The Film Desk of the Young Critics Circle The 29th Annual “During currently trying times, Circle Citations it is imperative to look for for Distinguished spaces of resistance such as Achievement those offered by the arts, and cinema in particular. Aside in Film for from attempting to challenge 2018 the status quo, filmmakers need to negotiate the very + spaces from which they can Sine Sipat: pose this interrogation.” Recasting Roles and Images, Stars, Awards, and Criticism

August 16, 2019 Jorge B. Vargas Museum University of the Philippines Roxas Avenue, UP Campus | Diliman, Quezon City } The 28th Annual Circle Citations for Distinguished Achievement in 2018Film for + Sine Sipat: Recasting Roles and Images, Stars, Awards, and Criticism

1 2 The Citation he Film Desk of the Young Critics Circle (YCC) first gave its annual citations in film achievement in 1991, a year after the YCC was Torganized by 15 reviewers and critics. In their Declaration of Principles, the members expressed the belief that cultural texts always call for active readings, “interactions” in fact among different readers who have the “unique capacities to discern, to interpret, and to reflect... evolving a dynamic discourse in which the text provokes the most imaginative ideas of our time.”

The Film Desk has always committed itself to the discussion of film in the various arenas of academe and media, with the hope of fostering an alternative and emergent articulation of film critical practice, even within the severely debilitating culture of “awards.”

binigay ng Film Desk ng Young Critics Circle (YCC) ang unang taunang pagkilala nito sa kahusayan sa pelikula noong 1991, ang taon pagkaraang maitatag ang YCC ng labinlimang tagapagrebyu at kritiko. Sa kanilang DeklarasyonI ng mga Prinsipyo, ipinahayag ng mga miyembro ang paniniwala na laging bukas ang mga tekstong kultural sa aktibong pagbasa, sa “mga interaksiyon” ng iba’t ibang mambabasa na may “natatanging kakayahan para sumipat, magbigay-kahulugan, at mag-isip . . . bumuo ng isang dinamikong diskurso kung saan ang texto ay naghahamon para lumikha ng mga pinakaimahinatibong idea ng ating panahon.”

Ang Film Desk ay lagi nang nagsisikap na talakayin ang pelikula sa iba’t ibang arena ng akademya at media, sa pag-asang magsulong ng alternatibo at umuusbong na artikulasyon ng kritisismong pampelikula kahit sa loob ng nakababaldang kultura ng “mga award.”

3 Space under Duress

uring currently trying times, it is imperative to look for spaces of resistance such as those offered by the arts, and cinema in Dparticular. Aside from attempting to challenge the status quo, filmmakers need to negotiate the very spaces from which they can pose this interrogation. These attempts very often do not succeed, and for most, it is far easier to not make the effort. But for the sake of the few who do try and manage to wrest a bit of space, critical watching about cinema not only engages with nascent tendencies to commentary in a popular art form, but also catalyzes criticality in the making and watching of films.

The year 2018 produced 132 narrative feature-length films, both commercial releases (in cinemas and streaming services) and independent film festival entries. Though the number is a far cry from 2017’s 160, last year’s yield provided no shortage of notable works, of which the 18 films included in the YCC’s longlist are testament to. The YCC whittled this down to 10 in the shortlist, in a rigorous process of deliberating the merits of each longlisted film. Of note in this shortlist is the inclusion of two documentaries, reflecting the increasing visibility of the form and its potency as a tool of direct challenge. Documentaries have for some time been consistent features in local film festivals, and have most recently moved from specialized exhibition to main competition sections, an indicator that they draw audiences as much as narrative feature films can. For the first time in its 29-year history, the YCC has cited a documentary, Jewel Maranan’s Sa Palad ng Dantaong Kulang, its Best Film for 2018.

4 For the most part, films in 2018 were concerned with personal histories, with wider social issues providing an uneasy background to narratives. Films included in the shortlist focus attention on this tendency. Love under the aegis of neoliberalism fails to deliver its promises of romance and eternity. Women, different and difficult, negotiate their position in a patriarchal society that continues to deny recognition of identities and desires that challenge ageist expectations and rigid binaries. Comical mistakes hint at institutional weakness at the heart of the dark terminus of all pun-intendeds, light gaffes, and off-color jokes. Colonial history continue to be written in present struggles for social and gender justice and in fantastic myths impervious to restraints set by time. Everyday sufferings and small triumphs of the marginalized and invisible implicate heroic— albeit unremarked upon—struggles with the status quo.

To prescribe what should constitute good cinema is itself fascist, but to willfully turn away from the material conditions under which its production is either enabled or hindered, the social and political climate that determines how cultural forms like the cinema are engaged and how ideations of what a livable life—and a grievable death—should be, is also a shunning of a moral responsibility. The YCC, for its part, continues to support cinema that not only commands mastery of the form and fullness of vision, but also endeavors to bring to task--and problematizes its own positioning vis a vis--oppressive forces of state and big capital.

5 The Trans/gender of the Colony Jaya Jacobo

CALL HER GANDA Winner, Best Editing (Victoria Chalk) Nominee, Best Film (PJ Raval [director], Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, Marty Syjuco, Lisa Valencia-Svensson, and PJ Raval [producers]) Nominee, Best Screenplay (Victoria Chalk and PJ Raval)

6 J Raval’s documentary Call Her Ganda is an indictment not only of the court decision on the death of Filipina transgender woman Jennifer PLaude -- one that lowered the sentence of American serviceman Scott Pemberton from murder to homicide -- but also of the historical inequality between empire and its colonies, posing yet again the question whether the genocide committed under such circumstances may ever be framed according to the language of reparation available in the present. The case then becomes an opportunity for imperial rule to be interrogated in contemporary terms, and cinema tells the story of how a decolonial future, where emancipated subjects are able to articulate for themselves the just society they deserve, and may also be allegorized.

How does cinema proceed to A mother narrates how a trans delineate the anatomy of murder, at daughter affirms herself into the the same time that a pervading neo- beauty that will only be negated colonial condition is remembered by death. The sister is anxious to account for the loss of Jennifer’s about her queer child, after what life? The design of the documentary her trans sibling had suffered. is perspicaciously told from the Jennifer’s lawyer recalls how she gender that was violated, and this had to struggle to earn a degree decision to ground the pursuit of in university; she could not bear justice from a woman’s perspective seeing her family remain in imbues the film with a sensibility poverty, an aspiration shared that can only be feminist in its with Jennifer herself. A Filipina- recognition of the personhood that American trans journalist based in must be valued against the forces New York comes home to document and structures which limit her the case. She speaks to Jennifer’s capabilities as a subject. sisters at work, and writes about

7 a trans girl in Olongapo and how profoundest agonies of the wars she works. A Filipina trans activist that stole our land and seas. The chronicles the history of trans intruders raped and killed them. If women in the country prior to their lives were spared, they bodies empire, and describes how imperial were indentured to labor through architectonics have relegated her the promise of enlightenment and kind of women to the margins of modernity. With this intimate the post-colony. knowledge of the collective trauma that pains the country, it is no These women tell their stories, wonder that the women of the with Jennifer as premise of the colony are the first to emancipate telling. For the most part, they themselves. They very well know converse, to commiserate, at times that their gender is the gender disagreeing on certain terms of of the colony. Babaylans launch the case, but in the end, their a revolt. The women of Malolos narratives only posit a common demand to be educated. Women grievance. In the end, what Call have decolonized their minds long Her Ganda’s contribution is an before republics are imagined by insight on where empire might men. begin its admission of guilt. From one testimony to another, the film Jennifer Laude’s murder intensifies cannot tell us enough how justice the call to decolonize further the may begin to be served; the empire gender of the colony. Not all women must concede to the women of have been emancipated. Trans the colony. Women bore the women were left out, even by their

8 cisgender sisters. Call Her Ganda reminds us that the justice that remains to be served fundamentally exposes the cisheteropatriarchal basis of imperial violence. The genital predicament at the center of the crime against the subaltern woman is a question that is deeply embedded in white masculine privilege. It is hoped that the critique of such a regime of truth was activated by the evidentiary consciousness of the women who speak in the documentary. The gender of this critique can only be trans, and I, too, in the name of my sister, am seeking justice.

9 PastJaime Oscar M. SLingeringalazar

KUNG PAANO HINIHINTAY ANG DAPITHAPON Nominee, Best Film (Carlo Enciso Catu [director] and Roderick Cabrido and Omar Sortijas [producers]) Nominee, Best Performance (Perla Bautista) Nominee, Best Performance (Perla Bautista, Menggie Cobarrubias, Dante Rivero [trio performance]) Nominee, Best Screenplay (John Carlo Pacala) Nominee, Best Cinematography and Visual Design (Neil Daza [cinematography] and Marielle Hizon [production design])

10 ung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon (2018), directed by Carlo Enciso Catu, revolves around Tere (Perla Bautista) and Celso (Menggie K Cobarrubias), a couple who are both roughly in their seventies. Their partnership plays out as a riff off the truism that familiarity breeds contempt, being defined at least as much by peevish bickering and casual disparagement as by sincere respect and gentle concern. Their well- appointed home, where they spend most of their days, functions as the nerve center of their blended family—Tere has a son, Chito, and Celso a daughter, Marissa, from previous relationships.

On the same night that Tere and to revisit their divergent pasts and Celso celebrate their 27th year contemplate their shared present of togetherness over dinner with within the circle of illumination cast Chito, Marissa, and Marissa’s by the looming face of death. husband and children, Tere receives a telephone call, and learns that Although its screenplay, by Bene (Dante Rivero), the husband John Carlo Pacala, is given the from whom she has been long occasional stilted exchange or estranged, has been diagnosed with contrived moment—as well as terminal cancer and would like to subjects Chito and, especially, see her. Tere agrees, a decision that Marissa, to treatment that winds gradually leads her, Bene, and Celso up being somewhat adventitious—

11 Dapithapon deals with the the ostensible virtues of practicing imminence of the end of life in restraint, especially in one’s dotage. a manner that is largely pruned The act of waiting, in this sense, of melodrama and mawkishness. would appear to consist of adapting, It unreels at a deliberate pace, as necessary, to the vagaries of heightened in no small part by the life while asking as little of it as tendency of cinematographer Neil possible. The three main characters Daza to dwell on faces, to linger interact mostly with each other, on objects, evoking the gaze of one their respective residences, who, about to depart from home for particularly Bene’s ancestral house, an indefinite period, strives to bid serving as spaces where they all but farewell to each sight and impress cloister themselves. But a tension everything in memory. Moreover, obtains here: Bene, Tere, and Celso the characters of the film, even are clearly animated by desires that, in moments of crisis—and for in view of the inevitability of death, all their physical closeness and are staggering in their immodesty: psychological entanglement—rarely to be, to persist in being, and to yield to strong emotion, as if zealous do so in the company of familiar, of their dignity or obdurate in their if not necessarily beloved, others. docility before circumstance. How, then, to make sense of their apparent lack of avidity? If its title is any indication, the film is possessed of a hortatory or The austerity of passion that didactic spirit—the official English pervades the film finds its fullest translation is Waiting for Sunset, but expression in the person of Tere. it might be better rendered as How In spite of her being suddenly to Wait for Sunset. What it seems abandoned by Bene after more to seek to persuade viewers of are than 20 years of marriage—Bene

12 claims to have woken up one day that are everywhere prevalent, to the discovery that he no longer is professedly founded and has loved her—Tere acquiesces, without frequently foundered—as in the rancor, only nervousness, to his case of Tere and Bene. It is, rather, request for a visit, after which, an intimacy that is contingent on over his feeble protestations, she fear, casting out love in favor of takes it upon herself to look after comfort. Similarly, an undercurrent him; she later recruits Celso to of fear drives Bene to contact Tere, provide assistance. Moreover, in Tere to care for Bene, and Celso to an account of her own life that join Tere: a triangle of timor mortis. she narrates to Celso’s grandson, garbed, if clumsily, in the guise Perhaps they are right to be afraid, of a fairy tale about a Princess for disaster strikes whenever they of Quails, Tere indicates that the break out of the routines that choice that she and Celso made to they have established and seek enter into an unwed union was out quotidian pleasures: seeing arrived at out of neither ardor a movie, going to the beach. And nor materialism, but the need to yet one wonders what might be assuage the commonplace dread of possible were these characters far passing away alone, unwitnessed, less predisposed to “stop for death” unremarked upon. than to cultivate a keen thirst for the world that they will soon leave What Tere and Celso share, then, behind, holding each moment by is a species of intimacy that is not the stem and up to the dwindling premised on, and indeed declines, light before drinking it in. Waiting, the presumption of eternity on in this wise, is neither passive nor which the institution of marriage, resigned. not to mention notions of romance

13 VisionsSkilty Labastilla of Love

KUNG PAANO SIYA NAWALA Nominee, Best Editing (Lawrence Ang) Nominee, Best Cinematography and Visual Design (Ike Avellana [cinematography] and Christina Dy [production design])

14 hen the local mainstream film industry has specialized in churning out paint-by-numbers love stories, the release of a romance film Wthat gets it right is a cause for celebration. Kung Paano Siya Nawala is about Lio (JM de Guzman), a young man who suffers from face blindness: he cannot recognize people beyond his immediate family by their faces. He has to hear them clearly or focus on distinguishing marks on their visages. His life gets complicated when he meets and eventually falls hard for Shana (Rhian Ramos), a carefree barista bent on turning a new leaf in life.

The beauty of this film is not really The miracle in how Kung Paano hinged on the novelty of its story Siya Nawala breaks free from - it’s a fairly standard boy-meets- being a run-of-the-mill romance girl, boy-learns-of-girl’s-not so film lies on the excellent handling pleasant-past, boy-gets-insecure, of five significant elements of boy-asserts-masculinity-and- film: directing, performance, abruptly-repudiates girl, boy- cinematography, editing, and music, realizes-he-has-lost-good-person- as well as on its welcome take on and-woos-girl-back narrative. It can gender politics in local romance even be accused of taking a page off films. of MPDG (manic pixie dream girl) films, where the brooding male lead Director (and co-writer) Joel Ruiz character gets taught to embrace understands that the best romance life’s adventures by a flighty and films rely a lot on establishing quirky girl. mood. By letting the film breathe

15 and delight in minute details (e.g., the couple in embrace is slightly on the bed facing each other as they slowed down to heighten Lio’s wake up Lio tucks a stray clump initial confusion and eventual of hair clear of Shana’s face, Shana realization of how special Shana is covers her mouth with the tip of to him at that time. a blanket before saying “I love you” -- morning breath is real!), Ike Javellana’s lighting matches the Ruiz entices viewers to get into the film’s moods -- bathing the scenes groove of euphoric haze of young in sunshine during the lovey-dovey love. One standout scene is when phase; in hues of red and orange in Lio and Shana slow-dance in a bar the surreal and, for such a face- while Up Dharma Down’s “Anino” blind person as Lio, overwhelming, plays and Lio suddenly sees Shana bar scenes; and in cold blue during everywhere in the bar. While the the pivotal fight/breakup scene. music is set in the original tempo His shots and camera angles also and the movement of the people obviously play a huge part in around Lio and Shana (including making the film gorgeous to look at. the pseudo-Shanas) are shot at normal speed, the medium shot of Lawrence Ang, a previous YCC

16 awardee for Salvage (2015), lends various women he meets. The film his signature playful, snappy yet can be read as a commentary on fluid editing in putting together the sameness of the ideal modern scenes and manages to lend them female form, hairstyle and fashion. both weight and levity. In global consumerism, everyone wants to look a standard and, in a Lastly, acclaimed indie artist Armi way, we become face-blind until Millare renders the perfect sonic we get to know each individual by atmosphere to the film, never heart. overpowering it with music, respecting its silences. Millare and In the film, Shana rebukes Lio for her band UDD are now considered using his condition as a crutch; OPM giants because of the honesty when he lashes out at people and intimacy of their lyrics coupled and hurts them, he blames his with their inventiveness in their “abnormality” instead of the real compositions, and Millare brings reason -- his fragile masculinity. that to the film. It’s heartening that a film written by two men and directed by a man The film playfully works around the can be critical about men and the theme of vision/visuality in cinema: bullshit that women go through in what we see as viewers are what heterosexual relationships. Lio sees, so even we have to second- guess the real identities of the

17 REMITTING SALARIES, CLAIMING

IDENTITIESTito R. Quiling, Jr.

KUYA WES Nominee, Best Performance (Ina Raymundo) Nominee, Best Screenplay (Denise O’Hara and Heber O’Hara) Nominee, Best Cinematography and Visual Design (cinematography: Theo Lozada; production design: Ericson Navarro)

18 ur job is to process the money”—declares Joy (Moi Bien), a fellow clerk at the remittance center where the timid and amiable Wes “O(Ogie Alcasid) is employed. This common, although misinterpreted outlook, renders those workers who sit on the other side of window, to be cold and rather callous towards their clients. Kuya Wes by James Robin Mayo substantially departs from this stereotypical view. The film features a counter clerk nicknamed “Kuya Wes”, a moniker taken from their aptly- named remittance center: Western Remittance. From the regular humdrum that their work involves, a significant excitement in Wes’s life is prompted by a regular visit from one client in particular. Every 16th of the month, at precisely one in the afternoon, Erika T. Ginintuan (Ina Raymundo) and her two kids arrive at the remittance center to cash in her husband’s salary. But what sets the tone for their emotional, yet one-sided romantic relationship is a specific meeting involving a non-existent transaction from Erika’s husband overseas. Wes naturally acts as a Good Samaritan and Erika appears to engage with him in an organic manner. This incites major changes in Wes, who steps out of his docile self gradually as he tries to fulfill his quixotic objective.

