2011 SINENG PAMBANSA SA NEW YORK

Sa pakikipagtulungan ng Film Development Council Of The Philippines at New York FIlipino Film Festival inihahandog ang kauna-unahang Sineng Pambansa simula Biyernes, ika-17 ng Hunyo sa Producer's Club 348 West 44th St. Between 8th & 9th Avenues New York, NY. Tampok ang mga pelkulang likha nina Sheron Dayoc, Ralston Jover, Mario O'Hara, Chito Rono, Gil Portes, Jim Libiran, Alvin Yapan, Remton Siega Zuasola at Mike de Leon.

Huwag palampasin!

Sineng Pambansa
Bumisita lamang sa www.producersclub.com at www.sinengpambansa.ph para sa karagdagang impormasyon.

Mga Pelikula:

HALAW / Ways of the Sea

Directed by Sheron R. Dayoc

Produced by Sheron Dayoc and Lilit Reyes

Written by Sheron Dayoc

Starring John Arcilla, Maria Isabel Lopez

This powerful film exposes the human trafficking operation and journey through the seas of Southern Philippines to neighboring Malaysia. Based on research and interviews, the dramatic narrative provides a kaleidoscope of characters hoping for a better life in Sabah, despite the difficulty and dubiousness of the process, and the uncertainty of a true job in Malaysia. It also represents a microcosm of the multi-cultural groupings of Mindanao whose diversity is bound by a common goal, an opportunity to earn a living, as they take that illegal small boat ride from their homeland to that foreign "Promised Land."

Winner, Netpac Award, Jury Prize, Berlin International Film Festival

Winner, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Editing, Cinemalaya Film Festival

Winner, 9 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, URIAN awards


BAKAL BOYS / The Children Metal Divers

Directed by Ralston Jover

Produced by Bessie Badilla and Albert Almendralejo

Written by Ralston Jover and Henry Burgos

Starring Gina Pareno, Jess Evardone, Meljon Guinto, Vincent Olano, Edgardo Olano Jr.

A realistic docudrama, BAKAL BOYS tells the heartrending story of children who scavenge for metal scraps from old sunken ships in the murky waters of Manila Bay, often risking their lives in the process. Known locally as BAKAL BOYS, they sell their harvest to the owner of a junkshop who exploits them by bidding the lowest price. The burdensome plight brings the boys together, as depicted by the camaraderie of 9-year-old Utoy and 12-year-old Bungal. When one of them goes suddenly missing, the other swims through the dark waters, determinedly  and bravely, as an act of supreme sacrifice and true friendship. While always brimming with hope, the film reveals the deep chasm between life that is painful, and death that may not just be relief, but salvation.

Winner, Netpac Award, Cinemalaya Film Festival

Winner, 6 Urian nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director

Winner, Special Jury Prize, Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Winner, Cipputi Award, Torino International Film Festival

Winner, Special Citation, Vancouver International Film Festival

Winner, Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Young Critics Circle Awards


TWO FUNERALS

Directed by Gil M. Portes

Written by Gil Portes and Enrique Ramos

Starring Tessie Tomas, Robert Arevalo, Xian Lim

TWO FUNERALS is a black comedy cum road movie about a grieving mother's journey to recover her daughter's body, after a funeral mix-up caused it to be accidentally switched with a stranger's corpse. The journey from Tuguegarao, Cagayan in the north to Matnog, Sorsogon in the south is actually a journey to the heart of the country during Holy Week in the heat of the election season.

Winner, Audience Award, Best Film, Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival

Winner, Special Jury Prize, Best Director, Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival

BAYANING THIRD WORLD / Third World Hero

Directed by Mike De Leon

Written by Clodualdo ‘Doy’ Del Mundo Jr. and Mike De Leon

Starring Joel Torre, Ricky Davao, Cherry Pie Picache, Rio Locsin, Daria Ramirez, Lara Fabregas, Cris Villanueva, Joonee Gamboa

A complex film within a film that attempts to explore the myth of Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, director Mike De Leon’s study in manufactured mythology attempts to explore the life of Rizal while simultaneously investigating his influence on modern Philippine society. It seems that the culture has embraced the idea of a nation icon rather than the physical reality of the man behind the myth, and director De Leon begins to study the historical accounts of Rizal's life while attempting to contact the family and friends that were closest to him. Confounded by the controversial letter of retraction that Rizal signed in his later days, the filmmakers attempt to uncover the motivation of the legend in renouncing all he stood for and opting for and embracing the society that he so vehemently denounced. Soon coming to the end of their search for facts and unable to solve the mystery of the letter, the filmmakers, at odds with their belief of recorded history, find that discovering the ultimate truth to the legend may be an unattainable goal.

