Watch and Learn By Beanca Navarro

The Cinemalaya Film Campus 2015 gave us two questions, especially to those who plan on taking up film or majoring in film: First, how does one read film? Second, what are some basic approaches to writing film critiques? Each session featured films from a collection of Cinemalaya short films. The featured films were, as per order, “Andong” by Milo Tolentino, “Walang Katapusang Kwarto” by Emerson Reyes, “The Houseband’s Wife” by Paolo O’Hara, “Mansyon” by Joel Ruiz, “Bonsai” by Borgy Torre, and Cole Stramm’s “Jane’s wedding.” The screenings were then followed by a number forums or a discussions about the films by film reviewers and critics. Among all of the speakers were movie critics Mr. Mario Hernando, film maker Mr. Jose Javier Reyes and academicians Mr. Patrick Campos, Mr. Miguel Rapatan, Mrs. Anne Frances Sangil and Mr. Ronald Baytan. According to Mr. Clodualdo del Mundo Jr., the aim of the Cinemalaya Campus 2015 was to “Shed the light on the art of reading films.” Reading a film is not just merely watching and enjoying a film. It is truly understanding deeply the context or meaning of a film and compiling all the elements and small to big details of the movie to make it unique and extraordinary. Like said in the forum about critiquing a film, “Film is just a pretext, the real text is the world outside of the film.” But they also said that sometimes a film is just a film, you don’t have to overthink it and especially don’t under think it. In the end we are entitled to our own critiques and opinions. Because being yourself critiquing a film is unique because it is YOUR opinion.

Last August 12, 2015 Wednesday, we were able to watch a various amount of amazing short films.

Shorts a started at 3:30pm, I was shocked at the amount of viewers there were lined up to get a glimpse of the short films. Shorts a featured the films, Apasol by Ryanne Murcia, Gatilyo ng Baril by Glenmark Doromal and Eero Yves Francisco, Sanctissima by Kenneth Dagatan, Kyel by Arvin “Kadiboy” Belarmino and Nenok by Milo Tolentino.

Apasol (Chasing the Sun) directed by Ryanne Murcia was about gay lovers lasted for 19 minutes, the film started with the theory of the moon and sun; then a tree with letters hanging from it. At first I was thinking “what? I don’t get it” because when Mark played by Iko Alcuizar went back to El played by Ryanne Murcia himself, he said something to El, which I didn’t hear clearly and it triggered a rampage inside of El, I was caught off guard I was coming up with some judgements that El was a bipolar person, I was wrong. The scenery of the ocean and the tree on the left part of the screen was a beautiful thing to see, it makes you feel relaxed and relieved, maybe that’s why El was standing there and looking straight to the view of the ocean, he was thinking of how their relationship will work, the characters of the film showed 2 sides, El embodies a person that thinks about the reality of life, while Mark shows of a person in a fairytale world; this movie is pretty accurate when you’re in love. El was leaving so that he could stay away from Mark, he was in a hurry of leaving he wasn’t savouring every second of the time he had with Mark, but Mark did the opposite despite the short time El had with him, he pleaded El to stay until the sun went down in order to relish the few hours he had with El. He taught El to appreciate time, of how one can be contented with spending a whole afternoon with the person he/she loves. What an amazing and inspiring text indeed.

Gatilyo ng Baril in English “trigger of a gun” by Glenmark Doromal and Eero which lasted for about 9 minutes was about the year 1983 when Ms. Estrella investigates the case of Carlito Dimahilig, the assassin who attempted to kill Imelda Marcos. A black and white film was very accurate of what it is portraying it really felt like the olden times, when the investigator started the recorder I noticed that the answers of the possible accomplice of the assassin was scripted-like although it is a film but when you’re being investigated you’ll either feel defensive and nervous because you did it or confused and trying to convince the other party you’re innocent, but he wasn’t I got the impression of him being sarcastic I can’t explain why though. But if you noticed his words, he was giving hints that he was an accomplice and that he would later on kill the lady, he said things like the assassin Carlito Dimahilig was always harassed by the officials and that he would someday have his revenge and the suspect was agreeing with him indicates that he too had something against the officials himself because of what they did to his friend. He then said that when Carlito initiates or tells someone about classified information or events the official would kill that person he talked to. Thus, stating that the suspect was talking to the investigator about some things that are meant to be kept and resulting to killing the one talked to. What perfect timing to kill a person when the recorder is not recording anymore and you’ve convinced the investigator that you are not a suspect, a brilliant representation of how one kills.

