cinemanila 2010

The 12th edition of the Cinemanila International Film Festival will be the first of four festivals that my film Limbunan will be screening in this December.

Since the festival is happening in my home turf, I have decided to devote my time watching all the films that I can handle. At international festivals, I am torn between exploring the city and watching films. For instance, being cooped up inside a dark theater seemed insulting to the grandeur and beauty of Venice. And since Cinemanila will happen in the thick of the holiday rush (traffic, humongous volume of people in the mall, Manila smog) what better way to spend time than retreating to a movie theater.

My picks include:

Floating Lives (Nguyen Phan Quang Binh)

"Adapted from the novel 'Boundless Rice Field' by Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tu, the film takes place in Vietnam at the height of the Bird Flu but its natural backdrop and the protagonists" situations have a timeless quality. Vo (Dustin Nguyen), daughter Nuong and son Dien live on a boat, drifting from one rice field to the next, rearing ducks and offering handyman jobs. When Suong (Do Thi Hai Yen), a hooker jumps into their boat to evade an angry mob, Nuong and Dien welcome her as a surrogate mother and object of pubescent fantasy, respectively. A volatile relationship develops between Suong and Vo. Eventually, it is revealed that Vo's wife cheated on him and ran away in shame.

"

Au Revoir, Taipei (Arvin Chen)

A directorial debut for Chen, it is a romantic comedy that won the NETPAC Prize in this year's Berlinale. Kai, a lovesick young man, wants to leave Taipei in hopes of getting to Paris to be with his girlfriend. Kai spends long nights in a bookstore studying French, where Susie, a girl who works there, begins to take an interest in him. After one extraordinary night, Kai finds the excitement and romance he was longing for are already right there in Taipei.

Memories of A Burning Tree (Sherman Ong)

Smith comes to Dar es Salaam to tie up some loose ends. He meets Link, a tourist guide, who agrees to help him. Along the way they are offered help by Abdul, a grave digger, and Toatoa, a metal scavenger, who themselves are searching for answers to their own journeys. Their search eventually leads them to realise that this is a never-ending journey of dreams and disappointments. With an ensemble cast of non-professional actors and an improvised script, this film is an homage to the road movie genre, where ultimately the road ends when you want it to end.

The Tiger Factory (Woo Ming Jin)

Trying to finance a trip to what she imagines to be a better life in Japan, nineteen-year old Malaysian Ping works too many jobs. She artificially inseminates pigs on a farm; she also washes dishes in a restaurant; and she's apparently involved in a complicated "baby factory" scam that pairs women like her with illegal Burmese workers and then sells the resulting babies for profit. She depends on her ruthlessly exploitative aunt who runs the baby scam, and a Burmese worker who befriends her and attempts to help her escape.

Balangay (Sherad Anthony Sanchez, Robin Färdig)

I saw the rough cut of the film and is quite intrigued about the final look. Shot in the old Davao City International Airport with a cast of lumads. The opening shot is marvelous (if the filmmakers retained it). The behind the scenes story, as Sherad related to me, is a movie in itself.

batibot

Batibot will soon be back on Philippine television. Kids grew up in the 1980s with this afternoon fare and were all too familiar with the characters like Pong Pagong, Kiko Matsing, Kuya Bodjie, Ate Siena and Manang Bola.

I'm curious though if Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing will make a comeback. After all the demise of the show then was caused by the pulling out of the two characters from the show due to licensing issues.

i'm so stressed i'm getting gayer

Pink Buffalo by Patti Hallock

Dr. Libertado Cruz, executive director of the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) claimed that stress could cause homosexuality in humans, much like it happens with carabaos and other animals.

Cruz was lecturing about the technologies that have to do with carabao sex, when he discussed the impact of stress on human and animal sexual behavior.

“One of the causes of psycho-social sex differentiation is stress,” he said.

Cruz said if stress could cause homosexuality in animals, it could do the same in humans.

“There is a critical period of brain development where brain circuitry changes, and there are neurotransmitters in the brain that regulates the circuitry,” he said.

“So pag-na-stress yung tao, yung neurotransmitter na sorotonym, tumaas and that causes the differentiation of neuro-connectivity in the brain,” he said.

With Filipino's penchant to being in the limelight, Cruz's assumption is a shoo-in to the Darwin Awards.

searching for mj

I learned one important lesson on traveling recently. If you don't want to end up in the slammer, make sure you leave no trace of evidence of an illegal activity. I had leftover marijuana the size of a pistachio wrapped in a foil and forgot where I put it. I searched my pockets. My backpack. My luggage. It was not there.

"Are you sure we didn't consume it?" I asked C.

"It was good for two joints. We only smoked one. Cat gave it back to you after she rolled the joint," C told me.

"Where did I put it? I searched everywhere. I'm dead," I reacted.

"Don't worry. It's perfectly fine in Germany," C assured me. The night we smoked the joint outside Wunder Bar in a chilly Hamburg night Cat told us that the law prohibits selling and not possession. To prove her point, she lighted the joint while two cops walked past us.

