide

It is Saturday before the 2nd Monday of May, the last day of the official campaign period before elections in the Philippines. CONNIE (Irma Adlawan, The Rapture of Fe, On the North Diversion Road, Stray Cats) is the daughter of a former Mayor of the town of San Cristobal and is now running for the same position. She is now running a three-cornered campaign against the former Vice-Mayor and a former student leader, helped by her brother RICKY (Bobby Andrews, MKAK, T.G.I.S),  campaign manager TONY (Julio Diaz, The Execution of P, Service, 24k) and an increasing number of supporters . On this day, she goes out on a factory and market visit, a house-to-house campaign, attends the signing of a covenant for clean elections and her “miting de avance” (campaign rally). She also meets with influential individuals, all in pursuit of an irreversible bandwagon that will prove she is the popular choice of the people.

Over the last twenty eight years, Dennis N. Marasigan has earned credits in mainstream Philippine cinema as actor, art director, production manager, writer and assistant director for directors Ishmael Bernal, Manolo and Marilou Diaz Abaya, Laurice Guillen, Pio de Castro III, Tikoy Aguiluz, Joel Lamangan, Carlitos Siguion Reyna, Efren C. Pinon,  Elwood Perez,  Joey Gosiengfiao, Jose Mari Avellana, and Joey Romero.  In addition, he has also worked extensively in theater and television as actor, writer/librettist, designer, production/stage manager, art director/production designer, lighting designer/technical director and director.

”VOX POPULI” marks his third feature film directorial credit. He previously wrote and directed “SA NORTH DIVERSION ROAD” (2005 Cinema One Originals finalist, 2006 Golden Screen Awardee for Best Screenplay Adaptation) and “TUKSO” (finalist and winner of Best Screenplay in the 2007 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival).

Session 3 | Thursday 22 Nov

The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros

Directed by Aureaus Solito

8pm Lotus Lounge 268 Morphett St. Adelaide

A tale of first love with a difference. Can 12-year old Maximo who wishes he were a girl navigate the mean streets of Manila? This neo-realistic film depicts a coming of age story about love, family values & barrio life. Since his mother’s death, Maxi has taken on the maternal role in the family, keeping house for his dad and brothers who are involved in illicit affairs. The plot thickens when he develops a serious crush on rookie cop Victor who is determined to enforce law and order in the neighborhood. English subtitles. Very limited seating, donations welcome.

Director Auraeus Solito is a man of two worlds -the ancient universe of his tribal ancestors and the modern concrete civilization of Manila. He grew up in the heart of Manila where “The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros” is set. In college, he discovered his indigenous roots in the southern islands of Palawan, Philippines. It was after his immersion in the time-honored culture and rituals of his tribe that Auraeus, who started out writing and directing for the theatre, decided that he needed a broader canvas with which to tell the story of his people. He then shifted to film.

“I’ve always wanted to direct a progressive gay film,” Auraeus adds. “I wanted to make a film in which the gay character is happy for being who he is, and accepted for who he is. His being gay is just incidental to the story, or part of the film’s main theme.

‘The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros’ has had 15 wins at both national and international film competitions including ‘Best Picture’ Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (2006), ‘Best Feature’ Kinderfilmfest, Berlinale (2006) Germany, ‘Best Feature Film’ Torino International Gay & Lesbian Festival (2006), ‘Best Gay Feature’ Berlinale (2006) Germany and ‘Best Actor’ Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (2006). It has been officially selected for over 30 film festivals around the world including LA Outfest, Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Boston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Milwaukee Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the Houston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

Session 2 | Thursday 18 Oct

Brutus, The Journey

directed by Tara Illenberger

8pm Lotus Lounge 268 Morphett St. Adelaide

Session 1 | Thursday 20 Sept

The Rapture of Fe 

directed by Alvin Yapan

8pm Lotus Lounge 268 Morphett St. Adelaide

Each morning, baskets of black fruits mysteriously appear by the front yard of Fe, an overseas contract worker from Singapore forced to come home due to the global financial crisis. Thinking that it was a reconciliatory gesture from her abusive husband, Dante, Fe tells him about it. This only confirms Dante’s suspicions that she might be entertaining a lover while he is away at work. Fearing her husband’s jealousy, Fe grows even more scared as the fruits kept coming, a step closer to the front door each day. Fe keeps everything to herself until she turns to a former suitor, Arturo, her husband’s employer as the sole proprietor of a rattan furniture factory. When Fe urges Arturo to elope, Fe finds out that the young man now has far more binding commitments with his family. Caught between an abusive husband and an impotent lover, Fe discovers the possibility that it was a cafre, a tree ogre in the local lore, who has been courting her all along. She has to choose whether to elope with the man that is the cafre who could very well be just a figment of her imagination, answering her need for emancipation, or stay trapped with the men in her real life who could never protect her nor make her happy.