Following his progress, Joy unsympathetic wife Tess (Karen correspondingly serves as his Gaerlan), along with their two mentor at work and as the voice unresponsive children, constantly of reason whenever he becomes overlooks Wes as an extended part too accommodating with their of their family. other clients. Another supporting character amplifies Wes’s character What serves as peripheral but development in the form of the important views on representations constantly distracted and seemingly of “those who are left behind” indifferent security guard Gervi by OFWs are the clients of the (Nestor Abrogena), who mentions remittance center who visit every and suggests that Wes should not now and then, to claim their listen entirely to other people, lest money. The following characters he ends up with nothing to do for additionally enhance the colorful himself. Throughout the narrative, space: the constantly disgruntled his main interactions revolve Rowena (Star Orjaliza), who always around his fellow staff members brings her gamecock, a short- and their clients as Wes is revealed tempered grandfather trying to to be detached from his remaining assert his independence and who is immediate family, where he is hard of hearing (Rene Concepcion), also staying. His younger brother chatty matron Tita Beverly (Rubi Raf (Alex Medina) and his largely Rubi), bickering siblings June (Raqs

19 Regalado) and Julio (Gerard Acao), when one has finished an act or an and Benjie (Edmund Santiago), who experience, but has yet to start the regularly swindles phone credits transition to the next moment of act from Wes by showering him with or experience in order to complete compliments. a rite.

Apart from adding sprightly On this note, the window of interactions to the mundanity of transaction serves as a threshold the transactions at the remittance that marks the clients’ participation center, these characters eventually and non-participation in society, function as a canvas for Wes when if they have the financial capacity. he tries to ask for their advice on Moreover, by focusing on how how he can invite Erika on a date liminal spaces entail a form of with him, to which they provide ritual as one goes through the site, varying replies, therefore, confusing upon entering, there are guidelines Wes. While the characters that clients need to accomplish providing financial support from first, such as filling out a form across the seas are only mentioned with specific information before in passing and are not represented they get a turn at the window with physically throughout the film, the the clerk, who then checks the remittance center serves as a liminal amount, before returning to the 1 space . The term is taken from the person with the necessary details concept of “liminality” (Turner, and their money. In addition, the 1974) described as the condition of light atmosphere projected by the ‘disorientation’ or ‘ambiguity’ that yellow and blue space exhibits the transpires during the middle phase condition of being “here” and “not of a rite of passage. This happens here” for the individual, as the in

20 between space that doubly sees the seasonal markers that the film function of sending and receiving refers to follow a succession of every time they are transacting. months, from February to June— Is there a hint of remembrance starting from Valentine’s Day, that is reinforced when people moving on to graduation season, remember that it is time to claim then underlining both Mother’s their remittance provided by their and Father’s Days—all while being OFW family member? faithful to the yellow and blue motif of the center. With these The remittance center becomes images, there is a certain awareness an area where family members for some of the commercialized are able to connect momentarily celebrations in society aside from because of their transactions, with Christmas, whose importance the monetary exchange acting as seems to be mainly anchored on a bond. The series of descriptions buying overpriced (but at times describe the value of how the inexpensive) gifts instead of center is a pivotal location that expressing true gratitude towards transcends physical distance people, without relying too much and tries to close the scope of on material conditions. the space, where the vastness is fixed in the minds of OFWs and Although not explicitly identified, their families. In addition, the one can possibly read that the film remittance center echoes how further attempts to represent the Wes anchors on his job and the permutations of autism given Wes’s place as a way of structuring his actions and level of comprehension identity and time. With fellow staff in ordinary situations. For members Joy and Gervi by his side, instance, mild autism could have a sense of community is nurtured, been demonstrated in how Wes which grows into a familial bond. possesses self-harming tendencies Contrary to the warmth provided after getting into a physical fight by the center, the main irony in the with his brother. This is due to Raf’s film displays how Wes’s sincere wife and children leaving their demeanor towards his immediate home when they were not able to family is not even reciprocated, nor pay for the electricity—which is was there any closure presented. one of Wes’s main contributions in their household. Having left his The passage of time is sensibly brother reeling from their fight, and tastefully woven into the Wes ventures out into the night, narrative, marked by the changes walking through the streets as he in the decorations inside the irregularly hits himself, until he center. Some notable holidays and passes out and wakes up outside

21 the remittance center, perhaps solve how much recognition there instinctively finding his way to his is for a person who is frequently true home in the city. With Wes as overlooked. Does one’s mere the central figure of enquiry in the presence merits recognition, even film, identity becomes a primary appreciation, or do people need to issue. Anchoring on this subject, provide any significant contribution the film attempts to analyze and in order to be acknowledged?

22 Wes then is able to assert himself A capitalist culture causes a from those who have previously pervasive notion of financial overlooked his presence. He breaks contribution as a primary and a out of his usual self when he starts significant way of helping others replying in a firm manner to his out and being independent. This clients, family, and even Erika particular perception is undertaken who all typically talk over him. in the themes that were presented His liberation takes place when he in Mayo’s Kuya Wes. What is a decides to be heard. Moreover, Wes significant depiction points to finally claims his identity through how despite the issues of debt, his name. This time, he is not the main character recognizes someone who is constantly referred that there are instances where to in relation to his workplace, but money cannot entirely, and not he pronounces his birth name. truthfully, guarantee appreciation Following a string of visits, he and recognition, as people each realizes that his ideal image of the have their own agenda in making woman may be entirely different. connections and engaging in Erika is one of the key people in his transactions of varying forms. life whom he used to undermine But more than the remittance of his identity in order to cater to their salaries, it is essential for people to needs, but eventually Wes takes claim (or perhaps re-claim) their control of his identity by detaching identities in order to provide a form himself from them. of liberation—from other people and even from themselves.

1 See Victor Turner’s “Liminal to Liminoid in Play, Flow, and Ritual: An Essay in Comparative Symbology” (1974).

23 TUMATANDANG PASULONG Aristotle J. Atienza

MAMANG Winner, Best First Feature (Denise O’Hara) Nominee, Best Performance (Celeste Legaspi)

24 ung tutuusin wala namang talagang dapat ikabahala, nakalilimot ang lahat. Pero itong hindi makatanda ang karaniwang sinasadyang Ktinatandaan, pinapalatandaan para matuldukan. Bilang tanda, isang pagmamarka ang matanda sa kasaysayan ng buhay na natatakdaan ng mga aparato ng lipunang nagbabandilang nararapat nating makamit ang isang matagumpay na pagtanda. Inihahain ng hindi dapat kaligtaang panganay na pelikula ni Denise O’Hara (sa pangarap na pakiusap na pagsikapang lumikha pa) ang Mamang bilang isang katanungang uusisa sa kawalan at kalabisan ng pagtanda ng babae. Kaya’t hindi light-hearted ang Mamang, at mas lalong hindi rin ito feel-good. Ang sabihing magaan at masaya lamang ang pelikula dahil pinalalabnaw ang diumano’y seryosong usapin ng pagtanda ay palipasin lamang ang posibilidad ng imahinasyon (sa kapangyarihan ng katatawanan) na magpanukala ng alangang daigdig sa pagtanda.

Tulad ng maniobra sa kamera anak na lalaki, si Ferdie (Ketchup sa simula patungo sa bahay Eusebio). Totoong kinayayamutan na siyang tagpuan ng pelikula, niya ang pagtanda, nagrereklamo papakialaman natin ang pang- pa nga kung bakit pinatatagal pa araw-araw na pamumuhay ng ang kamatayan gayong papunta isang nagkakaedad nang ina, si na rin naman, na pinagagaan ng Mamang (Celeste Legaspi) sa mga kaniyang anak na kagagaling lang panahong “kapiling” ang kaniyang sa nabigong trabaho at relasyon.

25 Maya’t maya ang harutan ng sa kasalukuyan. Pero hindi dalawa, sa pang-aalo ng anak sa nagaganap ang lahat sa anyo kaniyang ina na naniniguradong ng isang pagbabaliktanaw, gaya walang dapat alalahanin sa nang matatagpuan sa Rainbow’s panibagong buhay sa pagtanda Sunset (Joel Lamangan) o sa habang magkasama nilang Aria (Catu), kundi ipinopook ginagawa ang mga nakasanayan ito sa nagbabagong kalagayan na nilang mag-ina – sa tsismisang ng pagtanda ni Mamang na paglalakad sa kanilang komunidad, ipinararamdam sa kaibahan ng sa pagbabasa ng diyaryo sa sala pag-iilaw na maaaring tingnang habang nagtsatsaa, sa pagbisita kalabisan ng iba kaya’t nahuhulaan sa doktor, sa harap ng pagkain, sa pero mas pipiliing yakapin bilang hardin, at kahit maging sa pagtulog. kalakasan upang maisalaysay ang Pero paano kung ang seguridad na panibagong pagtingin sa inaakala ito ang mangamba? nating pagkasira ni Mamang.

Darating ang ulan at lindol, Kaparis ng daloy ng pagkaunawa hudyat sa sakunang darating ng pangunahing tauhan sa mga sa masinop na lumang bahay nangyayari sa kaniya, nagiging nina Mamang, hindi tulad ng bahagi tayo sa pagkilala sa buhay at bahay na sabayang kasaysayan ni Mamang na unti- gumuguho sa pelikulang Kung unting nagkakaroon ng kabuluhan Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon sa pagtatangkang bigyan ito ng mga (Carlo Catu). Babahain ang buhay paliwanag na kapani-paniwala. ni Mamang ng mga pagdalaw Anong nangyayari kay Mamang? mula sa iba’t ibang tauhan ng Bakit siya nagkakaganito? Pero kaniyang malapit at malayong hindi ba’t patas ding tingnan na nakaraan na yayanig sa kaniya nakapanghihikayat silipin ang upang maramdaman ang sari- pagtanda ni Mamang bilang iba saring emosyon ng nagpapatuloy pang uri ng pagsasadaigdig kung niyang buhay. Haharapin niya aangkingin ang pananaw ng isang ang babaerong asawa, makikipag- matanda. Sa pelikula ang unti- away sa dalagang kinalolokohan unting pagkahulog ni Mamang ay nito, gagambalain ng sundalong pagbabalik ng nakaraan bilang bigla na lamang sumusulpot na pagdanas sa kaniyang kasalukuyan, nagmamatyag pala sa minamahal hindi man ito katanggap-tanggap niyang “tulisan.” Bilang manonood, sa ibang hindi matatanda dahil sa maaari nating sabihing nagiging kawalan ng lohika ng pagkilala saksi tayo sa kuwento ng unti- sa mga partikular na buhay ng unting pagkahulog ni Mamang sa pagtanda o sa pangangailangang kaniyang mga nakakasalamuha sugpuin pa nga dala na rin ng

26 matinding medikalisasyon ng alaalang bumabalik-balik (na pagtanda sa kasalukuyan. (Posible nagmumula sa kaniyang kaloob- ito sa kondisyon ni Mamang pero looban) dahil umiiral sa kaniyang mas nagiging posible ang tindi paningin (at sa ating paningin, ng katotohanang nararanasan sa kaya’t nanggagaling sa labas). pelikula lalo’t nakikita’t naririnig). Dahil sa ganitong imahinasyon ng Maaaring tanawin ang pagtanda direktor, naipoposisyon tayong ni Mamang bilang trahedyang paniwalaan ang nakikita ni nagdudulot ng muling pagkabata Mamang at hindi lamang ituring sa isang nawaglit na panahon ng ang mga kaganapan bilang bahagi kaniyang mga naging pag-ibig ng kaniyang lumalalang kondisyon. pero dapat ding pagkatandaan Ang sirain ang kaniyang daigdig na nagaganap ang lahat ng mga sa pagkakaalam ng mga tunay ito sa panahon ng trahedya na pangyayari sa mariing ng panibagong pagkawala ng pagpapaalala ni Ines (Peewee kaniyang malapit na nakaraan. O’Hara) sa pagtatapos ng pelikula Nagpapatuloy ang buhay sa ay pagkasira naman talaga ng alanganing panganganak ng daigdig na sa una pa lamang ay mga bumibisitang tauhan naituro nang mahirap tanggapin. na nagbibigay-katuparan sa Pinagigising siya sa katotohanang kahilingang paulit-ulit maririnig sa hindi naman totoo para sa kaniya. awiting alay kay Santa Clara. Para Pinadadaan sa pagdadalamhating man ito sa mabuting panahon o sa itinuturing nating suliranin. Sa pinapangarap na pagdadalantao, huli, kung ganito rin lamang ang sa pelikula isa itong kahilingang pagtanda, walang ibang buhay naisasakatuparan sa kaniyang na pipiliin kundi ang makapiling unti-unting pagtanda bilang ang anak sa kabila. Mahihimlay muling panganganak. Hindi ito siyang wala na ang kinayamutang

27 pagtanda sapagkat haharapin itong nakaraan. Kahit pa nakapagdadala handang-handa na. ng suliranina ang mga lalaking nakakapiling niya, nakapagdudulot Masalimuot ang pagbabalik pa rin ito ng pakiramdam na ng noon dahil hindi man mahaba pa rin ang kaniyang nagkakasama ang malapit at buhok na maaaring hindi niya malayong nakaraan ni Mamang, maramdaman kung wala si malaki pa rin ang nababago kung Ferdie sa kaniyang tabi. Sa paano ituturing ang talastasan ganitong salimuot ng usapan ng malayo sa malapit. Ibig ng alangang buhay sa pagtanda sabihin, maaaring maiba ang nakapagbubukas ng posibilidad interpretasyon sa nakaraan sa ang pelikulang Mamang ng magkaibang panahon kaya’t isang pagtandang hinding- napapapayag na tanggaping hinding paurong. Buong pusong makabuluhan ang daigdig tinatanggap ni Mamang si Ferdie, ng kasalukuyan ni Mamang. sa hindi pagkilala ng kaniyang Kapansin-pansin dito, bagama’t ama, sa “eskandalong” naganap sa hindi talaga nagsasanib, ang trabaho kaya’t nagawang umalis, patuloy pa ring paninigurado ni at sa pag-ibig na hindi nasuklian Ferdie sa kalagayang nararanasan mula kay Albert. Nariyan na ni Mamang, ang kaniyang sa kaniya ang lakas ng loob ng pangungunsinti, na kahit na may anak sa suliraning binibitbit ng sariling suliraning pinagdadaanan mga pagbisita ng nakaraan sa ay nakakapagbahagi pa rin ng kaniyang panibagong buhay bilang kinakailangang gabay sa ina. matandang babaeng bakla na Ang anak ay nagiging ina sa nagkakaroon na ng kapansanan sa inang nagiging anak. Sa kaniyang pag-iisip. malayong nakaraan ay wala si Ferdie pero sa panibagong Hindi dapat kaligtaang nakapag- nakaraan na nasasaksihan niya ambag sa paghulma kay Mamang nakaaagapay muli itong umiiral ang mamarkahang pagganap sa kabila ng hindi pag-iral. Kahit ng isang Celeste Legaspi, lalo sa pagkawala ng anak nagiging na sa larawan ng matagumpay kapiling pa rin ito sa pagpasok na pagtandang nakakamit sa sa panibago na namang yugto kasalukuyan, na nakakikilalang sa pagtanda. Pero hindi lang tumimbang, dahil marahil niya nakakasalamuha ang anak pamilyar, sa mga paggalaw ng kundi nakapag-iiwan pa ng mga katawan na kailangang pagdaanan nakatutuwang pagsaling ng ni Mamang sa panahon ng alanganing buhay sa pagsagupa kaniyang pagtanda. Madaling niya sa muling pagsasalaysay sa sabihing nagagampanan niyang

28 mabuti ang papel dahil sa edad maaaring inaangking tagumpay pero mahirap din namang sa pagpapaksa at pagbibida isiping magagawa ito ng lahat ang matanda sa harap ng mga ng may edad nang artista na malawakang sirkulasyon ng matatagpuang bumabalik muli mga sari-saring pagpapabata, sa eksena sa kasalukuyan. Lalo mananatiling malaking na sa kalakaran ng industriyang katanungan pa rin kung paano hindi pa rin naman tumatanda ginagawang suliranin ang sa kabila ng mga mapangaraping katandaan upang maisiwalat deklarasyon ng bagong edad ng ang ikinukubling panggugulang pamemelikula sa pagtatanghal sa edad. Masayang malungkot, ng mga bago’t batang manlilikha, kaya’t matapang, na hinarap ang maitatanong kung anong uri ng suliraning ito sa Mamang na produksiyon ang naghihintay maaaring makaligtaan kaya nga’t sa matatandang tumanda na rin kailangang markahan. naman sa pelikula? Bagama’t

29 Woman, Mother, TransJaya Jacobo

MAMU; AND A MOTHER TOO Winner, Best First Feature (Rod Singh)

30 hat sorts of kinships are forged by a trans woman, particularly as she is forced by circumstances to perform motherhood? How does Wthis trans mother queer the terms of affinity? And what does she do to the family romance that beleaguers most Philippine predicaments? These are the questions which trouble Rod Singh’s debut film Mamu, and a Mother Too.

The premise can only be to trans girl Bona, her sister’s ingenious, fundamentally daughter. Mamu brings Bona challenging reproductive notions to Olongapo; in the former’s of motherhood, and the cisgender house, Bona must contend with structures which frame its Vincent, Mamu’s cis straight prejudices. “Mamu,” is that term partner; and the most awkward of endearment attributed to of arrangements are played out non-biological maternal figures, for familial affect to take place, queering them at the moment of among queer folxs. One must not being hailed as such, “Mamu”: also forget Bona’s induction into not my mother, but in a manner a queer community, thanks to the of speaking, and after all sorts of auspices of such matrilineage: silent reckonings, my mother too. trans aunts, trans sisters, queer The film points to this inevitability, friends, cis allies, and trans at the moment of the mother’s amorous boys, all would nurture death. Mamu, a trans woman sex their girl’s blossoming. worker, must become mother

31 At first, Bona’s introduction to involves her sassy daughter in the the household only exacerbates family business, and who finally the conditions of Mamu’s trans liberates an infantilized partner existence. If sex work can barely to explore the world of work he’s make ends meet for her and her always wanted to embrace. partner, a part-time mechanic, how can she, a woman past her prime, The ghost of maternal reproduction even support a daughter? The film, returns however in Bona’s as it proceeds, deftly shows us how repetition of Mamu’s primary Mamu copes with the demands of life of labor. After catching her the erotic economy; she bets on boyfriend cheat on her with a online sex, and sometimes, she wins fellow trans girl, Bona engages (her income from it contributes to in sex work, without Mamu’s her fund to augment her breasts, a consent, and even finds herself lifelong dream since affirmation). empowered in the process, to Beyond the tricks of her trade, Mamu’s amazement. What Bona Mamu affirms herself further as could not foresee through her own a creative laborer: a cook and an affirmation was the violence that entrepreneur who organically attended the work around her sex.