"But I'm traveling back to the Philippines, and you know, sniffing dogs and all," I said, my agitation growing. "I don't want to be banged up abroad." The images of Bangkok Hilton and other prison films were reeling in my head.

"Relax." C told me, again and again, like a mantra.

I searched my pockets. My backpack. My luggage. Still, it was not there.

I pressed my fingers together, imagining the weed in my hands. I haven't tried anything like it. It was still green, and sticky to the touch.

"I think I gave it to Jean," I said, hoping for a resolution.

"No. Jean had his own joint," C answered. After the party at Wunder Bar, we went to Jean's place together with the other bitches of Hamburg to party on. We finished a joint there. Yeah, I remembered. It was Jean's.

I sat on my bed, clasping a cup of coffee, finding no answers, imagining hundreds of scenarios that all lead to me sitting in a jail on a cold winter night.

tiger, tiger

It's going to be the end of the tiger in twelve years if nothing is done to avert their extinction. This urgent issue was raised in the recent "Tiger Summit."

The World Wildlife Fund and other experts say only about 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, a dramatic plunge from an estimated 100,000 a century ago.

James Leape, director general of the World Wildlife Fund, told the meeting in St. Petersburg that if the proper protective measures aren't taken, tigers may disappear by 2022, the next Chinese calendar year of the tiger.

Their habitat is being destroyed by forest cutting and construction, and they are a valuable trophy for poachers who want their skins and body parts prized in Chinese traditional medicine.

The summit approved a wide-ranging program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population in the wild by 2022 backed by governments of the 13 countries that still have tiger populations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia.

The Global Tiger Recovery Program estimates the countries will need about $350 million in outside funding in the first five years of the 12-year plan. The summit will be seeking donor commitments to help governments finance conservation measures.

"For most people tigers are one of the wonders of the world," Leape told The Associated Press. "In the end, the tigers are the inspiration and the flagship for much broader efforts to conserve forests and grasslands."

The program aims to protect tiger habitats, eradicate poaching, smuggling, and illegal trade of tigers and their parts, and also create incentives for local communities to engage them in helping protect the big cats.

The summit, which runs through Wednesday, is hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has used encounters with tigers and other wild animals to bolster his image. It's driven by the Global Tiger Initiative which was launched two years ago by World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

Leape said that along with a stronger action against poaching, it's necessary to set up specialized reserves for tigers and restore and conserve forests outside them to let tigers expand.

"And you have to find a way to make it work for the local communities so that they would be partners in tigers conservation and benefit from them," Leape said.

"To save tigers you need to save the forests, grasslands and lots of other species," he added. "But at the same time you are also conserving the foundations of the societies who live there. Their economy depends very much on the food, water and materials they get from those forests."

About 30 percent of the program's cost would go toward suppressing the poaching of tigers and of the animals they prey on.

Russia's Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said that Russia and China will create a protected area for tigers alongside their border and pool resources to combat poaching.

Leape said that for some of the nations involved outside financing would be essential to fulfill the goals.

"We need to see signficant commitment by the multilateral and bilateral indsitutions like the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank plus individual governments like the U.S. and Germany," Leape told the AP.

For advocates, saving tigers has implications far beyond the emotional appeal of preserving a graceful and majestic animal.

"Wild tigers are not only a symbol of all that is splendid, mystical and powerful about nature," the Global Tiger Initiative said in a statement. "The loss of tigers and degradation of their ecosystems would inevitably result in a historic, cultural, spiritual, and environmental catastrophe for the tiger range countries."

Three of the nine tiger subspecies — the Bali, Javan, and Caspian — already have become extinct in the past 70 years.

the zombie of wiesbaden

I arrived in Wiesbaden with the intelligence of a cretin. I could hardly comprehend the most basic questions. "How long will you be staying in Germany?" The passport control officer interrogated me in Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.

"For a film festival," I answered.

The officer stared at me. I could imagine a thought bubble hovering above him, "Another one of those stupid Asians."

I did not sleep a single minute on the thirteen-hour flight to Amsterdam from Manila, the long travel made slightly bearable by a marathon screening of Despicable Me, Salt, I hate LUV Storys, Sorcerer's Apprentice and episodes of Two Men and a Half, Bing Bang Theory and Accidentally Yours. I have a fear of flying, which explains why I can not sleep while in flight. My condition was aggravated when I reached Frankfurt. KLM lost my luggage. I reported the matter to the airline counter. The clerk in charge doubted me. "Are you sure it's not on the conveyor belt?" At this point, I could not say a word anymore. I just looked at him with my bloodshot eyes.

My thought processes had shut down when I reached the Festival Center at Caligari FilmBuhne in Wiesbaden. It was late in the evening. I was introduced to the Festival staff, shook their hands, and said the perfunctory greetings. They seemed like floating phantoms to me. Or was I the phantom in their midst? I felt like a zombie, animated only by my enthusiasm of being invited to this Festival.

"You want to drink something?" The Festival programmer asked me. At the corner of the Filmbuhne, there was a bar. Seeing it I knew I was going to be perfectly alright. I had three mugs of beer. A befitting German welcome. A Festival staff gave me a shirt. "While you wait for your luggage," she said. I smiled at her, and thanked her. I walked to my hotel, feeling neither the cold weather nor my sore back. As soon as I reached my room, I sunk into my bed and slept for ten hours.

