Stories still rule at CineFilipino

The CineFilipino film festival, organized by Unitel Productions in partnership with the MVP Group of Companies, promises to offer from February 2 to 8, 2016 a fresh spin on independent or “indie” films: more moving stories and a wider range of genres.

“Life is comprised of stories, and a lot of our personal stories are similar. This year’s selection of CineFilipino films takes these stories, retains the uniquely Filipino elements and tells them in a world-class manner. Many of these films will be entered in upcoming film festivals abroad,” said Madonna Tarrayo, president of Unitel Productions.

For the Feature-Length Narrative category, the selected films and their synopses are:

• 1st Sem (Directors: Dexter Hemedez and Illan Ibanez). When a child leaves home for college, it leads to a struggle between giving in to homesickness or choosing a good education and a better future. Sixteen-year-old Maru Marasigan chooses to give in and goes home to be with his mother. But instead of strengthening their relationship, the decision finds both mother and son drifting apart.

• A Lotto Like Love (Director: Carla Baful). This is not your typical love story. Kayela and Itot are brought together by a single desire: to win the lottery. But on their way to claim Kayela’s prize, they encounter thieves. To solve the problem, Kayela throws her bag into a moving bus, thwarting the thieves’ plan, but leaving them with a new problem: how to retrieve the bag with the winning ticket.

• Ang Taba Ko Kasi (Director: Jason Paul Laxamana). Losing weight is not an easy task. For Olga (Cai Cortez), it requires a huge amount of willpower, discipline and inspiration. She decides to enroll in a swimming class, where she meets a hot instructor who becomes her source of inspiration. And in her quest to win his affection, Olga takes on afternoon jogging sessions in a university campus, where she meets Benji, an equally fat man whose motivation to lose weight is to impress his ex-girlfriend. But as the two spend more time together, Benji finds himself falling in love with Olga. Will Olga still go through her plan, or choose to accept herself, fats and all?

• Ang Tulay ng San Sebastian (Director: Alvin Yapan). Superstitions have a way of becoming reality. In this film, ambulance driver Bong and nurse Francis tell each other ghost stories on a Good Friday while on their way home from Manila. While driving on the San Sebastian bridge, both men realize that their stories are coming true: a white lady hails the ambulance, a flying coffin chases them and they witness a ghostly reenactment of a vicious murder. Can they get out of this ghostly story cycle?

• Buhay Habangbuhay (Director: Paolo Herras). Sandy, a devoted housewife, dies in an accident. Soon afterward, her ghost appears and haunts the family home as she waits for the death of her husband Joel. Life goes on for her family while Sandy is in limbo, waiting to start the afterlife with Joel. But when Joel finally dies, he vanishes, leaving Sandy to wonder if all her efforts were in vain.

• Ned’s Project (Director: Lemuel Lorca). An itinerant tattoo artist joins a reality show for lesbians in the hopes of winning the prize money that will enable her to get artificially inseminated and achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a mother.

• Sakaling Hindi Makarating (Director: Ice Idanan). After Cielo’s (Alessandra de Rossi) breakup with her boyfriend of 11 years, she receives a set of mysterious, hand-illustrated postcards. Intrigued, she decides to pack her bags and go on a journey around the Philippines. As she makes her way from Luzon to Mindanao, lessons are learned, friendships are made, and the identity of the anonymous writer is slowly revealed.

• Straight to the Heart (Director: Dave Fabros). What happens when a gay hairdresser slips into a coma and wakes up as a straight guy? Filled with funny antics and uniquely Filipino hugot lines, this film is filled with the good kind of chaos as relationships and lives are turned around by this one major change.

• Van Damme Stallone (Director: Randolph Longjas). Mothers are expected to always give their 100 percent. But for mothers of children with special needs, they are expected to give more. The film tells the story of VanVan, a child with Down’s syndrome; his quest to become an artista; and his mother’s desire to make this dream happen.

The films were selected from 442 entries. The Feature-Length Narrative category alone attracted 151 submissions. For the new categories, 51 documentaries came in, while 34 were listed under TV Series. Under the Shorts category were a total of 206 entries: 164 for Short Features, 15 for Mobile and 26 for the Online Platform.

CineFilipino is also supported by Meralco and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC).

For more information, visit www.cinefilipino.com.