In a society where violence still remains unimaginably real and covertly present and an economy that has become dependent upon the fruits of her labor, the film attempts to redefine the concept of freedom for the Filipina who has to rely on her imagination to survive.

Feast Festival Hot Spot | Sat 26 Nov

 

Every Generation Festival event | Sat 8 Oct

A Filipino film by Ana Agabin
(102 minutes | Tagalog with english subtitles)

Produced by ECCENA Inc.

Balanghai Trophy award winner for ‘Best Cinematography’
-5th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent film Festival 2009

When: 2:00pm Saturday 8 October
Where: Nexus Multicultural Arts
Lion Arts Centre Morphett St. corner North Tce. Adelaide
Tickets: General admission: $13.00

Synopsis: Throughout the Philippines, rumours persist of buried treasures left behind by the Japanese after their occupation of the islands. Tales, like that of the elusive Yamashita treasure, have enticed fortune hunters from around the world to search caves and tunnels throughout the land. 24K is the true story of one adventurous hunt for these lost spoils of war.

 

Starring: Julio Diaz, Archie Adamos, Jojit Lorenzo, Achristian Algura, Miguel Vasquez & Andoy Ranay.

A cultural exchange platform supported by the Filipino community.
Limited tickets now available -pls contact  Ben or call/sms Cholly 0425 622 218

Supporting community cultural traditions and their expression through contemporary arts practices.

ECCENA INC.
Company Profile + Director’s Profile Eccena Incorporated is a media production company that produces films, audio-visual presentations, documentaries, and television commercials. Its major clients include Shell Philippines Exploration and Production, Women’s Media Circle Foundation Inc., and Ilocos Sur Provincial Government.

Ana Agabin, who is one of the company’s business partners, has been the Head of Production for Eccena since its establishment in 2004. She conceptualizes and writes most of the scripts for their projects.

Eccena ventured into filmmaking in 2007 with the Korean film Tropical Manila. The feature was shot in the Philippines with Korean director Sang Woo Lee. It was selected and screened in more than 20 film festivals, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the Vancouver International Film Festival.

In 2009, Eccena produced 24k, the feature that marked Ana’s debut as a film director. The film about Yamashita treasure-hunting competed in the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival where it took home the prize for Best Cinematography. It was nominated for the Golden Orchid Award, the top prize in the Hawaii International Film Festival. The film was invited as well to the Cairo International Film Festival, one of only 12 class-A film festivals in the world.

Eccena is currently in pre-production for Lam-ang, to be directed by Ana Agabin. It is an audacious historical fantasy feature film intended for commercial distribution in the Philippines and in selected areas in the United States.

Culture in action The Balangay or Balanghai is one of the earliest wooden watercrafts found in Southeast Asia and epitomizes Filipino craftsmanship and their seamanship skills during pre-colonial times. The Balanghai Festival is also a celebration in Butuan, Agusan Del Norte, a region in Mindanao in the Philippines which commemorates the coming of the early migrants from Borneo and Celebes, on board the Balangay boats. The 16th century invasion of the Spaniards found the Filipino civilization living in highly organized independent villages called barangays, a term which originated from the word balangay, the Austronesian word for ‘sailboat’ . This can be compared to the traditional Indonesian banjar system, whereby a village is looked after by the village chief with the support of the tribal elders.     

 In cooperation with

 

 118 Commercial Rd. Port Adelaide

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METROPOLIS INDEPENDENT FILM PROGRAM

“Experience teaches us that thought does not express itself in words, but realizes itself in them.”

~ Lev Vygotsky

The Metropolis Independent Film Program (MIFP) is a project of Anahata Foundation and Linao Films initiated for the permeation of the experience of eclectic contemporary film-making; creation of support for local producers; the establishment of a network for cultural exchanges; and to provide expression for communal ingenuity.

Monthly screenings on the first Wednesday of the month aim to connect with local communities through discussions promoting critical awareness on ethno-cultural themes, social intersections and questions about spirituality  in a dynamic artspace. Guest performers and live world music accoutrements make this an enticing mid-week sanctum. Entry is free although donor contributions of P150 are welcome which includes a free drink.