32 The context of the film intimated For its candid portrayal of a trans they had lived in the time of mother in the world of sex work, Jennifer Laude’s murder, and of and the various intimacies created course, in Olongapo, of all places. in such a proposition, Mamu, and One morning, Bona collapses, a Mother too is an ecstatic piece of and is rushed to the hospital. Her queer cinema in these moribund body had been abused, the doctor parts. The style would sometimes regrets. In order to prove Mamu’s yield to melodramatic demeanor, unconditional motherly love, the but its filmmakers, especially the film subjects her to all manners performers, must be lauded for of abjection. We ask whether this raising the complexity of the lives indignity was necessary to drive they played in high relief, that is, home the heroic point. And we ask beyond the frame of the social further: how much of the abjection script that engendered them on is seen less from an articulated screen. trans sufferance than an internalized cisheteropatriarchal condescension from within the queer gaze?

33 BirdJohn Bengan of Disquiet

MASLA A PAPANOK Winner, Best Screenplay (Gutierrez Mangansakan II) Nominee, Best Film (Gutierrez Mangansakan II [director], Manet A. Dayrit and Ed Lejano [producers]) Nominee, Best Cinematography and Visual Design (Willie Apa Jr., Arnel Barbarona, and Bagane Fiola [cinematography] and Paramata Endawan [production design]) Nominee, Best Sound and Aural Orchestration (Jem Talaroc [music] and Willie Apa Jr. [sound design])

34 girl named Elena (Alaska Ordona) instructs a younger girl how to make the sign of the cross in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary. A“Our Holy Queen,” Elena adds. The younger girl replies quickly, “My mother is also a queen.” Later, Elena likens the Kingdom of Spain to a tree with many branches. One of these, Elena says, is the Philippines. “Where is that?” the young girl asks. “This,” Elena says, naming the ground beneath them, “is the Philippines.”

Such are the stark, fable-like finds herself in the company of exchanges that animate Gutierrez Christianized Indios and Spanish Mangansakan II’s scrappily missionaries who baptize and name ingenious Masla A Papanok (Bird of her Clara. History). The film begins with Bai Intan (Quennie Lyne Demoral), a The Spaniards regard Clara as princess who fled from an arranged a trophy of their progress in marriage. After a long trek, she “civilizing” what they consider collapses outside a convent in as inhabitants at the “end of the Tamuntaca, a settlement near world.” Clara notices the kind, the mouth of the Rio Grande de biracial soldier Jorge (Krigi Hager), Mindanao, a place known today whose mother had converted to as Cotabato. As nuns in dark robes Christianity. In the succeeding flock around the princess and carry days, Elena teaches Clara Spanish her to the convent, the camera grammar, needlework, and Catholic ominously takes a bird’s-eye view. fatalism (“Wounds are the opening When Bai Intan wakes up, she of our bodies for divine light to

35 come in.”). When not tutoring led by a ruthless gobernadorcillo, Clara, Elena is seen prostrate before invade a ceremony where villagers an altar, or flogging herself in are communing with spirits, the penance. Meanwhile, one of the omen erupts into history. The nuns suspects Clara’s wandering villagers, including the Datu and outdoors as a ruse to get closer to the Bai, are massacred, leaving Bai their lone Moro gardener. Intan’s cousin, the young Dumingel (Ameir Hassan), the responsibility Mangansakan recreates two of seeking justice. temporal boundaries—historical and mythical—occupying the After this terror of the real, an same contested space. Bai Intan’s enchanted maiden rises from the seizure at the convent begins river, traipsing under the moon. the distortion of her identity and Soon after, a crocodile attacks the cultural memory, which happens Spanish soldiers’ campsite. Only shortly before the burning of two survive the incredible assault a Maguindanao village, and straight out of a folktale: Jorge and the sighting of an enormous his superior, the gobernadorcillo. bird believed to be a herald of But fearing the young man will bear misfortune. The film sheds away witness, the gobernadorcillo turns the opening sequences’ stifling to Jorge. “No one must know what black-and-white and renders in really happened,” he eerily foretells soft colors the ensuing scenes of life the logic of many atrocities to come. outside occupied territory. Language plays a prominent role in These events converge in a ritual. Mangansakan’s vision. The many As Spanish and Indio soldiers, tongues spoken in Masla A Papanok

36 represent cultures and worldviews Spanish filmmakers ever reckoned thriving in Mindanao before the with our shared past, and done so arrival of Spanish colonizers. using Tagalog, Cebuano, Teduray, However, the film’s multilingualism Maguindanao and many others of also reveals flaws. Apart from a our local languages? If at all, how noticeable spartan production often and how accurate? To his value, the acting and stilted diction credit, Mangansakan allowed his of the actors portraying European Spanish characters to speak their characters momentarily distract. language, fluency notwithstanding. Even so, Mangansakan positions How many times can this be said his actors in such a deliberate about Spanish cinema with respect manner, as though these figures are to the histories of our islands? speaking from old photographs that have never been seen until now. Certainly, there are recent He offers us emblematic tableaus Filipino films with higher of Mindanao at the turn of the production values, boasting of century, but in moving images. industry-grade polish. And yet a lot of these productions rest Perhaps in the centennial year of the blame on the audience—and our cinema, something must be the larger population—for our said about the depiction of white seeming indolence in the face of colonizers in Philippine movies and treachery, abuse, and historical our discomfort in seeing them not amnesia. Austere, improvisational, so realistically depicted. Has there truly independent in spirit, been a Philippine film that featured Masla A Papanok points in the Spanish characters speaking in right direction regarding who impeccable Castellano? Have among us wanted our stories left unremembered and untold. 37 Mukha’t Pag-ibig: Hinggil sa Never Not Love You (2018) Christian Jil R. Benitez

Never Not Love You Winner, Best Performance (Nadine Lustre) Winner, Best Sound and Aural Orchestration (Len Calvo [music] and Jason Conanan, Kat Salinas, and Mikko Quizon [sound design]) Nominee, Best Editing (Benjamin Tolentino) Nominee, Best Cinematography and Visual Design (Mycko David and Carlo Mauricio [cinematography] and Ana Lou Sanchez [production design])

38 a dulong bahagi ng Never Not Love You (2018) ni Antoinette Jadaone, makikitang nagmamaneho si Joanne (Nadine Lustre) papasok Ssa kanyang trabaho nang tumawag ang kanyang matagal nang kasintahang si Gio (James Reid). Sabik na ibinalita nito sa dalaga na inalok siya ng panibagong proyekto ng pinagtatrabahuan niyang kumpanya sa London; subalit, higit pa sa nasabing proyekto, higit na ikinasasabik ni Gio na ibalitang sa huli, pinili niyang tanggihan ang proyekto para sa halip ay umuwi na lamang sa Maynila nang magkasama na silang muli ni Joanne. Mahigit dalawang taon din ang kanilang naging pagkakalayo, kaya ikinatuwa rin ni Joanne ang balita. Gayunpaman, matapos bitiwan ni Joanne ang kanyang “Bye, I love you, see you soon!” para kay Gio, nang ibaba na niya sa wakas ang tawag ng kasintahan, kahit pa nakatingin pa rin ang dalaga sa kanyang daraanang kalye at ipinasisilay lamang sa mga manonood ang kalahati ng kanyang mukha, mababanaag ang pagbabago sa mukha ni Joanne, mula sa pananabik nga habang kausap si Gio tungo sa hitsurang hindi ganap na matitiyak, kung pagkabagabag ba o pagkabigla sa ibinalita ng kasintahan, o kanyang pagkatuon lamang sa pagmamaneho sa abaláng kalye ng Maynila.

Ang sandaling ito ng hindi kaliwang kamay sa manibela at katiyakan sa mukha ni Joanne ang kanan naman sa kaliwang ay hindi hihigit sa tagal na kamay ni Gio, pinakikinggan sa dalawampung segundo, bago radyo ang awiting minsan na rin muling magpapatuloy ang nilang narinig habang naglalakad montage na magwawakas lamang sa Greenbelt, kung saan sinabi sa pagsalubong ni Joanne kay ni Joanne kay Gio na handa na Gio sa paliparan na ng Maynila. siyang magpatato sa binata—ang Tutungo ang magkasintahan sa magiging tanda ng kanilang tattoo shop kung saan dating magiging matagal na pagsasama. nagtatrabaho si Gio, para doon mapatungan muli ang nangupas Totoo sa pamagat nito, inilalatag ng na nilang tatung singsing; mula Never Not Love You ang isang uri ng doon, magkasama silang umuwi, matatag, kung hindi man palagiang dinaanan ang mga lugar sa pag-ibig sa kasalukuyang Pilipinas, lungsod ng Makati na minsan sa pagitan ng mga tauhang sina nilang pinaglagian, hanggang Joanne, isang dalagang white- sa maglaho ang imahen sa collar na manggagawa na tanging pinilakang-tabing sa itim. Ang layunin ang maging assistant huling imaheng iniiwan ay brand manager; at Gio, isang ang magkasintahan sa loob ng Fil-Am tattoo artist at graphic sasakyan ni Joanne, ang kanyang designer na, dahil hinintuan

39 nang tustusan ng kanyang Gio na makahanap ng kumpanyang amang Amerikano, kinailangang mapagtatrabahuan sa London, maghanap ng trabahong higit na at sa kadalian o kapalaran din ni makatutustos sa kanyang mga Joanne na matagpuan ang kanyang pangangailangan. Mula sa mga magiging kasintahan sa mahabang ganitong pinagmumulan ng mga panahon—mga pagpapalibang tauhan, higit na napahahalagahan nababagay lamang bilang takda ang motif ng paglalakbay na na ang mga ganitong kadalian at karaniwang matatagpuan sa kapalaran sa pelikulang hayagang mga pelikula ni Jadaone: ang romanse ang moda—nakikita paglalakbay sa pelikula mula ang pinakahalaga ng Never Not siyudad ng Makati hanggang Love You sa tangkang pagsuri London ay pakikipagsapalarang sa pagkakataon ng pag-ibig sa tulak ng mga materyal na panahong neoliberal: sa tauhan pangangailangan ng mga tauhan. ni Joanne, hindi na lamang Sa ibang salita, hindi na ito pawang ipinalalabas ang isang dalagang paglalakbay para lamang hanapin umibig, kung hindi isang dalagang o buuin ang sarili sa pamamagitan umibig alinsabay sa kanyang ng mga tangkang pamimilosopiya pangangailangang magtrabaho sa buhay pag-ibig (tulad sa That para maitaguyod ang kanyang Thing Called Tadhana (2014)) o pamilya sa Zambales. pamilya (tulad sa Love You to the Stars and Back (2017)). Kaya naman Ang mga materyal na sa huli, ang pinapalabas pala ng pangangailangang ito ni Joanne pelikula ay isang uri ng pag-ibig ang nagtulak sa pinakamahalagang na maláy sa muhon din nitong sandali sa kanyang relasyon pinakamateryal. kay Gio: nang nanirahan na ang dalawa sa London mula Sa pagturol sa ganitong pag-iibigan nang kunin doon si Gio para bilang nakamuhon sa materyal, magtrabaho, nagsimulang lumiit hindi ito nangangahulugan ng ang mundo para kay Joanne, sa pagiging mababaw nito, ayon na kanyang kawalan ng kakayanang rin sa karaniwang konotasyon gawin ang mga bagay na nais ng pagiging materyalista; sa halip, niyang gawin para sa sariling ang pagmumuhong ito pa nga sa karera at sa kalagayan ng kanyang materyal ang nagpapalalim dito, sariling pamilya, kung kaya sa huli, sapagkat higit na makatotohanan pinagpasyahan niya na bumalik bilang karanasang nakikilala na lamang sa Pilipinas upang ng nakararaming manonood na dito bumuo ng pangalan para Pilipino. Liban na nga lamang sa kanyang sarili. At sa kanyang marahil sa kadalian o kapalaran ni pagbalik, naging matagumpay

40 nga si Joanne sa pagbubuong ito: banda ang palabas bilang isang kinalaunan, nakamit din niya pagbabanghay sa karaniwang ang pinakaaasam na pamagat ng pantasya hinggil sa pag-unlad sa pagiging assistant brand manager, Pilipinas ng kasaluyang panahon. na nagbigay-daan sa kanya Dito rin nakikita ang paggana ng para mapagawa ang bahay ng romanse sa pelikula: sapagkat kanyang pamilya sa Zambales at gumagana ang romanse sa makapagpundar para sa kanyang idealidad, naaangkop lamang na sariling sasakyan. Pinakakritikal malangkapan ang romanse ng ang huli, sapagkat sa materyalidad kasalukuyan ng praktikalidad ng sasakyang naipundar ni at pagsasalalay sa materyal na Joanne, nakabuo ang pelikula mga pangangailangan, dahil sa ng isa nang pag-ikot: mula sa ganitong paraan lamang din pawang pag-angkas ni Joanne sa napananatiling ideal sa isang motorsiklo ni Gio, si Joanne na ang banda ang romanseng ipinalalabas nagmamaneho para sa sarili sa para sa nakararaming manonood. sarili rin niyang sasakyan tuwing Kaya bagaman mukhang kakaiba papasok ng opisina. sa mga pelikulang nagawa ni Jadaone, kung hindi man sa mga Sa ganitong paraan nakikita pelikulang romanse sa henerasyon ang higit palang tuon ng ng kasalukuyan, ang ipinalalabas pelikula kay Joanne, at mula lamang din sa Never Not Love You dito mapahahalagahan sa isang sa isang banda ay ang parehong

41 romanse, subalit sa anyong Not Love You bilang sulyap sa nakahabol na sa kasalukuyang maaaring anyo ng gayong pelikula, kalagayang sosyo-ekonomiko at sa gana ng mga sandali nitong mga pagdidiskurso hinggil dito, kritikal sa kanilang tuon sa mga kung kaya nagmumukhang bago, damdaming pinakakaraniwan sa kung hindi man progresibo, bilang kasalukuyan. Tulad na lamang isang pelikulang romanse. ng naunang inilarawang sandali sa dulong bahagi ng pelikula: Gayunpaman, hindi pa rin ganap sa pagbabago ng mukha ni na mapawawalang-halaga ang Joanne sa balita ng pagbabalik nasabing pelikula at pawang ni Gio, pagkabagabag nga ba ito ikahon ito bilang tulad lamang ng o pagkabigla? Pagkabagabag ba iba pang pelikulang romanse sa itong munti sa gana ng pawang kasalukuyan, sapagkat sa isang pagkabigla sa balita? Pagkabigla banda, hindi nga rin ito basta ba itong nabagabag subalit tulad ng mga nasabing pelikula. lilipas? O baka nga lamang ito ang Marahil hindi pa nga ito ang pagkatuon niya sa pagmamaneho pinakamatatalas na pelikulang sa abaláng kalye ng Maynila? Na romanse na susuri sa kasalukuyang marahil sanhi ng pagkabagabag o karanasan ng maraming Pilipino pagkabigla? (kung maituturing pa rin nga bang “romanse” ang ganitong pelikula), Anupaman sa mga ito, sa subalit nakapananabik ang Never pagwawakas ng pelikula,

42 sasalubungin at susunduin pa rin kumupas sa dilim ang pinilakang- ni Joanne si Gio at magkasama tabing ay hindi na matitiyak, sa silang uuwi. Sa ganitong paraan kabila ng mapagpahiwatig na totoo ang pamagat ng pelikula: awitin sa radyong sila ay “hindi na hindi nga mangyayaring bibitaw.” At sa hindi katiyakang kailanman na hindi na mamahalin ito, kung saan iniiwan na sa mga ni Joanne si Gio. Subalit, hindi manonood ang maaaring mangyari ipinapangako sa mga katagang sa magkasintahan, maaaring “I’ll never not love you,” na pinakakritikal ang pelikula, hindi magbabago ang anyo ng sapagkat tanging sa dami ng mga isinumpang pag-ibig: maaari pa posibilidad na maaaring makinita ring magpatuloy ang pag-ibig, ng isang manonood matapos ang subalit maging sa pinakakaibang pelikula nailalahad din sa kanya mukha na nito—pagkabagabag, ang lawas ng maaaring anyo ng pagkabigla, o maging pawang pag-ibig para sa kanya, sa abot pagkatuon sa pagmamaneho at ng sarili niyang materyalidad. kung ano pang mga gawaing Samakatwid, para sa mga maaaring hindi para sa iniibig manonood, ang pinilakang-tabing o pag-iibigan, kung hindi sa sandali ng hindi matiyak na para lamang sa sariling mga kalahating mukha ni Joanne ay pangangailangang materyal. Kaya sandali ring salamin para sa sarili kung saan papatungo ang pag- nilang mukha. iibigan nina Joanne at Gio matapos

43 Strumming the Void: Notes on Dwein Rueda’s Baltazar’s Oda sa Wala (2018) Christian Tablazon

ODA SA WALA Nominee, Best Film (Dwein Baltazar [director], Bianca Balbuena, Iana Bernardez, and Kriz Gazmen [producers]) Nominee, Best Performance (Marietta Subong) Nominee, Best Screenplay (Dwein Baltazar) Nominee, Best Cinematography and Visual Design (Neil Daza [cinematography] and Maolen Fadul [production design]) Nominee, Best Sound and Aural Orchestration (Richard Gonzales [music] and Immanuel Verona [sound design])

44 t its heart, the title Oda sa Wala already announces a perverse, desiring subject enfolded in a long and fraught enactment of Aapostrophe. The film opens with what is probably one of the most arresting and thoughtful first scenes in recent cinema: a lingering take of winged insects drawn in a graceful flurry to the ceiling light while an old, melancholic Chinese song (what initially seems a non-diegetic tune) plays in the background. The shot is later revealed to be Sonya’s POV, a woman in her 40s lying wide awake and alone in bed, immersed in the same song that turns out to be playing through her earphones from a Walkman. The door creaks and a disembodied hand slips into the crack to switch off the light in the room. Sonya waits for a while in the dark before getting up to turn the ceiling lamp back on. She returns to bed and resumes listening to the song, but the player gets jammed right away. She opens her Walkman and finds the tape spilled out of its cassette. The drone of bugs outside accompanies the silence in the house. The seeming ghost, we will later realize, is Sonya’s father, just lodged wordlessly in the next room.

