CEBU, PHILIPPINES – The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) will hold a press conference on Monday at the Summit Circle Hotel in Fuente Osmeña as it spearheads an event dubbed “CinemaRehiyon 7’.
The event adopts the theme “At the Crossroads of the Seventh Art” and showcases the regional films from across the archipelago.
A total of seventeen full length films are set to grace Cebu cinemas from August 6-9, 2015 as part of the Cinema Rehiyon 7, the flagship project of the NCCA’s National Committee on Cinema (NCC) headed by Director William Mayo.
“Cebu has a unique situation. A local industry sprung from the province around 1932 to 1975. Also, there is a resurgence of a new breed of Cebuano filmmakers,” shares NCC Vice-Head Teddy Co.
Cebuano actors from the 70’s and the 80’s including the Queen of Visayan Movies Gloria Sevilla, Pilar Pilapil, Suzette Ranillo, Julian Daan and Undo Juizan, the first ever Cebuano FAMAS Best Child Actor Awardee for the film “Salingsing sa Kasakit”, are expected to attend the festival as homage to Cebuano film culture.
Films taking on various indigenous traditions are also included in the CR7 line up. Among them are Nef Luczon’s documentary on the Pan-ay Bukidnon community entitled Father said, “Let’s Return Home”, Lester del Valle’s Walang Rape sa Bontok, Adjani Arumpac’s War is A tender Thing and Ivy Universe Baldosa’s Marciano. One entry under this category, the Cordilleran tradition featured in Boyong and Sendong’s Busol: The Last Headhunters, is a perfect example of native indigenous film, produced by and for the Cordilleran community.
Other films included in the line-up for CR7 are Remton Zuasola’s Soap Opera, which serves as the festival’s pre-opening film, Bagane Fiola’s Sonata Maria, John Paul Laxamana’s Magkakabaung, Lemuel Lorca’s Mauban: Ang Resiko, Charliebeb Gohetia’s Chasing the Waves, and Alec Figuracion’s Bitukang Manok, a product of an all Cebuano crew from the province’s IAFT film school.
Kidlat Tahimik’s Balikabayan #1: memories of Overdevelopment Redux III closes the fest. The film follows Enrique, a Visayan slave to Magellan and is said to be Tahimik’s tribute to the pre-Hispanic Cebuano who possibly is the first man to circumnavigate the world.
Aside from the full length line-up, there will also be screenings of contemporary Cebuano short films at the mini theater of Film and Media International Arts Academy (FMA), outreach screenings in select venues, outdoor screenings as well as a special viewing of National Artist Lamberto Avellana’s rarely seen creations.
The event is part of promoting and appreciating the significance of local culture and the arts through cinema. – BusinessNewsAsia.com