2008 Philippine Art Festival: Sinemaleta

Sinemusikalye - Massive New Media Concert!

2008-03-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

SINEMUSIKALYE
7PM, 14 March 2008, Friday / Remedios Circle, Malate, Manila

The Cinema Committee of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts presents SINEMUSIKALYE on 14 March, Friday, 7pm in the Remedios Circle, Malate, with a massive new media audio-visual concert curated by Tengal with SABAW Art Projects.

For SINEMUSIKALYE, three projectors and three screens will be combined to make an expansive panoramic view; while the countryâ€™s best sound artists, electronic musicians, and instrumentalists will perform live music at Remedios Circle, Malate in this never before attempted performance of this scale.

A multi-channel projection of videoS by Lyle Sacris and Mark Mijares will be controlled and manipulated live by video Artists Tad Ermitano and Blums Borres (courtesy of New Media Arts Manila). The main performances will include electronica pioneers Malek Lopez and Caliph 8 scoring Mowelfund animation films in three movements; while Tengal and The Gangan Orchestra (composed of 16 of the best local improvising sound artists, electronic djs and musicians) will be performing Tad Ermitanoâ€™s video graphic score with algorithms by Tengal as part of the GANGAN SERIES. The evening will end with a full-orchestral sonic blast combined with the panoramic videos manipulated live by Tad Ermitano.

Also performing are seminal new media artists, Elemento and The Children of Cathode Ray who will also be scoring animation films by underground legend, Rox Lee. The new generation of electronic musicians, Moon Fear Moon and Trojan Whores will also perform their unique brand of sound deconstruction
alongside video deconstruction by Blums Borres.

To start off the festivities at 7PM, filmmaker John Torres will be screening the three-screen version of his feature film, Years When I was a Child Outside. Previously premiered at the Berlin Forum, in Berlinale international film festival, this will be its Philippine premiere. The film will be accompanied with a live score by the Makiling Ensemble.

Visit http://www.sinemaleta.blogspot.com/ or email sinemaleta@gmail.com for more information.

SINEMUSIKALYE ON MARCH 14!

2008-03-09T04:24:00.000-07:00

SABAW
NCCA
Visual Pond Art Projects
New Media Arts Manila
Sweetspot Studios
Mowelfund Film Institute

Presents the biggest new media audio-video concert this year.

SINEMUSIKALYE
7pm, March 14, Remedios Circle, Malate.

Three projectors and three screens will be combined to make an expansive panoramic view; while the country’s best sound artists, electronic musicians, and instrumentalists will perform live music at Remedios Circle, Malate in this never before attempted performance of this scale. Curated by Tengal with SABAW, New Media Arts Manila, Visual Pond, and The National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA).

DETAILS HERE:

http://tengalgorhythm.blogspot.com/2008/03/sinemusikalye-massive-new-media-audio.html

SINEMUSIKALYE MOVED TO 14 MARCH 2008

2008-02-27T06:58:00.000-08:00

The Sinemusikalye event has been moved to 14 March 2008, Friday.

Email sinemaleta@gmail.com for details.

SINESILIP: "DV," directed by Eric dela Cruz, showing on 20 February 2008

2008-02-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

2008 PHILIPPINE ART FESTIVAL SINESILIP PROGRAM

DV written, produced & directed by Eric dela Cruz shows at the Auditorium of the National Commission of Culture and the Arts, 633 Gen. Luna Street, Intramuros, Manila on 20 February 2008, 6 pm

FILM SYNOPSIS

Half-based on F. Sionil Jose's short story Dream Video, and half-inspired by science fiction anime, Fil, the main character in the story, is a middle-age, upper crust Sociology professor in a university, married but childless.

A person of habit, essentially a good person living a good life, Fil’s only problem is that he hasn’t got any – which leads to his predilection of dreams. It is through his dreams that his thirst for novelty and adventure is satisfied. Fil envisions a device that could record dreams in vain hope to recapture and share his dreams deviating from his normal day to day existence.

In a parallel universe, friends Jhun and Hapon succeeded in inventing a Dream Recorder with a blind man as their first subject.

FILMMAKER’S STATEMENT:

‘I sometimes wonder if in some future time, these dreams can be recorded as videos so that they can be shared with others…And wouldn’t it be better if such dreams could be transported into the minds of others so that those who dream them can share my experience?’

