MANILA – December 19, 2013 – The 15th edition of the CInemanila International Film Festival opened December 18 at the SM Aura Premier Cinema.
The opening ceremonies were attended by prominent members of the film industry, including directors Tikoy Aguiluz, Mike Sandejas, and Raya Martin; actors Althea Vega, Angeli Bayani, and Jake Macapagal; and even rock icon and erstwhile movie star Pepe Smith, who performed two songs at the event.
Also in attendance was young Korean director Kim Byeong-Woo, whose film, The Terror, Live opened the festival.
The film is an action thriller that takes place from within the confines of a radio booth, where the live broadcast of a terrorist bombing takes place. It stars popular Korean actor Ha Jung-woo as the radio host who tries to leverage the broadcast of the bombings to get back his position as TV anchor.
Following a succession of art house films, The Terror, Live became one of Kim’s first mainstream hits.The filmmaker credits the movie’s box office success not only to its gripping subject matter, but also to the exceptional acting displayed by Ha.
"The main actor Ha Jung-woo is very famous in Korea and he’s really good," Kim said.
Apart from Kim’s film, the festival also features several Oscar entries for Best Foreign Film: Transit by Hannah Espia (Philippines), Iloilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore), Neighboring Sounds by Kleber Mendonca (Brazil), and Heli by Amat Escalante (Mexico).
"It’s basically the same award-winning films, but this time, they’re mostly Oscar contenders," director and Cinemanila founder Tikoy Aguiluz said of this year’s line-up.
"Kaya nga dinala namin yung Oscar entries dito, para ma-expose naman tayo. Lagi tayong nagrereklamo, bakit di tayo nananalo sa Oscars, obssession natin sa Oscars…nanalo na nga tayo sa Cannes, Oscar pa rin tayo ng Oscar, eh di pagbigyan," he shared.
The line-up also includes films from upcoming directors in the Philippines and all over the world, for instance, The Search for Weng Weng, a documentary by Australian filmmaker Andrew Leavold; Boogie, a story by Milo Tolentino about a six-year old pimp who peddles his own mother; or What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love, a film by Mouly Surya about blind teens and their first experiences with love.
The full line-up of films and screening schedules is available on the Cinemanila website.
For the closing film, Cinemanila chose Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan by Lav Diaz in its Philippine premiere. The film stars Sid Lucero as Fabian, a law school dropout-turned-murderer whose actions land an innocent family man in prison.
"He’s a world-class director to reckon with," Aguiluz said of Diaz.
Of this year’s edition of Cinemanila–which will run for only five days instead of the usual seven–Aguiluz said, "I think the quality of the programming, even though it’s leaner, it gets better and better."
"I think we’re back on the radar. Bumalik tayo sa radar ng World Cinema, so that means we’re heading in the right direction," he added.
(in photo: director Kim Byeong-Woo and interpreter at the Cinemanila press conference)