The father has been turned into came before. Besides her winged a phantom sign, reduced into and incidental companions, she is a fragment without context, an also kept company by a conjured incomplete figure without speech, voice that is only as spectral, that absent and present at once in the of a foreign woman, now probably same house with her. Sonya is dead, singing in another language, alone with and in spite of him, recorded from a different place throughout the solitary passage of and time, a facsimile of a human night, just as long as the nights that voice crooning from an obsolete

45 cassette tape, a serenade long gone the visible, Sonya’s conscious returning from the other side, reality, and the film’s narrative, not mechanically invoked through a only build a decisive atmosphere handheld apparatus. It is also a within which to unfold this strange disembodied voice, whose words and excruciating meditation on Sonya protractedly hums and loneliness and acquaint us with mouths in this moment of strange the lyric and oblique tendencies communion with insects and of Baltazar’s evocations, but also ghosts. situates the cardinal motifs of haunting and return, strange The numinous beauty in this unsuspected visits, artifact and commonplace and transient disintegration, darkness and light, moment that she witnesses amid disembodiment and embodiment her desolation, the music drifting and surrogate incarnations, and the from a distant time and place fleeting little joys and glimpses of into an almost ethereal sight of numen that seep through the cracks these fascinating alate forms—the of ennui and terror. winged iteration of their kind— these ephemeral lives, and their Caught between dead mothers mysterious attraction to light for and men who consistently fail her, which even science still could not she feels invisible and unwanted, fully account.... With this opening a subject on the verge of being scene, the silent and ambiguous neutered and extinct at once: Sonya, gaps and gestures that protract a soltera and no longer young, lone

46 and all-around mortician at her a tender remnant from happier family-owned funeral home of over days, a reminder perhaps of a 50 years, struggling to keep at bay Chinese-Filipino mother or from the drawing impoundment of their when she was younger and alive, property by a ruthless loan shark or an intimate souvenir between who is perennially sapping their her parents conceived when they resources. She is trapped with her were young passionate lovers, a languishing father in the soulless, hand-me-down tune she plays over day-to-day humdrum in their large, and over, frequently spoiled by decrepit house, and their lives are the stubborn cassette tape getting almost determined by the castrating stuck and tangled, a flimsy bequest loss of the wife and mother in the now literally unravelling into wake of her passing. A gloomy, unusability. The lush invocations womblike and pluvial atmosphere of this song starkly contrasts with looms and persists about the house. the cauterized dimension of Sonya’s The dead clock, the phased out life, and most so when she hums media, the sheer gesture of playing and mouths her slurred version of same old song, on loop, over and the Mandarin lines while caught in over sums up limboid inhabitation her reverie, her eyes cast distantly suspended in time. The radio that, upon the emptiness before her. despite Sonya’s repeated attempts, could not process any signal, Amid the Orientalia of conflated amplifies the insularity of their lives Chinese and Japanese ornaments in in their silent and cavernous home. her study, we see an old, yellowed Marietta Subong’s deft and visceral poster advertisement that says, portrayal of Sonya steadily unravels “See CHINA by PLANE”. The slogan a brutal and incommensurable compounds the song’s signification solitude, and renders, with utmost as an impossible place, an ever- empathy and dignity, how the elsewhere for which the protagonist perverse can sometimes shed light longs. The narrative thus positions on our humanity, how the perverse the song as the last bastion of her itself is the mark of humanity, the sensual habitude, alongside the individual human sign she carries. few other little retreats she affords herself that sustain her person: the Several times in the film, Sonya shabby piano the loan shark takes would be listening to the same away, her mother’s photograph, song in the beginning, a quaint the prospect of being able to one and bittersweet 1950s rendition of day travel to China as hinted by the “Jasmine Flower”, a Chinese folk poster, smoking cigarettes, buying song, which actually bookends her own birthday cake and the the film. Possibly, for Sonya, it is blissful dancing that ensues over

47 lunch, and, of course, her brief strange and exquisite corpse— encounters with Elmer, the young The Handsomest Drowned Man taho vendor whom she fancies and in the World—in the lives of the anticipates every morning. inhabitants of a small coastal village forever alters the people Sonya’s retreat from her seemingly and brings forth an unprecedented embalmed state takes a more Spring and flowering that their aggressive turn in the form of a village could never have otherwise mysterious corpse, a woman most imagined. However, while the likely around the same age as her corpse in Oda sa Wala catalyzes a dead mother, that finds its way into chain of auspicious and bizaare their home one very late evening. events that will eventually fulfill The corpse in itself is ambiguous Sonya’s fate, one realizes that the in its being n/either subject n/ role the mysterious dead woman or object, an uncanny figure that plays here is a brief distraction, a blurs the distinction between self reprieve, allowing Sonya and her and other, setting up a rigodon of father a momentary relese from ghostly functions: as itself, as a set the limboid tautology of their of analogs, as surrogate, as Sonya’s day-to-day existence, before the alter ego, and as a portent to her Void fully encroaches upon them fate. and the corpse finally reveals itself to be the Void, before the world The dead turns out auspicious, swiftly and compeletely falls away and Sonya eventually decides to evince a new order. “One curious restitute her mother through the property of the cuttlefish is that, surrogate corpse, fecundating their once dead, its body begins to glow,” household and the relationship Srikanth Reddy writes in one of his between daughter and father. In poems. “This mild phosphorescence one particular bedtime scene, the reaches its greatest intensity a few Chinese song she obsessively listens days after death, then ebbs away to in various instances in the film as the body decays. You can read presently functions as the interface by this light.” The last sentence and buffer between two simulations completes the full circle that by Sonya: the memory of her dead pertains to a psalm being unfolded mother and its embodiment in the in the poem, the psalm that is itself surrogate corpse of this unknown the very poem we are consuming woman. in the ebbing light of a carcass. This “mild phosphorescence”, this The premise of Oda sa Wala seeming miracle of luminosity, easily conjures a similar trope in that momentary grace in spite of García Márquez: the arrival of a and resulting from the process

48 of physical corruption, is a most against the soltera’s abject and fitting analogy to the workings of barren connotations, mining the the perverse in Oda sa Wala and poignant and morbid irony of such Sonya’s relationship with the Void. juxtaposition. “Before you got here, I thought… maybe it would be better Apart from the recurring Chinese if I just disappeared,” Sonya tells song, “Jasmine Flower”, the motif the auspicious corpse she has just of efflorescence also finds multiple done up, and whom she addresses iterations in the tiny details as her deceased mother, pretending throughout the film: flowers for that the latter has finally returned the dead, Sonya’s floral pillows to somehow deliver Sonya from the and sheets, the spring flowers curse of her solitude. Dressed in painted on her bedhead and the newly bought clothes and crowned framed image of a flower hanging with a wreath of flowers, the dead above it, the floral pattern on a woman transforms into Sonya’s wall clock, and her floral-printed spring goddess and her very own blouse when Sonya has decided to Flower Girl. In the traditional doll up for Elmer, the young man symbolism of the wedding she likes, her first and only clothing procession, the flower girl leads the that bears noticeable color and bride forward, from childhood to design within a series of drab and adulthood and from innocence to printless clothes she wears in the her roles as both wife and mother. film. This floral motif persists in the narrative, and Baltazar potently The realm of social reason and deploys the trope of nuptial spring cultural order are sustained and

49 plotted by the rhythm of habits stopples Nothing precisely by and negotiations in the story: the inhabiting it. consumption of media; the business of minding the dead; service rates The dark womb slowly retracts the and other regulations of value; world, engulfs it. Her absence has keeping time: her age, her birthday, taken over father and daughter, the closing hours at work, meals, a palpable void that encroaches mornings waiting for Elmer, and upon the house and gradually frays the loan shark scheduled visits; the waking lives of its occupants. the fuss over private property and Sonya permits her return as a title; the obligation of paying the different corpse, and the dead, just debt; the old grand piano being like absence, is never passive. Her sequestered as a partial mode of body discolors and distends. She payment, and the assigned value of decays and the foul smell pervades things, commodities and mementos the house. Her absence-presence alike; paying the jeepney fare; the alters place and the relations and pressure of relationships and civil bodies within it, the Void taking status; familial relations; or the on a material shape through the admissible truth of photographs. very characters it subsumes, the same figures that carry it out in The void is neither sheer absence turn. The otherness that is Nothing nor wretched abstraction; its encroaches upon Sonya’s daily nothingness possesses a ruthless existence and gradually frays and irrevocable materiality that social reason, until she finally alters and impinges upon this turns herself into the object for the world of bodies, in the same jouissance of this Other—a gradual acoustic logic that the hollow descent, or transmutation, that the against which the strings are film patiently charts with keen and stretched amplifies the trill, and excruciating sensitivity, along with hence a song, however sad or the sounds of inarticulable terrors frightening. Sonya strums the Void and longings. into emerging its voice, the voice of the Other, and to which she would The photograph as document ardently answer, devoting herself loses its indexical power as the fervidly to fill the emptiness, in woman’s corpse has come to the process becoming the very nullify and supersede it as the plug in the hole of the Other. In more palpable icon of the dead her encounter with the frightening mother. The corpse exceeds the Void, she willfully turns into the business deal when it stops being transitive object that completes just what it is, its keeper Sonya this Otherness: the subject herself refusing attempts to claim the

50 body, as the dead woman has her mother into the depths of now been espoused into their the forest. She plods through household. The flowers are mere the wilderness, to the sonorous, simulacra and the real ones have celestial aria of a woman’s voice, ceased being plants and become no toward her own clearing, her own more than retailed commodities. banwa, to go phantom into the A bag of cash becomes a bag of ever elsewhere that will finally newspaper scraps. The old wall fulfill her. When both women, now clock looms dead, the cassette deep in the woods, finally inhabit tape unravels, and the wheezing the same frame, the dreamy and radio goes mute, and crackles. The melancholic trill of notes shared by sputtering engine of the funeral both the music in the final scene hearse fails and the two passengers and the flourish of strings in the are stuck on the side of the road old Chinese song merge as well stretching along the looming into the same stream, right before forest. Sonya witnesses the very the moment cuts to black and embodied apparition of the old closing credits. Ablution or dead woman, alive and apotheosized end, primal regression or death, into a naked earth god, an ancient transcendence or madness, rebirth figure subsuming the intertwined or extinction. In the end, in the last deifications of nature, fertility, gesture of an open-ended reprieve, creation, and destruction. It is she may well believe, and insist, night all of a sudden, and Sonya, that the void has sung back after under the full moon, follows all.

51 SCAMMERS, RESOLUTIONS, AND A COMEDY

OFTito R. Quiling, ERRORS Jr.

ANG PANGARAP KONG HOLDAP Winner, Best First Feature

52 rom seeing henchmen at the beck and call of mob leaders, frenzied farmers trying to trade in their discovery for cash, to listening to bickering comrades, and family members exchanging jests—these F of Ang sets of seemingly trivial antics complement and fill out the narrative Pangarap Kong Holdap, a first feature by Marius Talampas. As both director and screenwriter, Talampas renders the characters and the story spiritedly, displaying laudable comedic timing.

The film opens with the morning The main characters experience sun scattering its rays across the a string of mishaps that lead to a wide farmland—a lush, panoramic rewarding end after all of their view introducing rice farmers dishonest acts. Ang Pangarap Kong diligently planting seedlings for Holdap centers on three friends the day. But the bucolic setting and who are petty swindlers. The its seemingly earnest tone quickly buffoonish but kind-hearted Eman changes to a comical one as they (Pepe Herrera), who aims to lose start cracking anecdotes about their reputation of ineptitude as Boy Bastos (“Nasty Boy”) and his his father Ka Paeng (Pen Medina) misheard (as well as mistranslated) is credited as the most successful comebacks, this time centering crook in their part of Manila, leads on human genitals. Following the trio. With him is Toto (Jerald through with their uncouth puns, Napoles) whose intermittent and one of them nearly trips over the tentative Ilonggo accent is an effort “lost” Golden Phallus in the mud. to mark his resettled character. The item they discover is allegedly Completing their band of comrades owned by the fictitious Datu Puti. is Carlo (Jelson Bay), who displays By virtue of its golden condition, the most juvenile mentality with his this coveted object becomes the string of innocent questions and a starting point of the narrative, finger as a comeback. where a number of characters— from a group of rice farmers to a While they are painted as ostensibly businessman, then a gang lord—all hopeless hold-uppers who cyclically attempt to exchange the phallus plan and attempt to carry out for a large sum. From this riot of their version of a perfect robbery, clusters, a trio of failed holdapers their series of attempts are fixed to (“hold-uppers” or robbers), who eventually present an inspirational, are at the bottom of their rank of victory narrative. However, swindlers, are entangled in the web before they are able to prove their of actions as they pursue their ideal competence, Ka Paeng assigns a holdap to become credible robbers. fourth member to their group:

53 a neophyte named Nicoy (Paulo Nicoy had planned the robbery Contis), who is additionally an by means of hypnotism with his undercover novice policeman. The girlfriend, a prostitute named primary objective of his assignment Marga (Kate Alejandrino). The only is to catch Ka Paeng red-handed female character in the film with in one of his illegal transactions. significant exposure, Marga is seen In the social structure of robbers suffering from financial struggles and swindlers, a group with four that influences her involvement members is virtually unheard of— with a money-lending gang headed at least in Barangay Husay, whose by the zombie-fearing Badjao place-name translates as “well- (Raffy Tejada) and his eye-gouging done” or “skillful” in reference to henchman, Bulag (Dindo Arroyo). the community’s talents, save for With these suspicious characters, the the three men. pattern of petty thieves chasing after their “perfect” robbery falls in line As with any new addition to a with following where the Golden group, Eman, Toto, and Carlo are Phallus will end up, which simply unwelcoming and wary of Nicoy at serves as a bookend to the narrative. first. That is, until Nicoy is able to exhibit his own brand of robbery In the film, the series of events through hypnotism when he easily present a comedy of errors gets a girl on the street to hand over committed by the trio: from Toto her bag. They attempt to imitate unintentionally hypnotizing Nicoy’s method in order to replicate himself instead of a school boy one this effective incident and to be able morning, to a neighborhood kid to report their group’s success to slyly slipping out of their hands Ka Paeng. But their initial success during an attempted robbery while is then revealed to be a fraud. donning ghost costumes (a plan that

54 is repeatedly prescribed by Eman), of inherited aptitude and image, to mistakenly taking a loot bag with it should be noted that apart from them, thinking that they were able the conventional view of the father to get the contested money from wanting his son to be a reflection of the “Golden Phallus operation.” his abilities, the more incisive and However, more than the number of sometimes unnecessary remarks characters interacting and moving come from other people who are within the corners and underbelly part of the community, where their of Manila, one of the key subjects comments may affect communal in the hierarchy of relationships in and family dynamics. While the the film details a delicate father- film primarily relies on natural son narrative. On this note, Ka exchanges of antics and banter Paeng’s cariño brutal (“tough love”) where humor is consistently seen, approach is rationalized as his what remains debatable in terms way of reinforcing Eman’s self- of content is the pervasiveness of confidence, even as he is constantly how representations and narrative pitted against Balut (Rino Marco). continue to anchor on traditional masculine views. One of the younger and most successful scammers in Barangay These are projected by the Husay, Balut has gravitated towards characters that limit the addition Ka Paeng in search of a mentor and inclusion of innovative views and a father figure, with the latter and representations in this genre, being an absence in his life. In this which conventionally showcases vein, Balut seems to be the son that male virility. Regardless if it is Ka Paeng should have had, looking intentional or otherwise, the at the worth of his own success as dominance of the male gaze in a swindler. Given this mentality cinema still has to be reworked—

55 from contexts to representations. With the impression of errors as The string of mistakes and problems laughable, and even pitiful, what that they encounter produces lies beneath the context of these concrete illustrations of human tragic attempts at robberies? Some responses such as fear, frustration, of the representational meanings disappointment, but also triumph, refer to the extensive disregard hope, and excitement. The progress for individual discernment, as of the narrative by the network of one move toward revelations petty and bigtime robbers, corrupt and discoveries of truths—both capitalists, even farmers, displays personal and shared. There is also man’s need to reinforce power. the prevalence of scenes featuring petty crimes intersecting with In this context, power is both large-scale thieving carried out by communal and personal. In syndicates and gangs, which have addition, the aforementioned become standard images of action sentiments mirror the reality in Philippine cinema and television. of checking the authenticity of emotions and reactions, and By looking at these situations as questioning one’s decisions and comical, do these petty crimes seeing people carry out their become more acceptable as part choices. However, the story of the urban landscape with becomes even more amusing its ubiquity? Or is it a form of given the frustrations and doubts trivializing thievery? The issue with how filmic events pan out of the government being unable because of their constant blunders. to provide decent jobs, housing,

56 and checking the population In the midst of varying narrative count in cities across the country styles, what is quite complex in the is an enduring problem that is reinvention of storytelling in terms often overlooked. In turn, the of comedy, action, and drama is to recurrent demonstrations of discover a new feature to introduce, band-aid solutions that attempt or conceivably review what needs to solve long-term problems lead to be tightened. Swindlers of to more narratives centering on varying kinds, more petty crimes, citizens who keep trying to fend and a string of unlawful characters for themselves under a system that have become orthodox elements expands the divide between the that compose the darker side of poor and the privileged. In order illustrating the capital city. Still, to survive in the city, engaging in these elements continue to provide illicit activities seems to be a better a trove of innovative material for option. In this vein, it becomes filmic narratives to be presented necessary to note that people who over the years. Nevertheless, it do not have proper credentials or becomes evident how Ang Pangarap qualities that construct our image of Kong Holdap reliably delivers a law-abiding citizen, are therefore humor, adventure, and a bit of “robbed” of their dignity. Moreover, drama effectively in a genre that this stands parallel to how they naturally anchors on the familiarity are required to follow the social of the city and its corners by the order of a group or a community Filipino urban dweller. based on who possesses ideal characteristics.

