Expect a broader Cinema One Originals Film Festival this 2017 with seven feature films selected as this year’s competition finalists — “Nay,” “Nervous Translation,” Throwback Thursday,” “Changing Partners,” “Historiographika Errata,” “Paki” and “Si Chedeng, Si Apple, Si Louis Vuitton” — all chosen to deliver fresh stories with poignant, hilarious and extraordinary accounts that will touch the lives of more diverse audiences and make the festival more enjoyable than ever.
Brilliant young Filipino directors are bringing in never-before-seen chronicles in the much-awaited Cinema One Originals full-length film competition.
Director Kip Oebanda goes for the supernatural as he makes a film about a rich, sheltered youth who gets to be transformed into an aswang by his yaya, Nay Luisa, in “Nay.”
Shireen Seno’s “Nervous Translation” is about a shy eight-year old Yaelm who lives in her own private world. One day, she discovers a pen that can translate the thoughts and feelings of nervous people.
In “Throwback Thursday,” director Joseph Teoxon and writer Pertee Brinas will highlight the misadventures of Primo, a gifted production designer who was unprepared for the harsh realities of the real world. While trying to make ends meet at the peak of his misfortunes, he experiences a technical glitch with his old desktop computer and gets a chance to rewrite his life.
From fantasy to reality, this year’s Cinema One Originals entries also include “Changing Partners.” Here, Director Dan Villegas makes a round robin, gender-switching falling out of love story of a GenXer to a millennial. Written by Erlito Reyes and Vincent de Jesus, it is an adaptation of the play by Vincent de Jesus, and a realistic take on why relationships do not last.
Historical mosaics will be the highlight of Richard Somes’ “Historiographika Errata.” This film has characters depicting the Philippines’ damaged culture such as a disillusioned and suicidal Rizal, a cross-dressing Bonifacio, an ex-Katipunero who joins the US army to save his own neck, and a widow whose sex-for-food errands lead her to become the first ever Makapili.
There will also be two narrative films to tackle fascinating and shocking adventures of women in their twilight years.
Giancarlo Abrahan’s “Paki” tells the tale of an 80 year-old woman who decides to be an old maid and tries to face her children who forbid her to separate from her husband. In “Si Chedeng, Si Apple, Si Louis Vuitton,” directors Fatrick Tabada and Rae Red will bring to light two women in their 60’s who are off to a hilarious adventure. In the wake of her husband’s death, Chedeng decides to come out of the closet. Her best friend, Apple, beheads her live-in partner in a fit of rage. Bound by friendship, the two women, together with the severed head placed in a bag, set off to find Chedeng’s ex-girlfriend.
Meanwhile, three finalists have been chosen for the Cinema One Originals documentary film category, and they will be taking viewers to bygone, revered and enigmatic places.
Phyllis Grande’s “Horror House” features a closer look at Bulacan’s Bahay na Pula, one of the garrisons used by the Japanese during World War II. Here, a group of youth pays their last visit to one of the most haunted places in the country.
Dempster Samarista will explore what could be a bazaar peddling bizarre mysteries on “Bundok Banahaw, Sacred and Profane (for the benefit of the doubt).” This docu will see how Mt. Banahaw, with its array of spiritual and superstitious perspectives, might be the perfect microcosm of Philippine society.
In “Architecture of Belief,” Jet Leyco and Camille Aragona will make a fantastic docu on the death of a scientist named Tiffany. Her former boyfriend, John, believes a sinister reason is behind the murder. Launching his own investigation, he uncovers a network of rampant government corruption, global conspiracy and the mysterious world of the illuminati.
Watch out for these interesting films and their amazing characters at the Cinema One Originals Film Festival happening on November 12-21, 2017.