- Fil in Dream Videos

The filmmaker sees a connection to the stage of abstraction commonly known as dreaming to the process of filmmaking. In this respect, the short story Dream Videos, incidentally written by F. Sionil Jose has been for four years now, one of his dream movies to make.

An individual sometimes reaches a point where he finds life a little too peaceful for comfort—sometimes to the point of extreme banality.

Now, the dreams that we have when we surrender to sleep are another matter. Upon waking, our dreams, in being a manifestation of our subconscious feelings and thoughts will always leave upon waking a feeling of mystery and to some extent, a desire to know more. Now, imagine a future wherein an actual device that records one’s dream is invented.

This in turn opens a whole new dimension not only to the movie industry in particular but to life in general. With the current assault of ‘reality-based’ programs which caters to the latent peeping tom in us, it could be assumed that the contrivance of dream recording will be revolutionize and take reality-TV into a higher (or is it hyper?) level.

The film stars William Martinez, Topelito Topelits, Reinier Laiño
with Pinky Amador, Wiji Lacsamana, Irene Delarmente, Rannie Raymundo and Dick Israel.

SINEMUSIKALYE

2008-02-13T11:31:00.000-08:00

Sinemusikalye closes the 2008 Philippine Art Festival festivities on 29 February, Friday, at 8 pm in Remedios Circle, Malate, with a massive new media audio-visual concert curated by Tengal with SABAW Art Projects.

For the Sinemusikalye program, three projectors and three screens will be combined to make an expansive panoramic view; while the country’s best sound artists, electronic musicians, and instrumentalists will perform live music at Remedios Circle, Malate in this never before attempted performance of this scale.

The multi-channel projection of video images and panoramic images by Lyle Sacris and Mark Mijares, will be controlled and manipulated live by video artists, Tad Ermitano and Blums Borres (courtesy of New Media Arts Manila). The main performances will include electronica pioneers Malek Lopez and Caliph 8 scoring Mowelfund animation films in three movements; while Tengal and The Gangan Orchestra (composed of 16 of the best local improvising sound artists, electronic djs and musicians) will be performing Tad Ermitano’s video graphic score with algorithms by Tengal as part of the GANGAN SERIES; and will culminate the evening with a full-orchestral sonic blast combined with the panoramic videos manipulated live by Tad Ermitano. Also performing are seminal new media artists, Elemento and The Children of Cathode Ray who will also be scoring animation films by underground legend, Rox Lee, as well as a film by Tad Ermitano. The new generation of electronic musicians, Moon Fear Moon and Trojan Whores will also perform their unique brand of sound deconstruction alongside video deconstruction by Blums Borres.

Earlier in the evening at 8 pm, filmmaker John Torres will be screening the three-screen version of his feature film, Years When I was My Father’s Child Outside. Previously premiered at the Berlin Forum, in Berlinale international film festival, this will be its Philippine premiere.

Programme:

8:00 pm John Torres’ Years When I was My Father’s Child Outside

9:30 pm Moon Fear Moon

9:45 pm Children of Cathode Ray

10:00 pm Malek Lopez and Caliph 8

10:45 pm Gangan Orchestra (1^st run)

11:00 pm Trojan Whores

11:15 pm Elemento

11:30 pm Gangan Orchestra (Finale)

12 – 3 am Rock party performances c/o Tado and TJ Besa (CommPulse)

INFO ON SABAW:

SABAW is dedicated to promoting and releasing the best in the avant-garde, experimental and electronic music in the Philippines.

SABAW likes to see itself as a platform for all kinds of infomation and communication carried via modern electronic media, whether it be a compact disc, MiniDisc, DVD, internet, video, live PA or a vinyl record release. Our aim is to keep the work undiluted from the artist's vision; and always in print and archived in our internet archives website.

Apart from it's duties as a non-profit, artists-run initiative, SABAW also represents a cross-section of innovative new media artists, interdisciplinary artists, contemporary musician-composers who find it difficult to release their material through more conventional channels.

Founded by Tengal in 2005.

SINEMALETA

2008-02-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

Sinemaleta is a portable film festival of NCCA-funded films to be shown in pre-selected barangay centers around Metro Manila on weekend evenings during February, National Arts Month. For directions to the venues and further inquiries on Sinemaleta, contact Kristine Kintana at +63905.2404177.