57 Hagod at Lapit: Danas ng Lugar sa at ng Sa Palad ng Dantaong Kulang Jewel Maranan

SA PALAD NG DANTAONG KULANG Winner, Best Film (Jewel Maranan [director and producer]) Winner, Best Cinematography and Visual Design (Jewel Maranan [cinematography]) Nominee, Best Editing (Lawrence Ang and Jewel Maranan)

58 ‘Pagkat ‘di ba ang panahon ay may muwang At ang lahat ng naglalakbay sa isang panahon Ay nilalakbay rin Ng panahong iyon?

inubuksan ni Jewel Maranan ang Sa Palad ng Dantaong Kulang ng mga linyang ito, bumubuod sa kanyang dokumentaryo tungkol sa BParola, Tondo at sa mga taong namumuhay dito—lugar na laging nagbabago, binabago. Nilalantad ni Maranan ang stasis sa Parola sa mga buhay nina Anne, Eddie, Akira, at Paning, mga residente ng Parola, upang tuligsain ang binabanderang kaunlaran ng gobyerno sa pagbubukas sa mga malalaking negosyo ng pag-develop sa lupa malapit sa Manila North Harbor. Walang puwang ang kaunlarang ito para sa tulad nilang mga nakatira sa Parola, sa kabila ng walang katapusang palitan ng materyal at kapital sa pier. Samantala, pinababagsak at itinatayong muli ang mga tahanan sa Parola sa walang hanggang siklo ng pakikipagtunggali ng mga taga-doon para sa karapatang magkaroon ng maayos na pamumuhay sa isang banda, at ng mga kumpanyang Pilipino at banyaga at ng estado sa pagkamal ng mas lalo pang malaking kita, sa kabila.

Apat na taga-Parola ang nilalakbay dalawa pang maliliit na anak at ng pagbabago: sila Anne, Akira, kinakasamang batugan. Si Akira, Eddie, at Paning. Si Anne ay batang nagtatrabaho sa ulingan babaeng buntis na malapit na habang nag-aaral, ay kasama sa kanyang kabuwanan, may ng kanyang lola at mga ate, mga

59 tindera ng prutas at gulay, sa minsang pagsilip ng buwan sa pagtataguyod ng kanilang pamilya. itim na langit upang makisálo sa Stevedore naman sa pier si Eddie. malayong liwanag ng daungan, Sa apat, siya ang may pinaka- parang isang mahiwagang kumportableng pamumuhay—may siyudad ang maaaninag mula sa TV at washing machine, kongkreto madilim na tahanan nila Anne. at ligtas sa demolisyon ang bahay Mula naman sa bintana at bukas ng pamilya ni Eddie. Si Paning, na pintuan ng bahay nila Akira, may-ari ng isang sari-sari store, ay masusulyapan ang mga kapitbahay midwife ni Anne. Isa siya sa mga na tulak ang sako-sakong mga pinaka-aktibo sa mga residente kalakal sa kalsadang magkahalo sa pagtalakay sa nalalapit na ang putik at basura. Malapit sa demolisyon ng mga bahay ng ulingang pinagtatrabahuhan ng mga nasunugang residente ng bata, may dilaw na bulldozer na Parola, at sa kanilang napipintong humahalukay sa lupa at mangilan- relokasyon sa Trece Martires, ngilang kubo na nakatayo sa Cavite. Ang kwento ng bawat paligid, sa itim na putik. Dinadala isa ang nagsisilbing coordinates naman ni Paning ang manonood sa na nagmamarka ng Parola, na looban ng Parola, sa paghahanda kanilang tahanan. Pinakamalapit para sa demolisyon at relokasyon: ang tahanan ng pamilya ni Anne sa loob ng mga bahay, ang “10m” sa tubig ng Manila Bay, at sa mga na ispinray-paint sa pula; ang butas at siwang ng kanilang tagpi- paroo’t parito ang mga container tagping dingding mapapanood van na tanaw mula sa bintana ng ang maghapong eksena sa pier. opisina kung saan pinulong ang Sa gabi, malamlam ang mga mga apektado ng demolisyon; mga ilaw na sinasalamin ng tubig. Sa mukha sa umpukan.

60 Sinasalamuot ng Sa Palad ang ano sa tingin natin ang makikita, paggamit ng lugar bilang taga-dikta maririnig, at maaamoy (masikip, ng narrative action. Ipinapalagay marumi, magulo, maingay, ng maraming kritiko ng pelikulang maraming tao), kundi higit pa. Pilipino—partikular na iyong mga 2 indie na pelikulang may estilong Ang Tundo man may langit din; neorealist o iyong mga sumusunod kailangan lang tingalain, pero sa “found-story” paradigm ng lagi namang andiyan—malawak 1 manunulat na si Armando Lao (hal. at banayad, minsan pambihira. mga gawa ni Brillante Mendoza)— Sa loob ng mga asul na pader ng na ang pagpokus sa lugar ay tahanan ni Eddie, ang mga eksena nauuwi sa hindi malalimang ng paghinto’t pamamahinga ng pagsusuri sa karakter. Sa kalakhan kargador mula sa walang prenong ng mga pelikulang ito, na paggawa sa daungan: ang pagsasalo kadalasa’y naka-set sa mahihirap ng mag-anak sa pagkain at palabas na mga lugar—masikip, marumi, sa TV, ang mahimbing na pagtulog magulo, maingay, at maraming kasama ng mga antuking alaga, na tao—ang pisikal na katangian ng sinasabayan ng pamilyar na tunog lugar ang nagdidikta sa paggalaw ng tumatakbong washing machine ng kamera. Magalawgaw ang at mga anak na nag-aaway. Tuwing tutok nito sa pagsabay sa tila sasapit ang gabi, ang tahanan nila walang prenong paroo’t parito Anne ay pinaliliit lalo ng matipid na ng mga sinusundang karakter. liwanag ng gasera, habang sa labas, Hindi masinsin ang pagtingin sa ugong ng makinarya at pagdampi mga tao sa kwento—sa kanilang ng bakal sa bakal ang nakikipag- mga iniisip, mga dinadamdam, usap sa huni ng mga kuliglig. mga pagpapahalaga—sa pagsunod Walang tahasang palitan sa pagitan sa kanilang pang-araw-araw ni Maranan at ng mga subject niya na gawain, na kumukumpirma at, pwera na lang sa diskusyunang lamang sa popular na pagtingin. nilalahukan ni Paning, matipid Sa ganang ito kakatuwâ ang Sa din ang mga pag-uusap na Palad na nagbubukas ng bagong hinahayaang makunan ng kamera. paglalantad ng lugar at ng mga Pero ang paglalantad ng espasyong taong nananahan dito. Nilalabanan kanilang ini-inhabit ay pagsilip ng kamera ang malikot na akit ng din—panandalian at bahagya, nang eskinita—espasyong exoticized walang pag-aari o pag-aangkop— na nga sa neorealist na pelikula— sa daloy ng mga buhay na hindi para pumirme at kunan ang mga naman gaanong kaiba sa atin. mababagal na sandali sa takbo ng magdamag. Maaaring may Kapansin-pansin ang pagmamarka matuklasan pa: hindi lang sa kung ni Maranan ng mga bukana at

61 lagusan, na humahanggan sa pang- aabutang kabuhayan sa relocation araw-araw na daloy ng buhay ng site. Ikinukubli sa pansesermong mga taga-Parola. Pagkukulong ng ito ang pagsasawalang bahala espasyo at paggalaw ang maaaring ng gobyerno sa mga taong basa dito, na sumasalamin din sa nagkakaroon lang ng silbi tuwing sitwasyon ng komunidad: hindi may eleksyon at ang pagkiling natatapos ang siklo ng pagwasak at sa neoliberal na pag-iisip na pagtatayong muli ng mga tahanang nagtataguyod sa mas masidhi pang giniba ng maso at bagyo, walang pagkamal ng supertubo ng mga kuryente at tubig para sa lahat. pribadong interes. Habang patuloy ang pagbuhos ng bilyon-bilyong piso ng mga Kinukulong ang Parola ng pribadong kumpanya para sa mga matataas na pader na rehabilitasyon at modernisasyon pininturahang puti at humahalik sa ng kalapit na Manila North Harbor, likod ng mga bahay sa loob. Mula ibabagsak na parang basura ang sa Manila International Container mga taga-Parola sa lugar na walang Terminal South Access Road, kasiguruhan ang trabaho, ang pag- mapapasok lang ang komunidad aaral ng kanilang mga anak, at ang gamit ang mga tarangkahan kanilang mga pangangailangang kada zone. Bukod at kubli ang medikal. Ang kabuhayan ay loob ng Parola, pero sagana ang nandiyan lang; sipag, tiyaga, at pagsasalarawan dito sa popular diskarte lang ang kailangang na media. Kung hindi sunog—na puhunan, ang mayabang na tugon halos taon-taon kung mangyari— ng taga-National Housing Authority ay mga rambulan at patayan ang sa tanong ni Paning tungkol sa laman ng balita, habang gutom,

62 kahirapan, at kawalan ng seguridad munting sandali ng pag-unawa sa sa tahanan ang mga kahiligang isa’t isa, na siyang panghihikayat paksain ng mga dokumentarista din ng saglit na paglulugar ng sarili ng malalaking TV channels. Sa sa katayuan ng kapwa. Sa pagpaikot paulit-ulit, sinususugan na lang ng kanyang paggawa sa nosyon 3 ang nakasanayang paglalarawang ng pagpapatuloy, binubuksan ni ito. At dahil paulit-ulit lang, at Maranan ang posibilidad ng pakiki- nagiging bahagi ng araw-araw, damay sa buhay ng iba: sa Sa Palad hindi na pansinin. Binibigyan ng at Tundong Magiliw, nilalampasan Sa Palad ng bagong paglalantad ang ang mga hangganan ng screen Parola—at iba pang mga mahihirap at ng frame upang igpawan ang na komunidad sa Tondo—na mas pagdidistansya ng pagtingin. Ang lalong nagpalapit sa tinitingnan pagdanas ng araw-araw nila at tumitingin. Ang pagtinging ito Anne, Akira, Eddie, Paning, at ay walang layuning kontrolin ang Virgie ay tunay na pagtatangka tinitingnan, bagkus ay nagdadaop sa pakikipagkapwa, at daan ng magkaibang katawan sa isang patungong pagkilos.

1 Baumgärtel, Tilman. 2012. “An inexpensive film should start with an inexpensive story: Interview with Brillante Mendoza and Armando Bing Lao.” In Southeast Asian Independent Cinema edited by Tilman Baumgärtel, pp. 155-170. Hong Kong University Press. 2 Pasubali kay Andres Cristobal Cruz. 3 Isang “nagpapatuloy na dokumentaryo” ang naunang dokumentaryong Tundong Magiliw, habang Cinema is Incomplete naman ang pangalan ng proyekto ni Maranan.

63 A Longer Story of Impunity Lisa Ito

A SHORT HISTORY OF A FEW BAD THINGS Nominee, Best Editing (Maria Estela Paiso and Keith Deligero) Nominee, Best Sound and Aural Orchestration (Lav Diaz, Duke Caing, Young Kael, Maricel Sombrio, John Caing, Bombo Pluto Ova, Stevan Marvin Jamaar, and Silhouette [music]; Rico Mambo [sound design])

64 eith Deligero’s A Short History of a Few Bad Things (2018), which premiered as part of the Cinema One Originals festival last year, Koffers several moments that distinguish it from the concurrent line- up of other local murder-mystery thrillers.

The first scenes are enigmatic Jay Mendoza (Jay Gonzaga) and enough, offering moments that do hounded by the weathered and not readily align: an underwater often exasperated city Chief of scene submerged with whale Police Ouano (Publio Briones III), sharks; a local pawnshop owner is Tarongoy finds himself continually shot in broad daylight, execution- outsmarted along the way as style with a single bullet to the witnesses and suspects to the crime head, at a busy crossing in Cebu are killed in succession. Inexplicably City; found, and grainy footage of drawn to the widowed Gemma/ huts burned down during the night, Maria Calag (Maricel Sombrio) and in the year 1998. her farmboy companion Ivan Calag (Kent Divinagracia), Tarongoy defies The senior investigator tasked to direct orders and follows a trail that trace the identity of the assassin, an leads back to an exposé and the most ex-soldier named Felix Tarongoy unlikely and ironic of encounters. (Victor Neri), soon finds himself chasing leads that do not also The terse ties that bind each killing add up, eliding easy answers. to an incident two decades back are Accompanied by rookie colleague revealed here in due time. The film

65 fascinates in its subdued storytelling, The strength of the narrative, cinematography, and haunting however, best lies in its ingenious soundtracks and music scores that turn towards self-referentiality as seamlessly connect points in history. it reaches a conclusion. The search Unanswered queries and ominous for answers boomerangs back signs are left for the viewer to to Tarongoy not in the streets of complete and decode, while scenes Cebu but in the secluded forests of the chase and its characters of Masbate island, where he finds foreshadow a longer history of himself the subject of scrutiny as violence that eventually catches he, again, witnesses a moment of up with those who think they have final, fiery reckoning. This last stop moved on and away. in the search closes the circle of investigation, while leaving enough Among the cast, Neri’s melancholic gaps for the viewer to fill in any and Sombrio’s woeful dispositions loose ends. One enters a film within complement each other well. a film: and one story begins where There is little in terms of overtly the other one ends. theatrical gestures between the two. Instead, close up shots during This easy-going sense of referentiality moments of silence best draw out is where A Short History of a Few the psychological tension brewing Bad Things (2018) succeeds in beneath. Conversely, the motley, resonating with the larger occurences veering teasingly close to slapstick, and longer histories of impunity mix of Tarongoy’s colleagues and beyond the work itself. Certainly, the trio of implicated characters the fascination and engagement Arturo Binaohan (Reynaldo Santos), of Philippine cinema with extra- Trifon Abueg (Arnel Mardoquio) judicial killing (EJK) narratives is and Hector (Felicisimo Alingasan) unfortunately still going strong surfaces a sociological taxonomy: since 2016, when the death toll conveying in their mimickry of from the drug war under Pres. individuals representing the police, Duterte started to escalate and was the underworld, and charismatic documented through the works of cults a glimpse of the other shadier photojournalists, filmmakers, and ties and institutions that bind visual artists. The technologies of Philippine society. The screenplay visual culture appearing as objects (Paul Grant) which incorporates and narrative devices within the dialogue in Cebuano, Tagalog, and film’s storyline —the camera, English is also noteworthy in its the phone, and the television in exploration of vernaculars. particular —also reference their utility as modes of documentation, evidence, and reenactment.

66 Various intertexts can be read of impunity out of Manila as a between these and many other capital to the regions themselves, local filmic responses to the deaths often hiding in plain sight. The film incurred during the course of both certainly highlights the tropicality the government’s drug war and and locality of its setting, further counter-insurgency drives. The siting this through both language brutal anti-illegal drug and anti- and geography in its shift from insurgency campaigns, for instance, urban Cebu to rural Masbate. have started to intersect in real life Connected by water as well as through recent developments, such shared histories of trauma as as the issuance of Memorandum embodied in the tragic figures of Order No. 32 on November 22, 2018 Tarongoy and company, these sites putting the regions of Bicol, Samar, of investigation attest to the real and Negros under heightened army atrocity: how state violence is not and police presence due to “states of only national in scope, but also lawlessness”, all leading to a sudden personal, local, and archipelagic in escalation of massacres (especially of its reach as well. peasants), EJKs, political killings, and incidents similar to those portrayed What kind of redemption is implied and foreshadowed in the film. That in the end? Vigilante vengeance, or the characters, including Tarongoy, justice, whether of the protracted or are all eventually implicated in ironic kind? A sense of ambiguity histories of military-instigated lingers in the particular trajectory incidents ties the narrative closer to that this proposes. Certainly, killers contemporary politics. outside the filmic realm roam still freely up to now. But the film issues The real world violence referenced an ample warning to all those in A Short History of a Few Bad concerned: the bells will toll not Things, interestingly, underscores only for those you felled, but also such penetration and expansion for thee.