I woke up to this beautiful view from my window.

home screen

Limbunan was finally screened in the city of my birth last Thursday. It was an important and critical screening of the film. Born there in the late 1970s, and having left the city in the mid 1990s, it was sort of a homecoming for me. A prodigal son returning to his father's embrace. A follower of the Prophet returning from hijra.

Traditional musicians welcome the audience with their upbeat kulintang music.

Local Local designers interpret the Maguindanaon wedding dress.

Tetchie Agbayani graces the event. With her is event partner Atty. Ashrafia Biruar-Mitmug and co-star Jamie Unte.

All eyes on the large screen.

Limbunan statement shirt.


Photos courtesy of Kirby Matalam Abdullah

knickerbocker

"You should try knickerbocker," Nerissa tells me as we descend the stairs of Jardin Maria Clara.

"What's that?" I ask.

"It's the craze here in Zamboanga," she adds.

"So what is it?" I ask with a growing curiosity. Nerissa just smiles at me. I look at our other companions for an answer. They avoid my gaze.

"Is it alcoholic?" I ask. They laugh.

"It's Zamboanga's answer to Starbucks frap," Ram gives a clue.

We drive around the city until late afternoon. It is drizzling. We reach Paseo del Mar, a seaside park with stalls selling food and drinks. We repair to a stall at the far end of the park. A crowd is cheering in a distance. I walk towards them. They toss a coin to the sea. A group of sea gypsies dive to retrieve the coin. It is almost sunset. Business will be brisk in a few hours. A videoke bar is sound checking. Beer will be ice cold for the night's habitues. The charcoal grills are getting busy, enveloping the atmosphere with a thick blanket of smoke.

I walk back to the stall. "Your knickerbocker is waiting," Nerissa announces. I look at the table. It is a glass filled with generous amounts of colorful gelatin, tropical fruits, milk, topped with strawberry ice cream.

It's the knickerbocker.

asia's brownout city

I spent the weekend in Zamboanga City. It was raining when I arrived last Saturday morning, and as soon as I threw my backpack on my hotel bed, all the lights and the air con went off. I marched towards the front desk and inquired about the matter.

"Brownout, sir," the lady in the front desk announced. Later I found that the city has been experiencing frequent power outages. One city official has even joked that Zamboanga is now "Asia's brownout city." A parody of the city's catchphrase "Asia's Latin City."

I don't understand it really. There's nothing Latin about Zamboanga. Yes, Fort Pilar stands as a lasting witness to the city's Spanish past. The iconic city hall was built during the American period and Plaza Pershing nearby reminds the present of the barbarous General Pershing who massacred innocent Moro civilians in Sulu. Chavacano dialect is nowhere near Spanish, either. Zamboanga is a melting pot of races -Chavacano, Tausug, Chinese, Yakan, Bisaya, and other settlers. To point out that there is a dominant culture reeks of ethnocentricity.

This was not the first time I visited this city. I went there for the first time in 2003, a transit point for a writing assignment in Basilan. I had been to the city several times, traversed its narrow streets as I would any city to familiarize myself with the geography, made some friends over the years.

I had watched and photographed workers in a canning factory in Ayala, marveled at the prowess of weavers in Yakan Village, and admired the tenacity of old men playing chess in the city plaza. I had feasted on delicious satti in different stalls around the city. Alejandro's fried tofu in salt and pepper remains as one of the world's best. And who can forget the wonderful seafood at Haisan. I had wondered why their coffee shops serve weak coffee (I once mistook it for tea), or why the people still prefer to use the term "bazaar" to refer to department stores. It is a city full of contradictions.

Zamboanga looks like Kota Kinabalu. Only smaller, dirtier and there is always a foreboding of danger (not only from terrorist groups but also from stray dogs).

I walked back to my room, and since there's nothing to do that morning, I peeled off my pants and dozed off.

tintin on 3d soon

Empire will reveal the first look at The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, the film adaptation of the enormously popular books by Hergé in performance-captured, 3D form. The exclusive and specially-Weta-created cover is a riff on the iconic image of Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his dog Snowy picked out by a spotlight as they are running.

The film also stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thompson and Thomson respectively, and Daniel Craig as Red Rackham. It also features Cary Elwes, Toby Jones, Mackenzie Crook and Daniel Mays.

to wiesbaden

European audiences have embraced Limbunan since its international premiere in Venice last September. Now the film has been invited to the Wiesbaden exground Film Festival which will take place from November 12 to 21, 2010.

In der Reihe „News from Asia“ gilt das besondere Augenmerk dem aufstrebenden philippinischen Kino. Jeweils als Deutschland-Premiere im Programm: das spannende Roadmovie COLORUM, der Großstadtthriller CARNIVORE sowie der auf dem Filmfest Venedig ausgezeichnete Film LIMBUNAN, in dem sich eine 17-jährige Braut zwischen Liebe und Tradition entscheiden muss. 

It's time to unearth my thermal clothes and jacket, and start packing my bag. Deutschland ich komme.