FILIPINO SHORT FILM SCREENING

with Mervin Espana, Curator of South East Asian Cinema's Conference

This Thursday mê phim welcomes Mervin Espana to show a selection of Filipino short film at Himiko Cafe. Mervin has recently curated the 6th annual South East Asian Cinemas Conference here in HCMC.

Mervin is also currently carrying out research on new creative cultures, particularly non-gallery based contemporary art practice, media-based art, new music, film- and video-making practice in Saigon.

All films will be subtitled in English

FREE

contact: mephimcine@gmail.com

DANCING FOR DISCIPLINE

Philippines 2007 17 mins

Directed by Pepe DioknoA documentary about the famous dancing prison inmates from the Philippines.

SURREAL RANDOM MMS TEXTS PARA ED INA, AGUI, TAN KAAMONG YA MAKAKAILIW ED SIKA : GURGURLIS ED BANUA (Surreal Random MMS Texts for a Mother, a Sister, and a Wife who longs for you : Landscape with Figures)

Philippines, Saudi Arabia 2008 15 min

Directed by Chris Gozum

Using a Pangasinan-language translation of Filipino-American writer-activist Carlos Bulosan’s 1942 poem “Landscape with Figures” as a narration, a young expatriate Filipino filmmaker working in the Middle East sends surreal, random and found digital images of displacement and longing to his loved ones in the Pangasinan region in the northern part of the Philippines.

HUNGKAG (Hollow)

Philippines 2010 23:55 min

Directed by Carlo Francisco

Manatad“Hungkag” tells the story of one particular night in the city seen through three different Individuals. Isa, a convenience store clerk with depression; Josemari, a gang member struggling with his conscience on his first murder assignment; and Caloy, a taxi driver in a point of desperation. The three lives interconnect within a night’s series of events.

The film received the Best Thesis Award for Narrative Film from the UP Film Institute this year.

HINAGAP AT GUNITA (Of Remembrance and Recollections)

Philippines 2010 16:55 min

Directed by Jaimee Santos

Through an obscure company offering memory erasure services, Julia Salazar relives the past forty years of her life. As she goes through rooms containing her memories, she revisits an old affair—one that occurred right before her marriage.
Hinagap at Gunita is loosely based on Paz Benitez’s "Dead Stars" and Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. It is a recipient of an achievement award for narrative film from the UP Film Institute this year.

ANG SANDALING SADYA NINA LIRE AT ISA (Lire and Isa's Unforgettable Encounter)

Philippines 2010 28:00 min

Directed by John Francis Losaria

Lire is on a special delivery errand for his father. Isa, meanwhile, is armed with a grocery list and a message. Their paths cross in the way to the barrio. In any other place, it would be a normal afternoon where children meet, share songs, toys and stories, maybe even take a liking to each other. But it is Christmas time in the Philippine countryside, amidst a long standing guerilla war. Here, boys and girls have no choice but to grow up fast, because in a place like this, even kids cannot be so innocent.