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The Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival and Competition, considered the Philippines’ leading festival of its kind, is adding a section showcasing Asian films, offering a venue for filmmakers facing censorship in other parts of Asia.
Cinemalaya organizers said in a news conference at the Cultural Center of the Philippines last Thursday the festival’s new “Independents: Asia section” will be opened by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou’s acclaimed Coming Home, starring Gong Li.
Also to be shown are 10 award-winning films from China, Cambodia, Japan, Myanmar, India, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
The Philippines enjoys one of the freest independent film scenes in the region, so movies censored in other countries can be screened at the festival, said prize-winning director and actress Laurice Guillen, president of the Cinemalaya Foundation, which is mounting the festival for the 11th year. The film fest, which has “Broadening Horizons” as its theme, will run from August 7 to 15 in Manila.
“Those which cannot be shown in their own countries because of some kind of [censorship], you can show it here, because we have the freedom,” Guillen told reporters.
She said that, as a modest start, Cinemalaya invited Asian filmmakers to showcase their films for this year’s festival, but that hopefully a regional competition can evolve in the future. She didn’t name which Asian celebrities were invited to attend this year’s festival because they had not yet responded.
“While it has sought to nurture Filipino filmmakers through the yearly competitions, Cinemalaya aims to inspire Asian filmmakers by showcasing the Philippines as the cinematic center of creativity and free artistic expression….” the organizers said in a statement.
Asian films to be screened this year—though not necessarily censored in their countries—include The Ferry and Poet on a Business Trip from China; The Move and The Owners from Khazakstan; The Monk from Myanmar and the Czech Republic; The Last Reel from Cambodia; Six Feet High from India; Summer Kyoto and the Oscar-nominated The Tale of the Princess Kaguya from Japan; and The Night of Silence from Turkey. AP WITH TMM