CineFilipino, an independent film festival spearheaded by PLDT-Smart Foundation, MediaQuest, Studio 5 and Unitel Entertainment, will have its gala week on September 18-24, 2013. It will showcase 8 feature-length films and 10 short films.
The public may be able to watch the CineFilipino feature presentations during its week-long run at the Newport Cinemas of Resorts World Manila, Lucky Chinatown Mall and Gateway Cineplex. Festival entries will also be shown at the cinemas of Shangri-la Plaza on September 21-22 weekend.
The feature films competing for awards including Audience Choice and Best Acting Ensemble are:
PUTI (ACHROMATOPSIA) by Miguel ‘Mike’ Alcazaren follows the story of a counterfeit painter who figures in a freak car accident that rendered him color blind. While recuperating, he starts seeing strange images.
MGA ALAALA NG TAG-ULAN by Renato ‘Ato’ Bautista, Jr. is a coming-of-age love story about a young man’s first encounter with love, romance, and heartbreak, told in bits and pieces of poetic and melancholic memories that began on one rainy night.
THE GUERILLA IS A POET by Sari Raissa Dalena and Kiri Dalena weaves an intricate tale of an activist’s journey during the turbulent years of Martial Law, until his capture in the mountains and the dark, nine years of imprisonment that followed, leading to his birth as a poet.
ANG HULING CHA-CHA NI ANITA by Sigrid Andrea Bernardo tells the story of a 12-year old Anita who falls in love with the new woman in town; years later, a girlhood crush blossoms during the Fiesta of Santa Clara in Obando, Bulacan.
THE MUSES by Janice Perez is a story of sibling rivalry in the music business where two sisters find the hidden truths about fame, family and their own selves.
ANG KWENTO NI MABUTI by Ramon ‘Mes’ De Guzman tells the story of a healer named Mabuti, who despite her poverty, still looks at life positively. Everything changes, however, when she finds a bag containing a huge stash of money.
ANG TURKEY MAN AY PABO RIN by Randolph Longjas is a cross-cultural comedy about a Filipino-American couple who celebrates life with karaoke music, superstitious in-laws, immigration laws, unexpected pregnancies, brown-outs, Thanksgiving turkey, with some love on the side.
BINGOLERAS by Byron ‘Ron’ Bryant is a comedy about six single women, whose lives intersect when a bingo marathon is launched in their church for the barangay fiesta, turning expectations and relationships upside down and inside out.