Festival News

The 7th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival (15-24 July) closed Sunday night in Manila with its major awards going to comedies, notably mockumentary The Woman in the Septic Tank (Ang babae sa septic tank).

Septic Tank won best film, director (Marlon Rivera), screenplay (Chris Martinez) and actress (Eugene Domingo) awards in the festival's New Breed category for up-and-coming directors. It is Rivera's first feature.

The comedy is finely tuned for Cinemalaya audiences with in-jokes about the local independent movie scene and cameos from indie regulars Cherry Pie Picache and Mercedes Cabral. It will have a 40-screen release on 3 August.

The exhaustive three-hours-long awards ceremony gave prizes to films in three main categories: New Breed, Shorts, and the Directors Showcase for Filipino directors who have made at least three feature films.

New Breed's best actor prize went to Edgar Allan Guzman for his role in Erick Salud's campus sex comedy Star-Crossed Love (Ligo na u, lapit na me) opposite the aforementioned Cabral. The film is based on a best-selling novel.

Two other films with strong word-of-mouth were Lawrence Fajardo's violent high-concept Amok and Loy Arcenas' family drama Niño. The former was recognised in sound and editing categories, the latter for its design and supporting actors.

Emerson Reyes' An Endless Room (Walang katapusang kwarto) was awarded best short. It also won the audience award and was recognised for the director's screenplay. Rommel "Milo" Tolentino won best director for his short Niño Bonito.

Jeffrey Jeturian's Eve (Bisperas) won best film in the Directors Showcase section. Notably the jury chose not to award a screenplay this year nor give a runner-up Special Jury Award. Best director went to Aureus Solito for Palawan Fate (Busong).

By mid-afternoon on Sunday, a record 53,600 tickets had been sold. The festival first broke 30,000 admissions in 2009. Most screenings seemed full, despite large venues including the 1800-seat main theatre at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

New Breed's Septic Tank and Star-Crossed Love were also the two biggest box office hits of the festival measured by ticket sales. Together they may indicate a shift in the festival's programming towards more diverse indie fare.

Highlights at the festival included the local premiere of Quark Henares' Rakenrol, a romance set in the local indie music scene that was followed by a concert, and the world premiere of Jade Castro's gay-zombie-youth-comedy-romance Zombadings.

The Cinemalaya main jury was made up of festival director Jean-Marc Thérouanne, festival programmer Jacob Wong (王慶鏘), theater designer Salvador Bernal, film director Mario O'Hara and veteran screenwriter Clodualdo del Mundo Jr.

Next year's edition will likely shift one week later in the festival calendar.