MMFF 2016 Archives

Jan62017 by Associate EditorNo Comments

JRN alumna’s Sunday Beauty Queen wins big in MMFF

News

ARTLET ALUMNA'S Sunday Beauty Queen bagged four awards, including Best Picture, in the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2016 Gabi ng Parangal held Dec. 29. The documentary directed by Journalism alumna Baby Ruth Villarama-Gutierrez also won Best Editing, Children’s Choice Award, and the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award, which is given to the film that best showcased the Filipino culture to the world. Sunday Beauty Queen follows the lives of domestic helpers in Hong Kong who spend their Sundays off participating in beauty pageants. The pageants help them uplift themselves and raise funds for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in need. Moreover, the documentary—first of its kind to compete in the annual film festival—featured the sacrifices done by OFWs for their famili...

Dec302016 by Associate EditorNo Comments

Seklusyon: The Wavering Nature of Man

Literary

FILIPINOS ARE acquainted to evil and the supernatural from parables written in the Bible. It contains certain ethical standards that withstood the test of time, serving as a source of the nation’s belief systems. However, violence from an evil beyond the material plane is sometimes enough to shift the conviction of a faithful believer. It exudes even greater horror if evil is revealed to take a human form who resides with the living. Set in 1940s during the post-World War II era, Miguel (Ronnie Alonte) is introduced inside a church. He confesses his sins in preparation for his final test of faith before he is ordained as a priest. He travels to an isolated monastery to live with three other deacons to devote their time purely on fasting and deep prayer. In the span of seven days, al...

Dec302016 by Associate EditorNo Comments

Kabisera: The Filipino Society through a Mother’s Eyes

Literary

IN THE Philippine cultural context, familialism is given utmost importance for it is the foundation of homes. At its core is the father, who thereby assumes the center seat of the dining table with his wife serving meals and the children sitting on either side. In Kabisera, the de Dios family serves as the quintessence of this notion—until a tragedy rattles the very core of it. The film opens with a celebration during New Year’s Eve, in which Tunying (Ricky Davao), Mercy (Nora Aunor), and their family feast on sumptuous meals laid before the table, and watch in awe the dazzling fireworks display outside. The scene that follows shows the family dining in their home, with all the members laughing at their own jokes. This perfection, however, is disturbed as the household is presented ...

Dec282016 by Associate EditorNo Comments

Die Beautiful: As Colorful as Cosmetics

Literary

WITH EVERY swish of the powder brush across Trisha’s face, and with every dab of lipstick on her lips, Barbs recalls all the significant moments her dear friend has lived through. Trisha Echevarria’s (Paolo Ballesteros) final wish to her best friend Barbs (Christian Bables) was that when she dies, she has to be dressed up like a certain celebrity every day on the week of her wake. She soon finishes applying her make-up, and the manager of the beauty contest finally calls her to appear on stage. Barbs is left gazing at her friend’s retreating figure. Trisha looks back, and Barbs sees what is probably her friend’s last genuine smile. Die Beautiful continues with this approach: the key point of each transition of the scenes is rooted from Trisha’s wake, and it stems out to give the ...

Dec282016 by Associate EditorNo Comments

Saving Sally: Seeing Rarity in the Familiar

Literary

MANY FILMS labeled as “romantic” commonly include at least one of the characters directly saying the words “I love you” as it makes use of intimate physical contact between the couple to justify the concept of love in the story. Saving Sally, however, introduces a new take on the idea of romance by showing the incommunicability of the person’s feelings for his beloved. It presents how voicing out the supposedly simple three-word confession is made complicated, and thus, carries more depth as shown in the lover’s actions to communicate his love non-verbally. In the eyes of Marty (Enzo Marcos), an aspiring comic book artist, nothing is ever simple. Marty visualizes the world as if he were in a graphic novel, in which people are monsters and he himself being the hero of the story. Sall...