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Are you ready for another #HeleChallenge?
Due to insistent public demand, the Film Development Council of the Philippines’s (FDCP) Cinematheque Centre Manila is rescreening Lav Diaz’s award-winning Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery) this week and May.
This film by the soulful, multi-awarded independent filmmaker on the convergence of history, mythology, literature, and nationalism received rave reviews after its premiere at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize for opening new perspectives in cinema.
Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis pays tribute to our nation’s history and culture by mixing fact with fiction, by introducing Filipino national heroes and historical figures with the country’s best-known literary characters and monsters from folklore in its Philippine Revolution-era narrative.
Using Diaz’s signature long, still camera shots, and black-and-white palette, Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis is a contemplative journey through the Katipunan revolt, of Gregoria de Jesus’s search for her husband Andres Bonifacio, and of Isagani and Simoun’s escape into safety following the latter’s failed plan for our country’s freedom.
The eight-hour, five-minute film is populated by memorable characters brought to life by a stellar cast of notable commercial and independent film actors: Piolo Pascual, John Lloyd Cruz, Hazel Orencio, Alessandra de Rossi, Susan Africa, Joel Saracho, Bart Guingona, Cherie Gil, Angel Aquino, and Bernardo Bernardo.
Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis screens at the Cinematheque Centre Manila on April 25, as well as all Fridays and Sundays of May: May 2, 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27, and 29.
Screenings begin at 11 a.m., with one one-hour break and one 30-minute break. Tickets cost P200 each, and may be bought at the Cinematheque an hour before the screening, or in advance.
For more information, visit www.fdcp.ph.