67 68 Filmografia Philippine Cinema 2018

January Simplicity Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes David Hulbert & Kazuhiko Jun Lana Parungao

Mama’s Girl My Perfect You Connie Macatuno Cathy Garcia-Molina

Mr. and Mrs. Cruz Never Not Love You Sigrid Andrea Bernardo Antoinette Jadaone

February April Meet Me in St. Gallen Almost a Love Story Irene Emma Villamor Louie Ignacio

My Fairy Tail Love Story DOTGA: Perci Intalan Da One That Ghost Away Tony Reyes Sin Island Gino Santos May Single/Single: The Significant Other Love Is Not Enough Joel Lamangan Veronica Velasco and Pablo Biglang-awa March Amnesia Love* Sid and Aya: Albert Langitan Not a Love Story Irene Villamor Magbuwag Ta Kay Reuben Joseph Aquino So Connected and Janice Perez Jason Paul Laxamana

Ang Pambansang Squad Goals #FBOIS Third Wheel Mark Meily Ivan Andrew Payawal

69 Citizen Jake August Mike de Leon BuyBust Erik Matti Ang Misyon: A Marawi Siege Story* Dito Lang Ako* Ceasar Soriano Roderick Lindayag

My 2 Mommies Harry and Patty Eric Quizon Julius Alfonso

Ang Panahon ng Halimaw Miss Granny Lav Diaz Joyce Bernal

Kasal Pinay Beauty Ruel Bayani Jay Abello

June Spoken Words Walwal Ronald Abad and John Ray Garcia Jose Javier Reyes The Hows of Us Cry No Fear Cathy Garcia-Molina Richard Somes The Lease Slay Paolo Bertola Cha Roque Unli Life July Miko Livelo Jacqueline Comes Home: The Chiong Story* September Ysabelle Peach Abay Babes Don Cuaresma The Maid in London* Danni Ugali Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral Jerrold Tarog I Love You, Hater Giselle Andres Hapi Ang Buhay: The Musical Carlo Ortega Cuevas Kusina Kings Victor Villanueva Nakalimutan Ko Nang Kalimutan Ka* Fifth Solomon

70 Petmalu Ang Pangarap Joven Tan Kong Holdap* Marius Talampas The Hopeful Romantic Topel Lee Glorious Concepcion Macatuno The Trigonal Vincent Soberano Recipe for Love Jose Javier Reyes Wander Bra Joven Tan Class of 2018 Charliebebs Gohetia October All Souls Night Kung Paano Siya Nawala Aloy Adlawan and Jules Katanyag Joel Ruiz

Exes Baggage Three Words to Forever Dan Villegas Cathy Garcia-Molina

First Love Through Night and Day Paul Soriano Veronica Velasco

Nowhere Yet Everywhere December Dave Montes Kahit Ayaw Mo Na Bona Fajardo Para sa Broken-Hearted* Digo Ricio The Signs John Stephen Baltazar Tres Dondon Santos, Richard Somes Festival releases Wild and Free Connie Macatuno Sinag Maynila (March 7-13) To Love Some Buddy Abomination Jason Paul Laxamana Yam Laranas

November El Peste Alma-ata Richard Somes Arnel Mardoquio

71 Melodrama/Random/ Cinemalaya Melbourne! (August 5-12) Matthew Victor Pastor Pan de Salawal* Che Espiritu Tale of the Lost Boys Joselito Altarejos Distance Perci Intalan Journeyman Finds Home: The Simone Rota Story Kung Paano Hinihintay Albert Almendralejo ang Dapithapon and Maricel Cariaga Carlo Catu

CineFilipino Kuya Wes (May 9-15) James Mayo Gusto Kita with All My Hypothalamus Liway Dwein Baltazar Kip Oebanda

The Eternity Between Mamang Seconds Denise O’Hara Alec Figuracion ML* Mga Mister Ni Rosario* Benedict Mique Alpha Habon Musmos na Sumibol Excuse Me Po* sa Gubat ng Digma Ronald Espinosa Batallones Iar Arondaing

Mata Tapang* School Service Rod Marmol Louie Ignacio

Delia & Sammy* The Lookout* Therese Cayaba Afi Africa

Poon* Beastmode: A Social Roni Supangan Benaid Experiment Manuel Mesina III Hitboy Bor Ocampo

72 Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino Cinema One Originals (August 15-21) (October 12-20) Bakwit Boys A Short History Jason Paul Laxamana of a Few Bad Things Keith Deligero The Day After Valentines Jason Paul Laxamana Asuang Raynier Brizuela Ang Babaeng Allergic sa Wifi Bagyong Bheverlyn Jun Lana Charliebebs Gohetia

Madilim ang Gabi Double Twisting Double Adolfo Alix, Jr. Back Joseph Abello Signal Rock Chito Roño Hospicio Bobby Bonifacio We Will Not Die Tonight Richard Somes Ma* Kenneth Dagatan ToFarm (September 12-18) Mamu; And a Mother Too* 1957* Rod Singh Hubert Tibi Never Tear Us Apart Alimuom Whammy Alcazaren Keith Sicat Paglisan Kauyagan* Carl Papa Julienne Ilagan Pang-MMK* Tanabata’s Wife John Lapus Charlson Ong, Lito Casaje, and Choy Pangilinan QCinema (October 21-30) Mga Anak ng Kamote All Grown Up Carlo Catu Wena Sanchez

Sol Searching Billie and Emma Roman Perez, Jr. Samantha Lee

73 Dog Days MMFF Timmy Harn (December 25-January 2) Aurora Hintayan ng Langit Yam Laranas Dan Villegas Fantastica: The Princess, Markado* the Prince and the Perya Joe Bacus Barry Gonzalez

Masla A Papanok Jack Em Popoy: Gutierez Magansakan II The Puliscredibles Tony Reyes Oda sa Wala Dwein Baltazar Mary, Marry Me* RC de los Reyes Pag-ukit sa Paniniwala* Hiyas Bagabaldo One Great Love Eric Quizon Maginhawa Film Festival (December 1-29) Otlum Joven Tan

Aria Rainbow’s Sunset Carlo Catu Joel Lamangan

Sa Palad ng Dantaong The Girl in the Orange Kulang Dress Jewel Maranan Jay Abello

Active Vista Human Rights Festival (December 4-10) Call Her Ganda PJ Raval

Land from God (Lugta te Kamama) Kevin Piamonte

Nowhere Yet Everywhere Note: Films with asterisks are first features

74 The Criteria

BEST PICTURE: refers to vision and transgress connections through the direction that pay sensitive and complex interplay of mise-en-scene keen attention to both the language and montage. The Best Editing of cinema (“presentation”) and trophy is given to the editors. social reality (“representation”), in the process refunctioning the BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND possibilities of film as progressive VISUAL DESIGN: refers to the art and popular culture. The Best mise-en-scene and its visual/ Picture citation is awarded to the plastic qualities production Director not so much because design, lighting, art direction, he or she is the auteur or the visual effects that lend form central intelligence of the film, but to whatever representation is because his or her work lies at the projected on screen; and absorb conjuncture which coordinates the differences of social forces filmmaking. and cultures in instances of contradiction, confluence, contact, BEST SCREENPLAY: refers to the resistance, or affiliation with one rhetoric of writing for film that another, as well as imbibe the articulates the complexity of social relationship between people and life and personal perturbation the structures and institutions they through narrative logic or political mediate through social practice. conviction; or simply through The Best Cinematography and well-thought out dramatic tension Visual Design honor is conferred that explores contestation between on the cinematographer and the the personal and the political, the production designer. individual and the collective, the private and the public. The Best BEST SOUND AND AURAL Screenplay award is given to all the ORCHESTRATION: refers to the writers of the film. rendering of the auditory aspects of film music, natural sound, sound BEST EDITING: refers to the effects as these are counterposed configuration of relationships of against or harmonized with the time and space among scenes in language of image, and so become a film that is able to synthesize, meaningful sign systems on their engage in collision, reconcile, or own. The Best Sound citation is

75 Mga Batayan awarded to the sound engineer and PINAKAMAHUSAY NA PELIKULA: the musical scorer. tumutukoy sa pagdidirihe at bisyon na nagbibigay ng sensitibo BEST PERFORMANCE: refers to at matalas na atensiyon kapwa acting, to the playing out of a role or sa lengguwahe ng pelikula character that implicates emotion, (presentasyon) at panlipunang feeling, and experience in the social realidad (representasyon), sa proseso conditions of the personal and in inaayos at pinakikilos ang modo the political economies of habit and ng pagpapahayag ng pelikula sa gesture and how these forge the realidad sa konteksto ng kakayahan body politic. The Best Performance nitong makipag-usap sa malawak na citation is handed to the Performer, manonood at pukawin ang buhay whether male or female, adult or ng publiko; sa gayon, naaangkin ito child, in major or supporting role, para isulong ang kapangyarihan ng individual or ensemble. midyum at ang sulong na interes. Ang gawad para sa Pinakamahusay na Pelikula ay ibinibigay sa Direktor hindi dahil sa siya ang auteur o ang sentral na diwa ng pelikula, kundi dahil ang obra niya ay nakalugar sa hugpungang nagbibigay koordinasyon sa paglikha ng pelikula.

PINAKAMAHUSAY NA DULANG PAMPELIKULA: tumutukoy sa retorika ng pagsusulat para sa pelikula na nagpapahayag ng kasalimuotan ng buhay panlipunan at personal na ligalig sa natatanging estruktura ng naratibo o politikal na paniniwala; o sa pamamagitan ng pinag-isipang dramatikong tensiyon na sumisiyasat sa tunggalian ng personal at politikal, ng indibidwal at ng kolektibo, ng

76 pribado at ng publiko. Iginagawad Sinematograpiya at Disenyong ang Pinakamahusay na Dulang Biswal sa sinematograper at sa Pampelikula sa lahat ng manunulat taga-disenyo ng produksiyon. ng pelikula. PINAKAMAHUSAY NA TUNOG PINAKAMAHUSAY NA EDITING: AT ORKESTRASYONG AWRAL: tumutukoy sa kompigurasyon tumutukoy sa paglalapat ng mga ng mga ugnayan ng panahon at aspektong may kinalaman sa espasyo sa mga eksena sa isang tunog sa pelikula musika, likas pelikulang may kakayahang na tunog, sound effects habang maglagom, makitunggali, bumuo ang mga ito ay isinasalungat sa at bumaklas ng mga pagkakaugnay o inaayon sa lengguwahe ng sa pamamagitan ng masalimuot mga imahen, at kung gayon ay na paggamit ng mise-en-scene nagiging makahulugang sistema ng at montage. Ang tropeo para sa pananagisag mismo. Iginagawad Pinakamahusay na Editing ay ang Pinakamahusay pinagkakaloob sa mga editor. na Tunog sa sound engineer at sa tagapaglapat ng musika. PINAKAMAHUSAY NA SINEMATOGRAPIYA AT DISENYONG PINAKAMAHUSAY NA PAGGANAP: BISWAL: tumutukoy sa mise- tumutukoy sa pagganap ng en-scene at sa mga kalidad isang papel o karakter na nitong biswal/plastik disenyong nagsasangkot ng emosyon, pamproduksiyon, pag-iilaw, damdamin, at karanasan sa direksiyon ng sining, visual effects mga panlipunang kondisyon na nagbibigay-anyo sa anumang ng personal at sa politikal na representasyon na inilalantad ekonomiya ng kaugalian at kilos, sa telon; at ikinikintal ang at kung paano nakatutulong pagsasaanyo ng mga puwersang ang mga ito sa pagsasakatauhan panlipunan at mga kultura sa ng sarili. Ipinagkakaloob ang mga sandali ng kontradiksiyon, Pinakamahusay na Pagganap sa pagsasanib, enkwentro, pagtatagpo, Gumanap, lalaki o babae, matanda pakikipagtunggali o pagkakaugnay o bata, sa isang pangunahin o sa bawat isa. Ipinagkakaloob pangsuportang papel, sa indibidwal ang Pinakamahusay na o kolektibong pagganap.

77 29th Annual Circle Citations for Distinguished Achievement in Film for 2018 Announced on March 17, 2019 Conferred on August 16, 2019 at the Jorge B. Vargas Museum, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

BEST FILM Winner: Sa Palad ng Dantaong Kulang, directed and produced by Jewel Maranan

Nominees: Call Her Ganda, directed by PJ Raval (Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, Marty Syjuco, Lisa Valencia-Svensson, and PJ Raval, producers)

Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon, directed by Carlo Enciso Catu (Roderick Cabrido and Omar Sortijas, producers)

Masla A Papanok, directed by Gutierrez Mangansakan II (Manet A. Dayrit and Ed Lejano, producers)

Oda sa Wala, directed by Dwein Baltazar (Bianca Balbuena, Iana Bernardez, and Kriz Gazmen, producers)

BEST SCREENPLAY Winner: Masla A Papanok (Gutierrez Mangansakan II)

Nominees: Call Her Ganda (Victoria Chalk and PJ Raval)

78 Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon (John Carlo Pacala)

Kuya Wes (Denise O’Hara and Heber O’Hara)

Oda sa Wala (Dwein Baltazar)

BEST EDITING Winner: Call Her Ganda (Victoria Chalk)

Nominees: A Short History of a Few Bad Things (Maria Estela Paiso and Keith Deligero)

Kung Paano Siya Nawala (Lawrence Ang)

Never Not Love You (Benjamin Tolentino)

Sa Palad ng Dantaong Kulang (Lawrence Ang and Jewel Maranan)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND VISUAL DESIGN Winner: Sa Palad ng Dantaong Kulang (cinematography: Jewel Maranan)

Nominees: Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon (cinematography: Neil Daza; production design: Marielle Hizon)

Kung Paano Siya Nawala (cinematography: Ike Avellana; production design: Christina Dy)

Kuya Wes (cinematography: Theo Lozada; production design: Ericson Navarro)

Masla A Papanok (cinematography: Willie Apa Jr., Arnel Barbarona, Bagane Fiola; production design: Paramata Endawan)

Never Not Love You (cinematography: Mycko David and Carlo Mauricio; production design: Ana Lou Sanchez)

Oda sa Wala (cinematography: Neil Daza; production design: Maolen Fadul)

79 BEST SOUND AND AURAL ORCHESTRATION Winner: Never Not Love You (music: Len Calvo; sound design: Jason Conanan, Kat Salinas and Mikko Quizon)

Nominees: A Short History of a Few Bad Things (music: Lav Diaz, Duke Caing, Young Kael, Maricel Sombrio, John Caing, Bombo Pluto Ova, Stevan Marvin Jamaar, Silhouette; sound design: Rico Mambo)

Masla A Papanok (music: Jem Talaroc; sound design: Willie Apa Jr.)

Oda sa Wala (music: Richard Gonzales; sound design: Immanuel Verona)

BEST PERFORMANCE Winner: Nadine Lustre, Never Not Love You

Nominees: Perla Bautista, Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon

Trio performance (Perla Bautista, Menggie Cobarrubias, Dante Rivero), Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon

Celeste Legaspi, Mamang

Ina Raymundo, Kuya Wes

Marietta Subong, Oda sa Wala

BEST FIRST FEATURE Winners:

Mamang (Denise O’Hara) Mamu; And a Mother Too (Rod Singh) Ang Pangarap Kong Holdap (Marius Talampas)

80 PAST CITATIONS 1st Circle Citations, 1990 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY GOLD PRIZE AND VISUAL DESIGN Andrea, Paano Ba ang Maging Isang Ina Kailan Ka Magiging Akin (C: Jun Pereira; (Gil Portes) PD: Charlie Arceo) Hihintayin Kita sa Langit (C: Romeo Vitug; SILVER PRIZE PD: Joey Luna) Bakit Kay Tagal ng Sandali (Chito Roño) Shake, Rattle and Roll III (C: Joe Tutanes; Kasalanan Bang Sambahin Ka (Chito Roño) PD: Don Escudero) Bakit Ikaw Pa Rin (Emmanuel Borlaza) Sa Kabila ng Lahat (C: Ding Austria; PD: Hahamakin Lahat (Lino Brocka) Benjie De Guzman) Pangako ng Puso (C: Ricardo Jacinto; PD: INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT PRIZE Tatus Aldana) Nora Aunor (actress, Andrea, Paano Ba Sa Kabila ng Lahat (C: Ricardo Jacinto; PD: ang Maging Isang Ina) Tatus Aldana) Ricardo Lee (screenwriter, Andrea, Paano Ba Joey Boy Munti (C: Ely Cruz; PD: Pres Ruiz) ang Maging Isang Ina and Hahamakin Lahat) Dinampot Ka Lang sa Putik (C: Charlie Jun Pereira (cinematographer, Bakit Kay Peralta; PD: Ronaldo Cadapan) Tagal ng Sandali) BEST EDITING George Jarlego (editor, Gumapang Ka sa Lusak) Kailan Ka Magiging Akin (Ike Jarlego, Jr.) Augusto Salvador (director, Angel Molave) Sa Kabila ng Lahat (George Jarlego) Hihintayin Kita sa Langit (Jess Navarro) Shake, Rattle and Roll III (Danny Gloria) 2nd Circle Citations, 1991 Dinampot Ka Lang sa Putik (George Javier) BEST PICTURE BEST SOUND AND AURAL Sa Kabila ng Lahat (Lino Brocka) ORCHESTRATION Class of ‘91 (Gil Portes) Ipagpatawad Mo (Laurice Guillen) Hihintayin Kita sa Langit (M: Ryan Ang Totoong Buhay ni Pacita M (Elwood Cayabyab; S: Gaudencio Barredo) Perez) Shake, Rattle and Roll III (M: Toto Gentica; Joey Boy Munti (Maryo J. de los Reyes) S: Joe Climaco) Dinampot Ka Lang sa Putik (Maryo J. de Sa Kabila ng Lahat (M: Jaime Fabregas; S: los Reyes) Willy Islao)

BEST SCREENPLAY BEST PERFORMANCE Sa Kabila ng Lahat (Roy Iglesias) Nora Aunor (Ang Totoong Buhay ni Pacita Dinampot Ka Lang sa Putik (Jose Javier M.) Reyes and Jake Tordesillas) Aga Muhlach (Joey Boy Munti) Ang Totoong Buhay ni Pacita M. (Ricardo Maricel Soriano (Dinampot Ka Lang sa Lee) Putik) Class of ‘91 (Ricardo Lee) Vilma Santos (Ipagpatawad Mo) Ipagpatawad Mo (Olivia Lamasan) Gina Alajar (Kailan Ka Magiging Akin)