Nominee, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, URIAN awards

ANG PAGLILITIS NI ANDRES BONIFACIO / The Trial of Andres Bonifacio

Directed by Mario O’ Hara

Written by Mario O’Hara

Starring Alfred Vargas, Miles Canapi, Danielle Castano, Lance Raymundo

 ANG PAGLILITIS NI ANDRES BONIFACIO is the untold story of the trial of Andres Bonifacio under the Revolutionary Government of President Emilio Aguinaldo.  Two leaders, Andres Bonifacio, Supremo of the Katipuneros, and Emilio Aguinaldo, president of the Revolutionary Government, made their way to fight for freedom for the Filipinos against the dominant rule, fought for a cause, and for a reason to be one nation.  Yet only one should rule.  This was the start of Philippine politics.  Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio is a film documentation of Philippine history put to screen and megged by Mario O’Hara.  And now, let the people be the judge whether Andres Bonifacio is guilty or not guilty of treason

Nominee, Best Picture, Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival 2010

ANG DAMGO NI ELEUTERIA / Eleuteria’s Dream

Directed by Remton Siega Zuasola

Written by Maria Victoria Beltran and Remton Siega Zuasola

Starring Donna Gimeno, Gregg Tecson, Lucia Juezan, Emelda Mabusay

In this acclaimed comedy-drama, Terya, a simple island girl, is about to leave her home to marry a foreigner. Her journey ignites a series of events and introduces certain characters that affect her eventual decision to stay or go. The story takes place in the scenic Olango Island in the midst of the Baliw-Baliw Festival that holds parallel to Terya’s state of mind, as she walks the path towards her destiny.

Winner, Best Picture, Best Director, Urian Awards 2011

Winner, 6 nominations, including Best Picture, Golden Screen Awards 2011

HAPPYLAND

Directed by Jim Libiran

Written by Jim Libiran, Alfredo Lazarate

Starring China Cojuangco, Mohammed Ibrahim, Joseph Anthony Cerdena, Peter Amores

Fr. Jose, an aging missionary priest, hires Brother Pedro, a young seminarian, to start an unthinkable project in Tondo—to put together and develop a sports team for a forthcoming football tournament.  They recruit the most unlikely group of young men—Ismail, the local basketball star, Ramil, a skilled pickpocket, Totoy, a gang leader, David, a pedicab driver, Ian, a rapper wannabe, and Ompong and Konyat, the drug-sniffing borthers who live off the Tondo garbage dump.  And so begins this uplifting coming-of-age story—based on real life events—about poor young kids who learn to dream and dare to fight for a common goal. The cruel irony of its title is not lost on the kids and Tondo’s other residents; they named their community ‘happyland’ which comes from the Visayan term ‘hapilan,’ a word that means garbage dump.

Nominee, Best Picture, Cinemanila International Film Festival

ANG PANGGAGAHASA KAY FE / The Rapture of Fe

Directed by Alvin Yapan

Written by Alvin Yapan

Starring Irma Adlawan, TJ Trinidad, Mercedes Cabral, Nonie Buencamino

Each morning, baskets of black fruits mysteriously appear by the front yard of Fe. Thinking that it was a reconciliatory gesture from her abusive husband Dante, Fe tells him about it. This only confirms Dante's suspicions that she might be entertaining an adulterous relationship. Fearing her husband's jealousy, Fe grows even more scared as the fruits keep coming, a step closer to her front door. She keeps everything to herself until she turns to a former suitor, Arturo. When Fe urges Arturo to elope, she finds out that the young man has far more binding commitments with his family.  Caught between an abusive husband and an impotent lover, Fe has to decide.  Will she escape with her elusive suitor who could very well be just a figment of her imagination or stay trapped with the men in her real life who could never protect nor satisfy her? Caught in a sexually-charged society where violence still remains unimaginably real and covertly present, could the imagined be real enough for a woman to assure her own survival?

Winner, Special Jury Prize, Best Picture, Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival

Winner, 5 Urian nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress

Winner, Golden Jury Prize, Cairo International Film Festival

EMIR

Directed by Chito S. Rono

Produced by Digna H. Santiago

Executive Produced by Nestor Jardin, Rolando S. Atienza

Written by Jerry Gracio

Starring Frencheska Farr, Sid Lucero, Dulce, Jhong Hilario, Bayang Barrios, Gigi Escalante, Bodjie Pascua, Julia Clarete, Mahdi Yazdian, and Chris Millado

A full-feature original musical that’s partly based on the true story of a crown prince of an Arab nation who can fluently speak both Tagalog and Ilokano, EMIR tells the story of Amelia (Frencheska Farr), the daughter of poor farmers who travels toYememeni, a fictional oil-rich Arab nation on the verge of being invaded by its neighbors.  Like many OFWs who wish to aid the fortunes of their families back home, she is employed in the household of a sheik and assigned to be the nanny of the sheik's only son. True to her job, she rears the child not only to be appreciative of Filipino culture but to treat that heritage as his very own.  While not tending to her ward, she either swoons for a half-Arabic half-Filipino man (Sid Lucero) or entangles herself with the issues of her co-workers, until circumstances force her to return to the Philippines.  But will she or will she not? Set in the most picturesque locations in the Philippines, from the grandiose Banaue Rice Terraces to the rustic Paoay Church, and Morocco, the film is lovely to look at, exactly like moving musical postcards from one tourist destination to another.

Winner, 10 Golden Screen Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director /  Winner, 12 Star Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director/ Winner, 2 Urian nominations

2 Response to "2011 SINENG PAMBANSA SA NEW YORK"

  1. ronald says:
    11:28 PM

    Hi Jojo,

    Good luck, looks like a good selection of films.

    Regards,
    RSE

  2. Jojo Devera says:
    1:37 AM

    Hello Ron,

    We are excited about this year's line up of films added to the fact that some of the filmmakers will be present at the screening of their respective movies. At least, I'll be back before the festival starts...

    Thanks so much!