AN ARTLET alumnus bagged the Audience Choice Award for short feature film in the 2016 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival awards night held Sunday.
Independent film Forever Natin directed by Communication Arts graduate Cyrus Valdez won the award after making the most “impact” to the viewers.
Valdez’ film portrayed the story of a lesbian couple who drafted a contract that will bind them for a limited period of time, although they were aware that their relationship will not last for good.
Valdez told the Flame that the film is “timely” as it tackles issues concerning the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
“Ang criteria nila doon is how much a film has impacted them after watching and it’s overwhelming to know na film namin ‘yung pinili nilang pinaka nag-impact sa kanila,” he said.
The film also suits the millennials’ choice of entertainment today, Valdez added.
“Mahilig masaktan ang mga Pilipino, lalo na [ang] millennials,” Valdez said jokingly when asked why he thought his film made an “impact.”
“It was just a story [that] we wanted to tell and it turned out na it was a story that people wanted to hear [and] watch.”
The Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival is an annual film competition and festival that aims to develop the creation of works that “boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity.”
Forever Natin was featured in this year’s Cinemalaya along with nine other short films and nine full-length films. F KIMVIRLY P. ZAYAT