81 3rd Circle Citations, 1992 Dawn Zulueta (Iisa Pa Lamang) BEST PICTURE Maricel Laxa (Ikaw ang Lahat sa Akin) Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal (Carlos Siguion- Vilma Santos (Sinungaling Mong Puso) Reyna) Gabby Concepcion (Narito ang Puso Ko) Iisa Pa Lamang (Jose Javier Reyes) Tayong Dalawa (Laurice Guillen) Lumayo Ka Man sa Akin (Laurice Guillen) 4th Circle Citations, 1993 BEST PICTURE BEST SCREENPLAY Hindi Kita Malilimutan (Jose Javier Reyes) Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal (Raquel Aliwan Paradise (Mike de Leon) Villavicencio) Inay (Artemio Marquez) Iisa Pa Lamang (Jose Javier Reyes) Ikaw (Joel Lamangan) Tayong Dalawa (Jose Dalisay, Jr.) Gaano Kita Kamahal (Butch Perez)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY BEST SCREENPLAY AND VISUAL DESIGN Hindi Kita Malilimutan (Jose Javier Reyes) Tag-Araw, Tag-Ulan (C: Loreto Isleta; PD: The Maricris Sioson Story: Japayuki Raymond Bajarias) (Lualhati Bautista) Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal (C: Romeo Aliwan Paradise (Clodualdo Del Mundo, Jr.) Vitug; PD: Raymond Bajarias) Hiram na Mukha (C: Charlie Peralta; PD: BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Benjie De Guzman) AND VISUAL DESIGN Lumayo Ka Man sa Akin (C: Eduardo Ikaw Lang (C: Jun Dalawis; PD: Charlie Jacinto; PD: Guillermo Sancha) Arceo) Ikaw ang Lahat sa Akin (C: Romeo Vitug; Aliwan Paradise (C: Johnny Araojo; PD: PD: Tatus Aldana) Cesar Hernando) Kung Mawawala Ka Pa (C: Romeo Vitug; BEST EDITING PD: Joey Luna) Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal (Jess Navarro) Tayong Dalawa (Efren Jarlego) BEST EDITING Narito ang Puso Ko (Jess Navarro) Aliwan Paradise (Jose Almojuela) Aswang (Danny Gloria) Ikaw Lang (Renato De Leon) Kung Mawawala Ka Pa (Jess Navarro) BEST SOUND AND AURAL ORCHESTRATION BEST SOUND AND AURAL Hiram na Mukha (M: Vehnee Saturno; S: ORCHESTRATION Ramon Reyes) Kung Mawawala Ka Pa (M: Ryan Tag-Araw, Tag-Ulan (M: Vehnee Saturno: S: Cayabyab; S: Ramon Reyes) Rolly Ruta and Vic Macama) Aliwan Paradise (M: Ding Achacoso and Aswang (: Vehnee Saturno: S: Rolly Ruta Haruomi Hosono; S: Kenichi Benitani) and Vic Macama) Ikaw Lang (M: Mon Del Rosario; S: Vic Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal (: Vehnee Macamay) Saturno: S: Rolly Ruta and Vic Macama) BEST PERFORMANCE BEST PERFORMANCE Nora Aunor (Inay) (Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal) Maricel Soriano Aga Muhlach (Hindi Kita Malilimutan) (Narito ang Puso Ko) Lorna Tolentino Vilma Santos (Dahil Mahal Kita: The (Hiram na Mukha) Nanette Medved Dolzura Cortez Story) (Tayong Dalawa) Gabby Concepcion Dawn Zulueta (Kung Mawawala Ka Pa)

82 5th Circle Citations, 1994 BEST PERFORMANCE Maricel Soriano (Vampira) BEST PICTURE Dawn Zulueta (Buhay ng Buhay Ko) Separada Vampira (Joey Romero) Maricel Soriano ( ) Sana Dalawa ang Puso Pangako ng Kahapon (Joel Lamangan) Dina Bonnevie ( Ko Wating (Ishmael Bernal) ) Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang Sana Dalawa ang Puso Ko (Laurice Alice Dixson ( ) Wating Guillen) Carmina Villaroel ( ) Snooky Serna (Koronang Itim) BEST SCREENPLAY Sana Dalawa ang Puso Ko (Joen Chionglo 6th Circle Citations, 1995 and Laurice Guillen) Massacre Files (Ricardo Lee) BEST PICTURE Separada(Ricardo Lee and Tessie Tomas) Nena Kadenang Bulaklak (Lualhati Bautista) (Ike Jarlego, Jr.) Sana Maulit Muli (Olivia Lamasan) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND The Flor Contemplacion Story (Joel VISUAL DESIGN Lamangan) The Fatima Buen Story (C: Johnny Araojo BEST SCREENPLAY and Romulo Araojo; PD: Benjie De Nena Guzman) (Lualhati Bautista) Sana Maulit Muli Wating (C: Charlie Peralta; PD: Len Santos (Olivia Lamasan and and Jayjay Medina) Jose Javier Reyes) The Flor Contemplacion Story Vampira(C: Charlie Peralta; PD: Benjie De (Ricardo Guzman) Lee and Boni Ilagan) Pare Ko Pangako ng Kahapon (C: Romeo Vitug; PD: (Jose Javier Reyes) Manny Morfe) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND Sana Dalawa ang Puso Ko (C: Eduardo VISUAL DESIGN Jacinto; PD: Edgar Martin Littaua) The Flor Contemplacion Story (C: BEST EDITING Felizardo Bailen; PD: Raymond Bajarias) Nena Vampira (Danilo Gloria) (C: Lito Mempin; PD: Ernest Pangako ng Kahapon (Jess Navarro) Santiago) Dahas Wating (Danilo Gloria) (C: Charlie Peralta; PD: Jeffrey The Fatima Buen Story (George Jarlego) Jeturian) Sana Maulit Muli (C: Romeo Vitug; PD: BEST SOUND AND AURAL Randy Gamier) ORCHESTRATION Inagaw Mo ang Lahat sa Akin(C: Romeo Sana Dalawa ang Puso Ko (M: Nonong Vitug; PD: Joey Luna) Sa Ngalan ng Pag-ibig Buencamino; S: Ramon Reyes) (C: Charlie Peralta; Wating (M: Jaime Fabregas; S: Joe PD: Benjie De Guzman) Climaco) BEST EDITING Pangako ng Kahapon (M: Vehnee Saturno; Dahas S: Vic Macamay) (Jaime David) Sa Ngalan ng Pag-ibig Vampira (M: Jaime Fabregas; Joe Climaco) (George Jarlego) Pare Ko The Fatima Buen Story (M: Nonong (George Jarlego) Nena Buencamino; S: Joe Climaco) (Marya Ignacio)

83 BEST SOUND AND AURAL BEST SOUND AND AURAL ORCHESTRATION ORCHESTRATION Dahas (M: Jessie Lasaten; S: Albert Mumbaki (M: Jaime Fabregas; S:Ramon Michael Idioma) Reyes) Sa Ngalan ng Pag-ibig (M: Jaime Fabregas; Isla (M: Nonong Buencamino; S: Ramon S: Joe Climaco) Reyes) Pare Ko (M: Eric Antonio and Carlo Bulahan; S: Ramon Reyes) BEST PERFORMANCE Nena (M: Nonong Buencamino; S: Vic Christopher de Leon (Madrasta) Macamay) Nora Aunor (Bakit May Kahapon Pa) Jaclyn Jose (May Nagmamahal sa Iyo) BEST PERFORMANCE Nora Aunor (The Flor Contemplacion Story) 8th Circle Citations, 1997 Aga Muhlach (Sana Maulit Muli) Nora Aunor (Muling Umawit ang Puso) BEST PICTURE Jaclyn Jose (The Flor Contemplacion Story) Batang PX (Jose Javier Reyes) Lorna Tolentino (Sa Ngalan ng Pag-ibig) Damong Ligaw (Jose Mari Avellana) Amy Austria (Nena) Sharmaine Arnaiz (Ipaglaban Mo: The BEST SCREENPLAY Movie) Batang PX (Jose Javier Reyes) Maricel Soriano (Dahas) Minsan Lamang Magmamahal (Jose Javier Reyes) Damong Ligaw (Jose Mari Avellana) 7th Circle Citations, 1996 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND BEST PICTURE VISUAL DESIGN Mumbaki (Jose Antonio Perez) Milagros (C: Eduardo Jacinto; PD: Len Santos) BEST SCREENPLAY Batang PX (C: Ding Achacoso; PD: Benjie Mumbaki (Amado Lacuesta) De Guzman) Segurista (Tikoy Aguiluz, Amado Hanggang Kailan Kita Mamahalin (C: Joe Lacuesta, Jr., and Jose Lacaba) Batac, Jr.; PD: Nuel Naval) Ganti ng Puso (Roy Iglesias) BEST EDITING BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND Milagros (Jess Navarro) VISUAL DESIGN Batang PX (Danny Gloria) Isla (C: Isagani Joson; PD: Lino Dalay and Willy Javier) BEST SOUND AND AURAL Mumbaki (C: Eduardo Jacinto; PD: Joey ORCHESTRATION Luna) Milagros (M: Nonong Buencamino; S: Segurista (C: Jun Dalawis; PD: Edgar Ramon Reyes) Martin Littaua) Damong Ligaw (M: Irwin Cafugauan; S: Noel Bruan and Nestor Mutia) BEST EDITING Hanggang Kailan Kita Mamahalin (M: Isla (Ruben Pantoja) Willy Cruz; S: Ramon Reyes) Mumbaki (Manet Dayrit) Ganti ng Puso (Ferren Salumbides) Segurista (Edgardo Vinarao and Myrna Medina Bhunjun)

84 BEST PERFORMANCE Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa (M: Jessie Batang PX Patrick Garcia( ) Lasaten; S: Albert Michael Idioma) Babae Nora Aunor ( ) Sana Pag-ibig Na (M: Joy Marfil; S: Willy Milagros Nonie Buencamino ( ) Islao) Maricel Soriano (Minsan Lamang Magmamahal) BEST PERFORMANCE Damong Ligaw Romnick Sarmenta ( ) Vilma Santos (Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Hanggang Kailan Kita Lorna Tolentino ( Ginawa) Mamahalin ) Nida Blanca (Sana Pag-ibig Na) Serena Dalrymple (Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa) 9th Circle Citations, 1998 Anita Linda (Babae sa Bubungang Lata) Cesar Montano (José Rizal) BEST PICTURE Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa (Chito S. Roño) 10th Circle Citations, 1999 Babae sa Bubungang Lata (Mario O’ Hara) Sana Pag-ibig Na (Jeffrey Jeturian) BEST PICTURE Curacha: Ang Babaeng Walang Pahinga Sisa (Mario O’Hara) (Chito S. Roño) Pila Balde (Jeffrey Jeturian) Saranggola (Gil M. Portes) BEST SCREENPLAY Phone Sex (Jose Javier Reyes) Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa (Lualhati Bulaklak ng Maynila (Joel Lamangan) Bautista) Babae sa Bubungang Lata (Mario O’Hara) BEST SCREENPLAY Sana Pag-ibig Na (Armando Lao) Sisa (Mario O’Hara) Curacha: Ang Babaeng Walang Pahinga Pila Balde (Armando Lao) (Ricardo Lee) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND VISUAL DESIGN VISUAL DESIGN Pila Balde (C: Shayne Sarte-Clemente; PD: Babae sa Bubungang Lata (C: Rey De Ronnie Cruz) Leon; PD: James Quimson) Phone Sex (C: Eduardo Jacinto; PD: Jake Curacha, Ang Babaeng Walang Pahinga De Asis) (C: Charlie Peralta; PD: Tatus Aldana) Bulaklak ng Maynila(C: Monino Duque; Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa (C: Charlie PD: Benjie De Guzman) Peralta; PD: Manny Morfe) BEST EDITING BEST EDITING Pila Balde (Robert Vasadre) Sana Pag-ibig Na (Robert Vasadre) Sisa (George Jarlego) Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa (Jaime Luksong Tinik (Vito Cajili) Davila) Curacha, Ang Babaeng Walang Pahinga BEST SOUND AND AURAL (Jaime Davila) ORCHESTRATION Phone Sex (M: Jesse Lucas; S: Albert BEST SOUND ANG AURAL Michael Idioma) ORCHESTRATION Pila Balde (M: Jay Durias; S: Joe Climaco) Curacha, Ang Babaeng Walang Pahinga Bulaklak ng Maynila (M: Jessie Lasaten; S: (M: Jaime Fabregas; S: Albert Michael Ramon Reyes) Idioma)

85 BEST PERFORMANCE BEST SOUND AND AURAL Elizabeth Oropesa (Bulaklak ng Maynila) ORCHESTRATION Lester Llansang (Saranggola) Bayaning Third World (M: Lorrie Ilustre; Christopher de Leon (Bulaklak ng S: Noel Cruz Bruan and Raffy Baladjay, Maynila) Jr.) Jhong Hilario (Muro-ami) Sugatang Puso (M: Jesse Lucas; S: Albert Michael Idioma) Tanging Yaman (M: Nonong Buencamino; 11th Circle Citations, 2000 S: Ramon Reyes)

BEST PICTURE BEST PERFORMANCE Bayaning Third World (Mike De Leon) entire cast (Tanging Yaman) Tanging Yaman (Laurice Guillen) Rio Locsin (Bayaning Third World) Senswal (Edgardo Vinarao) Elizabeth Oropesa (Senswal) Mother Ignacia, Ang Uliran (Nick Alessandra de Rossi (Azucena) Deocampo) Dolphy (Markova, Comfort Gay) Sugatang Puso (Jose Javier Reyes) Johnny Delgado (Tanging Yaman) Gloria Romero (Tanging Yaman) BEST SCREENPLAY Tanging Yaman (Laurice Guillen, Shaira Mella Salvador, and Raymond Lee) 12th Circle Citations, 2001 Senswal (Jose Carreon) Mother Ignacia, Ang Uliran (Nick BEST PICTURE Deocampo and Chuck Escasa) Minsan May Isang Puso (Jose Javier Reyes) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND Sa Huling Paghihintay (Erik Matti) VISUAL DESIGN Yamashita: The Tiger’s Treasure (Chito S. Bayaning Third World (C: Ding Achacoso; Roño) PD: Roy Lachica) Pedrong Palad (C: Alma Dela Peña and BEST SCREENPLAY Louie Quirino; PD: Ellen Ramos) Minsan May Isang Puso (Jose Javier Senswal (C: Romeo Vitug; PD: Donnie Reyes) Gonzales) Sa Huling Paghihintay (Mark Querubin, Pangarap ng Puso (C: Johnny Araojo; PD: Jay Abello, and Erik Matti) Judy Lou De Pio and John Portugal) Yamashita: The Tiger’s Treasure (Roy Laro sa Baga (C: Neil Daza; PD: Mike Iglesias) Guison) Markova Comfort Gay (C: Johnny Araojo; BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND PD: Kay Abaño) VISUAL DESIGN Tanging Yaman (C: Lee Meily; PD: Edgar Yamashita: The Tiger’s Treasure (C: Neil Martin Littaua) Daza; PD: Fernan Santiago) Sa Huling Paghihintay (C: Lauro Rene R. BEST EDITING Manda; PD: Rodell Cruz) Bayaning Third World (Armando Jarlego) Minsan May Isang Puso (C: Eduardo Senswal (Edgardo Vinarao) Jacinto; PD: Jake De Asis) Tanging Yaman (George Jarlego) La Vida Rosa (C: Neil Daza; PD: Gerry Pascual)

86 BEST EDITING Buko Pandan (C: Johnny Araojo; PD: Nene Minsan May Isang Puso (Tara Illenberger) Nebres) Sa Huling Paghihintay (Vito Cajili) Itlog (C: Romeo Vitug; PD: Edgar Martin La Vida Rosa (Vito Cajili and Joyce Bernal) Littaua) Hubog (Tara Illenberger) Diskarte (C: Jun Pereira; PD: Alex Ochoa) Yamashita: The Tiger’s Treasure (Manet Mga Munting Tinig (C: Ely Cruz; PD: Dayrit) Arthur Nicdao) Dekada ‘70 (C: Neil Daza; PD: Manny BEST SOUND AND AURAL Morfe) ORCHESTRATION Minsan May Isang Puso (M: Jesse Lucas; S: BEST EDITING Albert Michael Idioma) Diskarte (Francis Vinarao) Yamashita: The Tiger’s Treasure (M: Mga Munting Tinig (George Jarlego) Kormann Roque and Nathan Brenholdt; S: Dekada ‘70 (Jess Navarro) Albert Michael Idioma) Sa Huling Paghihintay (M: Toto Gentica; S: BEST SOUND AND AURAL Arnold Reodica) ORCHESTRATION Hubog (M: Jessie Lasaten; S: Albert Dekada ‘70 (M: Nonong Buencamino; S: Michael Idioma) Albert Michael Idioma and Alex Tomboc) Buko Pandan (M: Blitz Padua; S: Nestor BEST PERFORMANCE Arvin Mutia) Jaclyn Jose (Minsan May Isang Puso) Diskarte (M: Tony Cortez; S: Nestor Arvin Mark Gil (Sa Huling Paghihintay) Mutia) Carlo Aquino (Minsan May Isang Puso) Ricky Davao (Minsan May Isang Puso) BEST PERFORMANCE Rosanna Roces (La Vida Rosa) Vilma Santos (Dekada ‘70) Piolo Pascual (Dekada ‘70) Regine Velasquez (Ikaw Lamang 13th Circle Citations, 2002 Hanggang Ngayon) Celso Ad. Castillo (Itlog) BEST PICTURE Dekada ‘70 (Chito S. Roño) Buko Pandan (Uro Q. de la Cruz) 14th Circle Citations, 2003 Itlog (Francis Jun Posadas) Diskarte (Edgardo Boy Vinarao) BEST PICTURE Mga Munting Tinig (Gil M. Portes) Babae sa Breakwater (Mario O’Hara) Anghel sa Lupa (Jose Javier Reyes) BEST SCREENPLAY Homecoming (Gil M. Portes) Dekada ‘70 (Lualhati Bautista) Malikmata (Jose Javier Reyes) Itlog (Jerry Arcega-Gracio) Diskarte (Humilde Meek Roxas and Senen BEST SCREENPLAY C. Dimaguila) Babae sa Breakwater Mga Munting Tinig (Adolf Alix, Jr., Gil Anghel sa Lupa Portes, and Senedy Que) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND VISUAL DESIGN VISUAL DESIGN Babae sa Breakwater (C: Rey De Leon; PD: Ikaw Lamang Hanggang Ngayon(C: Yam Melody Teodoro) Laranas; PD: Sammy Aranzamendez) Anghel sa Lupa (C: Mark Gary; PD: Jake De Asis)

