Seeing the unseen at the 2011 Cinemalaya1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThey lined up on the stage like they were part of a rogue’s gallery. Veteran actress and director Laurice Guillen, Cinemalaya’s organizing committee head, asked each one of directors, finalists at the 7th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, to give a two-minute speech about their films.
Lawrence Fajardo fidgeted and stuttered on stage and finally mustered the courage to say, “I’m really nervous right now, I’m not much of a talker, please watch my movie at the Cinemalaya,” said the long-haired auteur, whose film Amok tackles mayhem and violence in a seedy Pasay City setting.
Others cracked jokes like Marvin Rivera, director of Ang Babae sa Septic Tank, a story about three ambitious but misguided filmmakers as they set out to do what they think is a perfect theme on a movie about the Philippines – poverty.
Marvin talked about how it was such a difficult task to complete a film and how, in the process of filmmaking, he learned to shout the word “cut” louder so that his most prized actress Eugene Domingo will not wander far to Cubao from Roxas Boulevard during a poignant “walking miserably” scene.
Director Erick Salud, on the other hand, urged Pinoy moviegoers to watch his film, Ligo na U, Lapit na Me, a take on postmodern love, sex and relationships and the way this generation deals with these. Noel Ferrer and Jerry Gracio co-directed the movie.
