DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 October) – A total of 61 films, including five feature-length titles, will be showcased during the five-day 10th Ngilngig Asian Fantastic Film Festival at the Cinematheque Centre Davao.
Bagane Fiola, festival director, said during PEP Talks on Friday that films produced by seasoned and emerging filmmakers from across the Philippines and Asia will be screened during this year’s festival, which is slated for October 25 to 29.
Of the five feature-length titles, two are produced by Filipino filmmakers while the three others are by international filmmakers from Bhutan, Japan, and Indonesia, all of which will be screened for the first time in Davao, Fiola said.
He said “Moneyslapper,” a film by Filipino filmmaker Boy Ocampo, starring popular actors John Lloyd Cruz and Jasmine Curtis Smith, will open the festival.
According to a briefer, the film is a revenge story of Daniel, played by Cruz, a poor man from Porac, Pampanga, who “abandons his motherland after winning the biggest cash prize in the history of Philippine lottery.”
Meanwhile, other full-length films include “The Gesuidouz” by Kenichi Ugana, of Japan; “Makamisa: Phantasm of Revenge” by Khavn, of the Philippines; “I, the Song” by Dechen Roder, of Bhutan; and “The Book of Sijjin & Illiyyin” by Hadrah Daeng Ratu, of Indonesia.
The festival features 56 short films, including 29 titles from other Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Cambodia, Brunei, Iran, Palestine, China, and Vietnam.
For short films, Fiola said the festival organizers have lined up “Third Eye” and “Ngilngig Visions” sections for competing and non-competing short films, respectively.
He said a total of 15 short films will compete for “Best Ngilngig Philippines Shorts” and “Best Ngilngig Asian Shorts” categories. He said feature-length titles are all non-competing.
Competing entries include films produced by Mindanawon filmmakers, he added.
“They are very prolific,” Fiola said of the Mindanawon filmmakers.
He noted that they continue to produce films despite receiving minimal support.
Fiola expressed hope that the filmmaking community in Mindanao will gain increased backing from various sectors.
Ngilngig is a Cebuano word for “ghastly.”
According to a briefer, the festival expanded its scope from a horror-genre festival when it started in 2010 to “become one of the fantastic film festivals in Southeast Asia by extending its reach to neighboring countries’ ‘ngilngig’ stories and foregrounding their ‘di ingon nato’ or the not-like-us, and the other—the marginalized and oftentimes demonized.”
The festival is organized by Pasalidahay, Inc., a Davao-based collective of filmmakers and enthusiasts “who recognize the importance of film as a platform for expression and of change; who value the diversity of audiences, and who are on a mission to cultivate a local filmgoing culture that is critical and appreciative through organizing workshops, film talks, screenings, and fora.” (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