8 February 2008, Friday, 7 pm
Covered Court, Barangay 178, Camarin, Caloocan City
Mudraks
Directed by Arah Badayos

Inside the Rabadon house, nobody talks. Lives are kept to themselves; problems are not shared; questions are not entertained. The people living inside it have become used to leaving everything unstirred especially Margaret, the mother of the home. Margaret's desire for cleanliness and order alienates her from her family. She cannot confront the problems of her life and so she confronts dirty dishes, ugly stains, and disorderly appliances. To get to know her family, she snoops around—entering rooms, opening cabinets, reading journals she is not supposed to read. But everything changes when a journal entry of her daughter's makes her unravel, stirring the unstirred life that she has held on to for years.

9 February 2008, Saturday, 7 pm
Policarpio Chapel, Barangay San Jose, Navotas
Rotonda
Directed by Ron Bryant

Beginning at the break of dawn and ending the next morning, the story, set around a rugged city intersection, follows the path of a marked one-thousand-peso bill as it transfers from one character to another, returning to its originator in the end, blood-tainted. The money leads us to each of the five offbeat characters, all in desperate need of their soul's redemption: a disillusioned tabloid reporter planning to commit suicide in a motel, a nightclub dancer con prostitute who has avowed to give her kid sister a better life, a fallen henchman resurfacing to score big time, a chronic runaway teenage girl held captive as sex slave by a cop, and a long-suffering son bearing a sadomasochistic relationship with his brutish, half-paralyzed father who behaves like a mad dictator in his wheelchair. Like a ticking time bomb, the story unravels with unforgiving immediacy and explodes in the end with a tabloid front-pager triple homicide where death seems to have come full circle.

15 February 2008, Friday, 8 pm – 5 am
Angono Municipal Hall, Angono, Rizal
Death in the Land of Encantos
Directed by Lav Diaz

The main character of Kagadanan is a Filipino poet named Benjamin Agusan (played by Roeder Camañag). He is the hapless native who returns to his hometown Padang to witness the aftermath of a super typhoon. Director Lav Diaz short Kagadanan in Padang, Legaspi City, where a village was buried by landslides caused by super typhoon REming that hit the Bicol region on November 30, 2006.

For the past seven years, Benjamin has been living in an old town called Kaluga in Russia. With his grant and residency, he taught and conducted workshops in a university. The poet published two books of sadness and longing in the process.

In Russia, Benjamin shot video collages, fell in love with a Slavic beauty, buried a son, and almost went mad. He came back home to bury his loved ones—father, mother, sister and a lover. He came back to face Mount Mayon, the raging beauty and muse of his youth. He came home to confront the country that he so loved and hated, the Philippines. He came back to die in the land of his birth. He wanders around the obliterated village meeting old friends and lovers.

Shot in black and white, Kagadanan sa Banwaan ning Mga Engkanto (Death in the Land of Encantos) expresses an inexhaustible belief in the regenerative power of both nature and art.

16 February 2008, Saturday, 7 pm
3^rd corner Main Avenue, Barangay Bagong Lipunan, Cubao
Saan Nagtatago Si Happiness?
Directed by Florida Bautista

Finding happiness isn't part of Tikyo's everyday plan. For him, at the age of 50, nothing is as simple as selling sorbetes, his only source of living. Everything's just perfectly fine until breaking news comes—his mother, whom he believed for so long was already in heaven, is still alive. Dogged and eager, Tikyo will do everything to reconcile with the woman he loves the most—from the long queue in the TV studio to the chaotic newsroom of a radio station to the lunatic and hysterical fortune teller. Every effort he does with the help of his best bud, Nene, the problem child of the tenement. His world will be lost in confusion when Sara, the girl of his dreams comes. The 50-year old guy is now torn between finding his mom and pursuing the young woman's heart. Tikyo believes that true happiness will come to him if he'll be successful in winning the two women. Tikyo must find his way to happiness, lead other people to it or redefine its true meaning.

