Película Spanish Film Festival 2011

Year in and year out, several foreign-film festivals are held in Manila and sometimes, in the provinces.

One big hit with the masses is the Película Spanish Film Festival, now on its 10th year. Instituto Cervantes’ Película Spanish Film Festival is turning 10 this October. And it promises to be the biggest and best showcase yet of Spanish movies in the Philippines.

 With events tied in with the celebration of Jose Rizal’s 150th anniversary (the unveiling of a new Spanish translation of Noli Me Tangere in November at the Instituto) as well as a decade of Spanish-Filipino cultural exchange, the Instituto Cervantes proudly introduced its lineup of Spanish films.

Multi-awarded films like Primos (Cousins), Yo, Tambien (Me, Too), and the Javier Bardem starrer Biutiful make their Philippine premier at the festival.

Didi Hollywood (Director: Bigas Luna)

Other films include the period drama Lope, a story chronicling the life of Spanish playwright Lope de Vega; Bigas Luna’s Didi Hollywood about an aspiring actress who decides to move to Miami to try her luck in the Latino world; and the 2010 Spanish thriller film directed by Rodrigo Cortés, Buried, which follows the story of a US contractor (Ryan Reynolds) who wakes up finding himself buried alive inside a coffin. 

La Vergüenza (The Shame) (Director: David Planell)

\Another highlight of the festival is “Diez años de Película (10 Years of Película),” a special cycle of audience choice winners of previous Película instalments from 2004 to 2010, featuring films like Alejandro Amenábar’s Mar Adentro, Isabel Coixet’s La vida secreta de las palabras (The Secret Life of Words), and Nacho Vellila’s comedy Fuera de carta.

Running at the Greenbelt 3 ground floor is a photo exhibition also titled Diez años de Película (10 Years of Película), which documents the history of Película from its inauguration in 2002 to becoming one of the biggest showcases of Spanish and Latin American films in Asia.

Biutiful (Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Javier Bardem)

The annual festival presents work by some of the most innovative and engaging artists from the Hispanic community for the local audience of film lovers, journalists and film industry representatives to enjoy.there is  a sense of familiarity Filipinos feel when watching Spanish films and television shows. The films bring to the Philippines a very accurate picture of what Spanish people go through nowadays

 Regular run of all films, with English subtitles, will take place from Oct. 5 until 16 at the Greenbelt 3 Cinemas. Specific times and ticketing information are available on the Festival website, www.pelicula.ph.

DATE	TIME	PARTICULARS
October 5 (Wednesday)	4:30pm	Fuera de carta
	7:00pm	La Verguenza
	9:30pm	Primos
October 6 (Thursday)	4:30pm	La zona
	7:00pm	Biutiful
	9:30pm	Morirse esta en hebreo
October 7 (Friday)	4:30pm	La verguenza
	7:00pm	Yo, tambien
	9:30pm	Tambien la lluvia
	12:00am	Didi Hollywood
October 8 (Saturday)	2:00pm	El secreto de sus ojos
	4:30pm	Mal dia para pescar
	7:00pm	Elsa y Fred
	9:30pm	Lope
	12:00am	Habitacion en Roma
October 9 (Sunday)	2:00pm	Mar adentro
	4:30pm	Buried
	7:00pm	Tambien la lluvia
	9:30pm	El gran Vazquez
October 10 (Monday)	4:30pm	Mil cretinos
	7:00pm	Todas las canciones hablan de mi
	9:30pm	Buenas noches, España
October 11 (Tuesday)	4:30pm	La vida secreta de las palabras
	7:00pm	Gordos
	9:30pm	Primos
October 12 (Wednesday)	4:30pm	En la ciudad sin limites
	7:00pm	Amador
	9:30pm	Buried
October 13 (Thursday)	4:30pm	El gran Vazquez
	7:00pm	Viridiana
	9:30pm	Yo, tambien
October 14 (Friday)	4:30pm	El secreto de sus ojos
	7:00pm	Chico y Rita
	9:30pm	Primos
	12:00am	Habitacion en Roma
October 15 (Saturday)	2:00pm	Fuera de carta
	4:30pm	Gordos
	7:00pm	Biutiful
	9:30pm	Mar adentro
	12:00am	Didi Hollywood
October 16 (Sunday)	2:00pm	Lope
	4:30pm	Todas las canciones hablan de mi
	7:00pm	Chico y Rita
	9:30pm	Audience Choice

Cinemanila losing its luster...

 My first day of watching two cinemanila films is a reaffirmation of my earlier posted blog: that  Cinemanila2010  will   suffer the same fate it had during the past few years of dwindling audience.

Being an avid fan of film festivals in manila (Cinemalaya Indie filmfest , Fiesta Spanish filmfest, and Cinemanila, to name a few), i was very vocal on the dismal turnout of last year's event when it was held in Market Market in Taguig. Perhaps the venue was an unpopular choice for the organizers.The access by the viewing crowd is i guess a big factor .   I usually do marathons of three films a day. Last year, there was a film i saw wherein we were less than twenty inside the cinema.  And for the two films i saw yesterday,the same thing happened with less than twenty people inside the Robinsons cinema. I remember vividly the time when it was held in Greenbelt Cinemas in Makati and Gateway in Quezon City. Each screening is at least "bankable" or has favorable numbers.

What made me wonder and quite irritated   was the fact that they even charged a high ticket fee of P300.00 for  the USA/UK/Canada  film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World . When i asked the cinemanila staff why so high, they said "it was the instruction of the distributor. this is the only screening in the Philippines." A guy told me that he already saw the film thru a DVD he bought in quiapo. No more second thought.  i would rather look for that P20 pesos dvd than spend P300.00

At least i liked the Korean  film The Housemaid  an erotic thriller film directed by Im Sang-soo. The story focuses on Eun-yi  who becomes involved in a destructive love triangle while working as a housemaid for an upper-class family.intrigue, passion and betrayal follow as well as a scene where Eun-yi hangs from a chandelier. a  remake of Kim Ki-young’s cult 1960 Korean movie of the same name. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORN-wSZd7-E

The festival is closely identified with its founder, filmmaker Tikoy Aguiluz, who has a reputation as a maverick. In 2006, he accused the Philippine media of not doing enough to promote the fest,ival and independent films, stating at a news conference: "All I want from you writers are three lines and a picture promoting the festival. Why do you think it's so hard for independent producers to have success here, locally? I haven't seen any support from either broadsheet or tabloids with any story on independent cinema.

I guess the organizers should do a serious assessment or refocusing on how the event is being handled. Perhaps they are not really getting the support of the media in publicizing the films.


An erotic thriller, a humorous love story, and a film about football are among the nine films competing in the International category of the 12th Cinemanila International Film Festival, which will run from Dec. 1 to 5 at Robinsons Galleria, Quezon City.Six feature films will compete in the section called “Southeast Asian Cinema.” Other programs include “Taiwan Alternate Currents,” “World Cinema,” “Asian American,” “Cinemanila Netpac,” “Digital Lokal,” “Young Cinema: Documentaries in Competition,” “Documentaries in Exhibition,” “Young Cinema Shorts,” “Philippine Panorama” and “Critics’ Pick.”
http://www.cinemanila.org/2010/