Initial screening of 3 works:  http://zenlab.multiply.com/journal/item/10/In_Focus_METROPOLIS

Program One: July to December 2010 featuring the following collected works and filmmakers.

14 JULY 2010

Simula Directed by Ruelo Lozendo / 10 minutes
A worm enters a man’s ear and lives inside his body. As the worm’s metamorphosis unfolds, he experiences his own transformation.

Biyaheng Riles Directed by Grig Montegrande / 2 minutes
The film attempts to document our railway system and the people who depend on it as a source of livelihood and transport. It seeks to answer as well the question “Can our railway system help us in our search for national identity?”

Kabalan (2009) Directed by Carlo Pangalangan and Cristine Joy Abastillas / 13 minutes
An intimate portrait of Louie Marie Londres during one night out with her friends.

Gabon Directed by Emman De La Cruz / 18 minutes
“Gabon” taken from an old Maranao folk-lullaby which means “cloud”, tells the story of how far a young Marano girl takes to heart a promise to her parents — her filial duty to finish a school exam. Shot in one day in Marawi, Lanao just before the Ramadan, “Gabon” features the ensemble cast of the Grade 2-4 school children of Mindanao State University Integrated Laboratory School (MSU-ILS) and the Alumni of Sining Kambayoka.

august, november, december … jun (November) Directed by JP V. Carpio / 18 minutes
“november” attempts to show some of the repercussions and reactions after the brutal and almost incomprehensible massacre of around 60 men and women in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Philippines.

4 AUGUST 2010

RIGODON Directed by Keith Sicat and Sari Dalena-Sicat / 90 minutes
The spiritual journeys of three Filipino immigrants in New York City post 911

1 SEPTEMBER  2010

WALAI Directed by Adjani Arumpac / 60 minutes
Walai is an exploration of spaces. It prods on the memories of four Muslim women who once lived in the infamous White House in Cotabato City. The documentary seeks narratives in “places…we tend to feel without history.” It traces the past through the women’s experience of what has happened inside the wrecked home—nostalgia and fear, loss and love, and birth and death.

6 OCTOBER 2010

LARO (Ambisyon 2010) Directed by Emman De La Cruz / 4 minutes
(Childs Play) The terrible games of adults are revisited by innocent children at play

Life Track Directed by Ruelo Lozendo / 5 mins
A wandering journey is an aimless track, a song unsung is a voiceless track, an economy without market is as purposeless track; uncertainty is the only thing when the track leads to the crossroads

Kanto (2010) Carlo Pangalangan and Cristine Joy Abastillas / 18 minutes
One night, on the corner of a subdivision in Jaro, people pass by, buy barbeque, head home, share stories, kids play and sing songs, and time eventually passes.

Fragment Version 2 Directed by JP V. Carpio / 3 minutes
The film was edited from the documentation of writer Yvette Pantilla reading a portion of her work of fiction-in-progress at Musings on Women by Women.

Sakay Directed by Grig Montegrande / 20+ minutes
A Manila taxi driver takes a passenger on a short and strange trip

3 NOVEMBER 2010

Colorum Directed by Jon Steffan Ballesteros / 90 minutes
Balanghai Trophy winner, 2009 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival
Two people: Simon, a promising young cop working part-time as a driver of one of the many “undocumented” and “illegal” FX taxis in the metro, and Pedro, a 70 year old ex-convict. An unfortunate incident forces the two together to embark on a road trip across the historic Philippine East Coast.

4 DECEMBER 2010

A Journey Home Directed by Paul Soriano / 109 minutes
A Journey Home is an offering from Jubilee Evangelical Church that focuses on the importance of mending relationships. Its light drama story will make the audience reflect on their relationships especially when it comes to their family

PARTNERS
Anahata Foundation
Linao Films
Tomato Bomb HQ!
Zero: Hour Design Solutions
UFO Workshops
Asia Pacific Film Institute

VENUES
Tomato Bomb HQ
63-B, Xavierville Avenue
Loyola Heights Quezon City
July 14, August 4, September 1, November 3 & December 1

Asia Pacific Film Institute
185 EDSA Barangay Wack-Wack
Mandaluyong City
October 6

This program also supports the Millennium Development Goals as part of a global vision calling on the localization of deep transformative action, team work and a cohesive commitment to community building.

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COMING SOON

Australian premieres of films from the Manila independent cinema circuit…