22 February 2008, Friday, 7 pm
Barangay East Rembo Park, East Rembo, Makati City
iSNATS
Directed by Mike Dagñalan

iSNATS, dubbed as neo-realist, is a story of a cellphone snatcher-collector (J) who got into trouble when he steals Sam’s cellphone (a former cop - drug dealer). J thinks he hits it big-time when he gets a drug delivery through the snatched phone but drug lord Rudy wants his drug money and so orders/threatens Sam to get it back. Yet, then again, local gangster Bonsai gets in the way and pushes J and Sam into deeper trouble. Sam and J team up to survive and eventually escape on a rusty PNR Bicol Express Train. The duo then decides to change their lives as they reach the province. Drug lord Rudy eventually gets caught by the police when he throws the cellphone away that caused them all this trouble. Shot in the gritty streets of Cubao and Recto Manila, the film portrays man's attachment to material things that leads him to bad decisions/situations.

23 February 2008, Saturday, 7 pm
Penguin Bar, Malate
Voice, Tilted Screens and Extended Scenes of Loneliness: Filipinos on High Definition
Directed by John Torres

Voice, Tilted Screens and Extended Scenes of Loneliness: Filipinos on High Definition is at once a meditation. It is a meta-film that unravels a journey, a chronicle of stories through foreign regions. It is a probing letter from outside circles, an honest account of illegitimate views from uneven terrain, and a narrative-driven exploration of the nooks and peripheries of the body, geography, and weather. As the journey progresses, the film increasingly traverses the countries of revelation, film, and heart to where all journeys are meant to end with.

23 February 2008, Saturday, 6.00 – 10.30 pm
Luneta Park, Luneta, Manila
EDSA People Power Anniversary Special: Three Film Showings

Barako
Directed by Manolito Sulit

The story unfolds on the eve of the American occupation of Batangas in January 1900. It then moves on to recall the childhood of the Publisista (publicist) in the 80s, who two decades later, will form a kapihan, oddly referred to as the barukuhan to play a pivotal role in the resolution of the town's six-week electricity crisis and in the events leading to the 2004 elections. The movie delineates post-colonial realities and inquires into the state of our democracy one hundred years since losing the Fil-American war.

Siglo Filipino: Odyssey of a Nation
Directed by Butch Nolasco

The most significant events and personalities in Philippine history during the 20th century, written from the point of view of National Artist Nick Joaquin.

Lakas Sambayanan (People Power)
Directed by Butch Nolasco

An hour 40-minute long documentary hosted by Cesar Montano about the search for the true definition of People Power. It shows in parallel the two successful EDSA People Power revolts in the years 1986 and 2001.

24 February 2008, Sunday, 6 pm
Barangay Buwayang Bato, Gawad Kalinga Concepcion Village, Guadalupe
Balikbayan Box
Directed by Mes de Guzman

Children of Filipino workers who have gone overseas in search of employment struggle to survive in this drama from filmmaker Mes De Guzman. Ilyong, Jun-jun and Moymoy are three young boys living in the rural Philippines. Their parents are OFW's-- Overseas Filipino Workers," a local term for people who have traveled to the Middle East, Hong Kong or Japan in search of jobs that are hard to come by at home. Most OFW's support their families by sending home "Balikbayan boxes," parcels containing cash and presents that have been designed with Filipino shipping regulations in mind. But the boys have learned that a Balikbayan box is a poor substitute for a mother and father, and that despite their parents' good intentions, getting by on what they're sent is difficult if not impossible. Ilyong, Jun-jun and Moymoy steal food to get by and occasionally scrounge up enough change to take in a show at "Betamax House," a makeshift movie house where bootleg videos of American action films are shown. Just as the youngsters suffer in the absence of their parents, their folks discover that the fortune they imagined would be found elsewhere proves to be elusive at best. Balikbayan Box was screened as a work in progress at the 2007 Rotterdam International Film Festival.

SINESILIP

2008-02-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

Venue: Auditorium, National Commission of Culture and the Arts, 633 General Luna Street, Intramuros, Manila

6 February 2008, Wednesday, 1:30 PM
Death in the Land of Encantos
Directed by Lav Diaz

Shot in black and white, Kagadanan sa Banwaan ning Mga Engkanto (Death in the Land of Encantos) expresses an inexhaustible belief in the regenerative power of both nature and art.