Sanctissima by Kenneth Dagatan lasted for about 15 minutes, it tells about the story a barrio abortionist, named Marissa played by Ligaya Rabago; who disposes the fetus she aborts from various mothers from their area and feeds it to the demonspawn she keeps inside her home. Marissa might not have skeletons in her closet but she has demons under her bed. This short film embraces its locality as it is a demonic horros in a barrio setting. The first half of the film sets a creep vibe or atmosphere using silence. Minimal dialogue and those ambient sounds were used to set the tone of the film. I actually voted this short film to win, because it gave me jumps in just a few minutes, although it was a Filipino horror film which I am not a fan of, I’ll admit that in a short span of time the film had I can compare it with successful horror movies that I am fond of. Kudos to Kenneth for a successful horror movie.

Kyel directed by Arvin “Kadiboy” Belarmino, created a film of 18:21 minutes. The film at first was creepy, scary and funny at the same time I have to admit. It was creepy and scary because of the man’s appearance and the setting; I didn’t know what to expect if it will somehow turn into a horror film, thankfully it didn’t. It was funny because of the special edits it had. It shows a troubled man that finds a solution in a dark room. He was waiting for his lover to come back, he waited and waited, hours passed and still the woman hasn’t returned. He tried to find ways of passing time, a few minutes he discovers a bag with a “katol”, hammer and a 1000 peso bill. He then crushed the “katol” using the hammer and used the 1000 peso bill as a tube to inhale the crushed “katol”, the edit portrayed the feeling or perspective of what you see when stoned. He then had complications because of the substance he inhaled, his mouth full of bubbles of saliva an indication of poison. He then fainted and when he woke up he saw someone and said a foul word then a gun shot. It was Kyel. I thought the man taking the drugs was Kyel, what a controversial twist! You can hear everyone in the theatre murmuring about how confused they were.

Nenok by Milo Tolentino was about an orphan kid that lives in a church, a funny and “kengkoy” movie. At the first half of the movie I was contemplating on whether to pity the kid or be annoyed at him because he kept on taking the old man’s food, although yes he was a kid; he should also understand that the man is working hard to clean and maintain the area of the church, but that thought was erased when the film lead to the kid looking for flowers, I had a gut feeling that the lady in red was a spirit I just can’t pinpoint if she was the mother or the sister of the boy. But the credits rolled and it stated that he was the mother of the boy. The old man followed the boy to the graveyard, the kid cleaned the grave of his mother, placed the flowers and lit a candle; the man was touched and understood the situation of the child. So the next day when Nenok woke up there was a plate next to him with bread and a cup of coffee. An act of kindness from the old man. The movie embodied the saying “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Now, shorts b consists of the films Lisyun qng Geografia directed by Petersen Vargas, Wawa by Angelie Mae Macalanda, Mater by Annemikami Pablo, Pusong bato by Martika Ramirez Escobar and Papetir by Darwin Navicio.

Lisyun qng Geografia (Geography Lessons) by Petersen Vargas, a kapampangan movie that shows two boy bestfriends and the other falls in love with the other one. A love that can’t happen because of so many hindrances, that can also be related to typical love stories. At first Tib was mad and ashamed of Tric’s confession, he pushed Tric away and disposed their friendship but later on the movie shows Tib trying to find Tric using a map that Tric made. He then visits his old school, goes to their secret place and smokes, then a few moments later another person joins him and when he turned around he saw Tric, and the film ended with them asking how they were.

Wawa by Angelie Mae Macalanda was a film about the way she grieved, the different types of grieving processes as Angelie herself stated in the Question and Answer portion after the show of shorts b.

Mater by Annemikami Pablo, was a disturbing film for Catholic believers in my perspective, although I am a Catholic I am open to these kinds of films. I came up with the summary that the mother will choose her devotion to the sto. Niño and kill her daughter. It makes you wonder what really is important, and it opens your eyes that there are people like this.

Pusong Bato (Stone Heart) by Martika Ramirez Escobar, was a mix of comedy and reality. It is true that some of us are still stuck in the past not just our physical past but our emotional past as well, it shows that a woman is caught in the moment of her teenage years, and missing her lover and the fame she gained. It says a lot about some of us who can’t let go of our pasts.

Papetir (Puppeteer) by Darwin Novicio, the film is about a puppeteer performer who has a problem with the past and can’t let go of it. Darwin said in the Question and Answer portion that not everyone is happy when they are smiling, sometimes they are happy in the outside and sad in the inside. Especially for performers like Darwin himself, they sometimes have to sacrifice their own needs just so they can make others happy, and I can relate to that. It saddens my heart.