The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Premier Apple reseller Power Mac Center formally ended its Pixelworkx Cinemansanas digital short film competition last Thursday by honoring 12 entries shot and edited using Apple devices as finalists, with two of these—one, about the coping power of the imagination; the other, an unusual portrait of Filipino millennials— coming out on top.
During the awards ceremony at the Power Mac Center Spotlight theater in Circuit Makati, Power Mac Center named Seliada Asilo’s Flared and Dylan Ray Agcaoili Talon’s Biyahe sa Buhay ng mga Batang Bagot as the Diamond Award, or first-place, winners in the student and professional categories, respectively.
Flared is about a blind boy who turned his dark life into a bright one by using his imagination, while Biyahe sa Buhay ng mga Batang Bagot shows seemingly random clips of Talon and other young people while a recorded conversation among a group of friends heading home from an out-of-town team-building session is heard.
Asilo and Talon received P30,000 and P50,000 worth of Power Mac Gift Cards, respectively, and their winning films were screened during the ceremony.
The Platinum Award (second place) winners are Jaime Mari Joaquin Asido Morados’s The Boy Who Spoke (student) and James Edward Golla’s Seven (professional), while the Gold Award (third place) went to Joel Griffiths’s Pagkilala (student) and Jessie G. Villabrille’s Ang Payo ni Tita Whitney (professional).
The rest of the finalists are John Christopher Dañez’s Panawagan, Raymund Angelo Joaquin Magturo’s Pinta ng Mata, and John Francis Onofre’s Saudade (student); and Rian Simon Magtaan’s Gulong, Ma. Cinderella Viluan Capadiso’s Nostalgia, and Olivia Bianca C. Briones’s Sumurot Ka Ti Agos (Sumabay sa Agos) (professional).
Entries were rated based on creativity of presentation (50 percent) and the quality of technical elements (50 percent).
The competition judges— all Pixelworx brand ambassadors—were independent filmmakers Mario Cornejo and Monster Jimenez, best known for 2005’s Big Time and 2015’s Apocalypse Child; director-cinematographer Yam Laranas, who helmed 2001’s Radyo and 2004’s Sigaw (remade in Hollywood as The Echo); and award-winning screenwriter and author Ricky Lee.
As brand ambassadors, the four led earlier this year a series of workshops in film production, cinematography, direction and scriptwriting to assist participants in making their own movies. These workshops, Power Mac Center said in a statement, are “supported by tutorials for iMovie, GarageBand and Final Cut Pro X.”
“The entries to this year’s Pixelworx competition showcase the talent and resourcefulness of Filipino artists. We are honored to introduce the visual storytellers who truly rose up to our challenge of filmmaking using Apple devices only,” Power Mac Center Marketing Director Joey Alvarez said in the statement.
Cinemansanas was the second installment of Pixelworx, Power Mac Center’s advocacy of recognizing artists who break the standards of the art scene. Pixelworx is celebrated with a series of workshops, live demonstations, and an ultimate art challenge. ALVIN I. DACANAY