13 February 2008, Wednesday, 6 pm
Ruben: An Aspiring Registered Nurse
Directed by Lawrence Cordero

Filmmaker-turned-nursing student Lawrence Cordero follows the triumphs and travails of four of his colleagues, from classrooms to exams to job searches abroad. Part mockumentary but mostly docu, the film centers on Ruben Lee, whose easygoing nature belies the anguish he and many aspiring Pinoy would-be nurses have experienced while switching careers in midlife.

20 February 2008, Wednesday, 6 pm
DV
Directed by Eric dela Cruz

Half-based on F. Sionil Jose's short story Dream Video, and half-inspired by science fiction anime, Fil is a middle aged, upper crust Sociology professor. A person of habit, his problem is that he hasn't got a life. Monotomy begets novelty, and he envisions a device that could record dreams. With the current assault of reality-based programs catering to the peeping tom in us, this contrivance will revolutionize and bring reality TV into a higher level.

27 February 2008, Wednesday, 6 pm
Carnivore
Directed by Ato Bautista

Young, ambitious, idealistic, yet ignorant, Lino Lucero went to the city from the province, wanting to make a name for himself and become “somebody.” But life in the city proves to be more vicious and cruel than what he expected.

With nothing but determination and drive to succeed, he attempts to run for a seat in the student council and gets rejected. Unshaken, Lino enters an infamous fraternity that he thinks and believes can build for him connections and clout that can eventually take him to the next step towards his goal.

As he strives to succeed in every initiation and trial that come his way, Lino succumbs to his ambition until that climactic ending where he is faced with the greatest dilemma of surviving in the jungle of life, where he gets the taste of human flesh that will forever stay with his tongue.

2008 Philippine Art Festival Presents SINEMALETA

2008-02-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

The Cinema Committee of the National Commission of Culture and the Arts (NCCA) presents Sinemaleta as its offering for the 2008 Philippine Art Festival during February, the National Arts Month. Sinemaleta umbrellas three different programs, Sinisilip, Sinemusikalye and, of the same name, Sinemaleta.

Sinemaleta is a portable film festival of NCCA-funded films to be shown in pre-selected barangay centers around Metro Manila on weekend evenings. The program kicks off on 8 February, Friday, 7 pm, with a screening of Mudraks, directed by Arah Badayos, at Camarin, Caloocan City. The following evening on 9 February, Saturday, also at 7 pm is a showing of Rotunda, a Ron Bryant film, at Barangay San Jose in Navotas. The following weekend starts with Death in the Land of Encantos, directed by Lav Diaz, at 8 pm, 15 February, Friday, at Angono Municipal Hall, Angono, Rizal. On 16 February, Saturday, 7 pm, is a screening of the Florida Bautista-directed film Saan Nagtatago si Happiness? at Barangay Bagong Lipunan in Cubao on 3^rd corner Main Avenue. Mike Dagñalan’ iSNATS is to be presented on 22 February, 7 pm, at East Rembo Park, East Rembo, Makati City and the John Torres film, Voice, Tilted Screens and Extended Scenes of Loneliness: Filipinos on High Definition, screens the following evening on 23 February at 7 pm at Penguin Bar in Malate. Also on 23 February is an EDSA People Power Anniversary Special, with three films focusing on that theme to begin showing at 6 pm at the open air auditorium in Rizal Park (Luneta), Manila. It starts off with Barako, directed by Manolito Sulit, followed by Butch Nolasco-directed films Siglo Filipino: Odyssey of a Nation and Lakas Sambayanan (People Power). On 24 February, Sunday, is the showing of Mes de Guzman’s Balikbayan Box at the Barangay Buwayang Bato, Gawad Kalinga Concepcion Village in Guadalupe.

Sinesilip is a showing of NCCA-funded films at the auditorium at the NCCA office every Wednesday of the month. It begins on 6 February at 1:30 PM with Death in the Land of Encantos, a 9-hour Lav Diaz film. This will be followed by screenings at 6 pm of Ruben: An Aspiring Registered Nurse, directed by Lawrence Cordero, on 13 February; DV, directed by Eric de Guzman, on 20 February; and Carnivore, directed by Ato Bautista, on 27 February.

Further details on the programs are available at http://sinemaleta.blogspot.com. For inquiries on the event, email sinemaleta@gmail.com. For directions to the venues, contact Kristine Kintana, Film Coordinator, at 0905-2404177.