87 BEST PERFORMANCE Malikmata (C: Regiben Romana and Lito Mempin; PD: Edgardo Littaua) Jomari Yllana (Minsan Pa) Dennis Trillo (Aishite Imasu) BEST EDITING Nora Aunor (Naglalayag) Malikmata (Vito Cajili) Jericho Rosales (Santa Santita) Babae sa Breakwater (Roberto Vasandre) Anghel sa Lupa (Tara Illenberger) 16th Circle Citations, 2005 BEST SOUND AND AURAL ORCHESTRATION BEST PICTURE Anghel sa Lupa (M: Jesse Lucas; S: Ross Masahista (Brillante Mendoza) Diaz) BEST SCREENPLAY Babae sa Breakwater (M: Jesse Lucas; S: Leody Maralit) Masahista (Boots Agbayani Pastor) Malikmata (M: Francis Guevarra and Let the Love Begin (RJ Nuevas and Suzette Ferdie Marquez; S: Albert Michael Idioma) Doctolero)

BEST PERFORMANCE BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND VISUAL DESIGN Katherine Luna (Babae sa Breakwater) Maricel Soriano (Filipinas) Masahista (C: Timmy Jimenez and Elizabeth Oropesa (Homecoming) Monchie Redoble; PD: Benjamin Padero) entire cast (Malikmata) Paraiso (C: Ramon Marcelino; PD: Han Salazar)

15th Circle Citations, 2004 BEST EDITING Masahista (Nonoy Dadivas and Herbert BEST PICTURE Navasca) Minsan Pa (Jeffrey Jeturian) BEST SOUND AND AURAL Sigaw (Yam Laranas) ORCHESTRATION BEST SCREENPLAY Masahista (M: Jerrold Tarog; S: Rudy Minsan Pa (Armando Lao) Gonzales and Nonoy Davidas) Sigaw (Roy Iglesias) BEST PERFORMANCE BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND Coco Martin (Masahista) VISUAL DESIGN entire cast (Nasaan Ka Man) Sigaw (C: Yam Laranas; PD: Sammy Jaclyn Jose (Masahista) Aranzamendez) John Lloyd Cruz (Dubai)

BEST EDITING 17th Circle Citations, 2006 Sigaw (Manet Dayrit) Spirit of the Glass (Vito Cajili) BEST PICTURE BEST SOUND AND AURAL Inang Yaya (Pablo Biglang-Awa and ORCHESTRATION Veronica Velasco) Sigaw (M: Jesse Lucas; S: Albert Michael BEST SCREENPLAY Idioma and Arnold Reodica) Feng Shui (M: Carmina Cuya; S: Albert Inang Yaya (Veronica Velasco) Michael Idioma)

88 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND BEST SOUND AND AURAL VISUAL DESIGN ORCHESTRATION Inang Yaya (C: Gary Gardoce; PD: Reji Endo (M: Owel Alvero; S: Corinne De San Regalado) Jose and Mark Locsin) Kubrador (C: Boy Yniguez; PD: Leo Abaya) Still Life (M: Wincy Aquino Ong; S: Joey Santos) BEST EDITING Tirador (M: Teresa Barrozo; S: Ditoy Inang Yaya (Randy Gabriel) Aguila and Junel Valencia) Kubrador (Jay Halili) BEST PERFORMANCE BEST SOUND AND AURAL Jason Abalos (Endo) ORCHESTRATION Cherry Pie Picache (Foster Child) Inang Yaya (M: Nonong Buencamino; S: Eugene Domingo (Foster Child) Mark Locsin and Angie Reyes) Ron Capinding (Still Life)

BEST PERFORMANCE Maricel Soriano (Inang Yaya) 19th Circle Citations, 2008 Cherry Pie Picache (Kaleldo) entire cast (Inang Yaya) BEST PICTURE Adela (Adolfo Alix, Jr.) Serbis (Brillante Mendoza) 18th Circle Citations, 2007 BEST SCREENPLAY BEST PICTURE Adela (Adolfo Alix, Jr. and Nick Olanka) Foster Child (Brillante Mendoza) Serbis (Armando Lao) Endo (Jade Francis Castro) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND BEST SCREENPLAY VISUAL DESIGN Foster Child (Ralston Jover) Adela (C: Albert Banzon; PD: Adolfo Alix, Endo (Jade Castro, Michiko Yamamoto, Jr. and Jerome Zamora) and Raymond Lee) Serbis (C: Odyssey Flores; PD: Carlo Tabije and Benjamin Padero) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND VISUAL DESIGN BEST EDITING Death in the Land of the Encantos (C: Lav Adela (Aleks Castañeda) Diaz; PD: Dante Perez) Serbis (Claire Villa-Real) Foster Child (C: Odyssey Flores; PD: Benjamin Padero) BEST SOUND AND AURAL Still Life(C: Dan Villegas; PD: Cris Silva) ORCHESTRATION Tirador (C: Jeffrey Dela Cruz, Brillante Adela (M: Mark Locsin and Jojo Jacinto; S: Mendoza, Gary Tria, Julius Palomo Ditoy Aguila and Junel Valencia) Villanueva; PD: Deans Habal and Harley Serbis (M: Gian Gianan; S: Emmanuel Alcasid) Clemente)

BEST EDITING BEST PERFORMANCE Endo (J.D. Domingo) Anita Linda (Adela) Tirador (Charliebebs Gohetia) Paolo Paraiso (Imoral) Ronnie Lazaro (Yanggaw) Carlo Aquino (Baler)

89 20th Circle Citations, 2009 21st Circle Citations, 2010

BEST PICTURE BEST PICTURE Bakal Boys (Ralston Jover) Himpapawid (Raymond Red) Last Viewing (Roni Bertubin) Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria (Remon Siega Biyaheng Lupa (Armando Lao) Zuasola) Engkwentro (Pepe Diokno) Punerarya (Jerrold Tarog)

BEST SCREENPLAY BEST SCREENPLAY Biyaheng Lupa (Armando Lao) Himpapawid (Raymond Red) Last Viewing (Romualdo Avellanosa) Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria (Remton Siega Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe (Alvin Yapan) Zuasola) Last Supper No. 3 (Veronica Velasco and Punerarya (Rona Lean Sales and Aloy Jinky Laurel) Adlawan) Bakal Boys (Ralston Jover and Henry Burgos) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND VISUAL DESIGN BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Himpapawid (C: Raymond Red; PD: AND VISUAL DESIGN Danny Red; Design Consultants: Cesar Bakal Boys (C: Ruben Dela Cruz; PD: Hernando, and Ronald Red) Deans Habal) Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria (C: Christian Engkwentro (C: Emman Pascual; PD: Linaban; PD: Kaloy Uypuanco, AD: Victor Leeroy New) Villanueva, CS: Syrel Lopez) Punerarya (C: Mackie Galvez; PD: BEST EDITING Benjamin Padero) Engkwentro (Ralph Crisostomo, Miguel Araneta, and Orlean Joseph Tan) BEST EDITING Last Viewing (Lee Mi Soon) Himpapawid (David Hukom, Jay Halili, Bakal Boys (Charliebebs Gohetia and Kats Raymond Red) Serraon) Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria (Remton Siega Zuasola) BEST SOUND AND AURAL Punerarya (Renewin Alano) ORCHESTRATION Biyaheng Lupa (M: Gian Gianan; S: BEST SOUND AND AURAL Emmanuel Nolet Clemente and Ditoy ORCHESTRATION Aguila) Punerarya (M: Jerrold Tarog; S: Lamberto Engkwentro (S: Mark Laccay) Casas, Jr.) Bakal Boys (M: Teresa Barrozo; S: Mark Himpapawid (M: Diwa De Leon) Locsin) Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria (M: Jerrold Tarog; Vanya Fantonial) BEST PERFORMANCE Janice de Belen (Last Viewing) BEST PERFORMANCE Anita Lina and Rustica Carpio (Lola) Carla Abellana (Punerarya) Ensemble (Biyaheng Lupa) Raul Arellano (Himpapawid) Meljon Guinto (Bakal Boys)

90 22nd Circle Citations, 2011 BEST PERFORMANCE Diana Zubiri (Bahay Bata) BEST PICTURE Arthur Acuña (Niño) Haruo (Adolf Alix, Jr.) Fides Cuyugan-Asensio (Niño) Bahay Bata (Eduardo Roy, Jr.) Sharmaine Centenera-Buencamino (Niño) Señorita (Vincent Sandoval) Vincent Sandoval (Señorita) Alfred Vargas (Teoriya) BEST SCREENPLAY Niño (Rody Vera) 23rd Circle Citations, 2012 Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (Alvin Yapan) BEST PICTURE Bisperas (Paul Sta. Ana) Haruo (Jerome Zamora) Qiyamah (Gutierrez Mangansakan II) Señorita (Vincent Sandoval and Roy Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Sevilla Ho) Madilim (Arnel Mardoquio) Teoriya (Zurich Chan) Kalayaan (Adolfo Alix, Jr.)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY BEST SCREENPLAY AND VISUAL DESIGN Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Teoriya (C: Dexter Dela Peña; PD: Paul Madilim (Arnel Mardoquio) Marquez) Aparisyon (Vincent Sandoval and Jerry Bahay Bata (C: Ogi Sugatan; PD: Harry Gracio) Alcasid; AD: Armand Samonte; CS: Tessa Kalayaan (Adolfo Alix, Jr.) Aquino) Oros (Paul Sta. Ana and Obet Villela) Bisperas (C: Roberto Yniquez; PD: Rodrigo Qiyamah (Gutierrez Mangansakan II) Ricio; CS: Tessa Aquino) Thy Womb (Henry Burgos) Haruo (C: Albert Banzon; PD: Roland BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Rubenecia) AND VISUAL DESIGN Señorita (C: Ruel Dahis Antipuesto; PD: Armi Rae Cacanindin) Kalayaan(C: Albert Banzon; PD: Adolfo Alix, Jr.) BEST EDITING Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Señorita (Charliebebs Gohetia) Gabing Madilim (C: Arnel Barbarona Haruo (Aleks Castañeda) and McRobert Nacario; PD: Bagwani Ampalayo) BEST SOUND AND AURAL Diablo (C: Tristan Salas; PD: Cesar ORCHESTRATION Hernando) Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Kamera Obskura (C: Raymond Red; PD: Paa (M: Christine Muyco and Jema Daniel Red and Cesar Hernando; AD: Pamintuan; S: Arnold Reodica) Mikey Red; VE: Edrie Ocampo and Pablo Bahay Bata (M: Toni Muñoz; S: Albert Biglang-Awa) Michael Idioma) Qiyamah (C: McRobert Nacario; PD: Perry Niño (M: Jerrold Tarog; S: Albert Michael Dizon) Idioma) Thy Womb (C: Odyssey Flores; PD: Brillante Mendoza)

91 BEST EDITING BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Qiyamah (Arnel Barbarona and Gutierrez AND VISUAL DESIGN Mangansakan II) Lauriana (C: Nap Jamir; PD: Edgar Martin Aparisyon (Jerrold Tarog and Vincent Littaua) Sandoval) Mga Anino ng Kahapon (C: Dexter Jingle Lang ang Pahina (Aimee Apostol- Dela Peña and Jan Tristan Pandy; PD: Escasa) Whammy Alcazaren; AD: Frances Grace Kalayaan (Aleks Castañeda) Mortel and Rita Vargas; SD: Phyllis Grae Thy Womb (Kats Serraon) Grande) Badil (C: Neil Daza; PD: Jayvee Taduran; BEST SOUND AND AURAL AD: Donald Camon) ORCHESTRATION Debosyon (C: Dexter Dela Peña; AD: Roy Kalayaan (M: Teresa Barrozo; S: Ditoy Dominguiano and Pat Noveno; PD: Dennis Aguila) Corteza and Paolo Rey Mendoza Piaña; Qiyamah (M: Raphael Pulgar; S: Arnel VE: Omar Aguilar) Barbarona) Dukit (C: Triztan Garcia, Bruno Tiotuico, Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Jeffrey Icawat, and Diego Dobles; PD: Leo Madilim (S: Arbi Barbarona) Abaya and Olga Marquez) The Guerilla is a Poet (C: Kiri Dalena; PD: BEST PERFORMANCE Sari Dalena) Nora Aunor (Thy Womb) Ang Kwento ni Mabuti (C: Albert Banzon; Kristoffer King (Oros) PD: Cesar Hernando and Mes De Guzman) Ama Quiambao (Diablo) Pagpag (C: David Diaz-Abaya; PD: Luis Fides Cuyugan-Asensio (Aparisyon) Custodio IV; VE: Daren Francis Raña) Kristoffer Martin (Oros) Porno (C: Albert Banzon; PD: Adolfo Alix, Jr.; AD: Bobet Lopez) Quick Change (C: Dan Villegas; PD: Harley 24th Circle Citations, 2013 Alcasid) Sonata (C: Mark Gary; PD: Emilio BEST PICTURE Montelibano, Jr.; VE: Richard Francia) Porno (Adolfo Alix, Jr.) Mga Anino ng Kahapon (Alvin Yapan) BEST EDITING Babagwa (Jason Paul Laxamana) Porno (Aleks Castañeda) Badil (Chito Roño) Pagpag (Jerrold Tarog) Dukit (Armando Lao) Badil (Carlo Francisco Manatad) Ang Kwento ni Mabuti (Mes de Guzman) Dukit (Diego Marx Dobles) Pagpag (Frasco Santos Mortiz) Quick Change (Eduardo Roy, Jr.) BEST SOUND AND AURAL ORCHESTRATION BEST SCREENPLAY Porno (S: Albert Michael Idioma and Ira Porno (Ralston Jover) Trofeo) Mga Anino ng Kahapon (Alvin Yapan) Babagwa (M: Lucien Letaba and Joseph Babagwa (Jason Paul Laxamana) Lansang; S: Addiss Tabong) Badil (Rodolfo Vera) Badil (M: Carmina Cuya; S: Addiss Tabong) Debosyon (Alvin Yapan) Debosyon (M: Teresa Barrozo and Jireh Dukit (Armando Lao) Pasano; S: Ray Andrew San Miguel and Ang Kwento ni Mabuti (Mes De Guzman) Andrew Millalos) Quick Change (Eduardo Roy, Jr.) Dukit (M: Armando Lao; S: Armando Lao) Pagpag (M: Francis Concio; S: Arnel Labayo)

92 BEST PERFORMANCE BEST SOUND AND AURAL Carlo Aquino (Porno) ORCHESTRATION Jhong Hilario (Badil) Sonata Maria (M: Jad Montenegro; S: Angel Aquino (Porno) Maki Serapio, Wrap Meting, and Mark Nora Aunor (Ang Kwento ni Mabuti) Limbaga) Adrian Cabido (Lauriana) Dagitab (M: Mon Espia; S: Adam Newns Carlo Cruz (Mga Anino ng Kahapon) and Mikko Quizon) Allen Dizon (Lauriana) Cherie Gil (Sonata Maria) BEST PERFORMANCE Dick Israel (Badil) Eula Valdes and Nonie Buencamino Alex Vincent Medina (Babagwa) (Dagitab) Daniel Padilla (Pagpag) Nonie Buencamino (Dagitab) Joey Paras (Babagwa) Eula Valdes (Dagitab) Sue Prado (Ang Kwento ni Mabuti) Krigi Hager (Sonata Maria) TJ Trinidad (Mga Anino ng Kahapon) Bing Pimentel (Mariquina) entire cast (Porno) Isaac Cain Aguirre, Nathaniel Britt, Elijah Canlas, and Akira Morishita (Sundalong BEST FIRST FEATURE Kanin) Angustia (Kristian Sendon Cordero) Puti (Miguel Alcazaren) BEST FIRST FEATURE Ang Turkey man ay Pabo rin (Randolph Dagitab (Giancarlo Abrahan V) Longjas) Nick & Chai (Che Escala and Wena Sanchez) Sonata Maria (Bagane Fiola) 25th Circle Citations, 2014

BEST PICTURE 26th Circle Citations, 2015 no winner and nominees BEST PICTURE BEST SCREENPLAY Da Dog Show (Ralston Jover) no winner and nominees Ari: My Life with a King (Carlo Enciso Catu) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND Balikbayan # 1 Memories of VISUAL DESIGN Overdevelopment Redux III (Kidlat Dagitab (C: Rommel Sales; PD: Whammy Tahimik) Alcazaren and Tessa Tang) An Kubo sa Kawayanan (Alvin Yapan) Mariquina (C: Sasha Palomares; PD: Aped Taklub (Brillante Mendoza) Santos) Mga Rebeldeng May Kaso (Raymond Red) Sonata Maria (C: Wrap Meting and Mark Limbaga; PD: Bagane Fiola, Orvil BEST SCREENPLAY Bantayan, Mandy Velasco, Lulu Amorado, Da Dog Show (Ralston Jover) and Louie Daniel) An Kubo sa Kawayanan (Alvin Yapan) Ari: My Life with a King (Robby BEST EDITING Tantingco) Mariquina (Benjamin Tolentino) Balikbayan # 1 Memories of Dagitab (Benjamin Tolentino) Overdevelopment Redux III (Kidlat Nick and Chai (Cha Escala and Bam Tahimik) Luneta) Mga Rebeldeng May Kaso (Raymond Red) Sonata Maria (Bagane Fiola) Salvage (Sherad Anthony Sanchez) Taklub (Honeylyn Joy Alipio)

93 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND BEST PERFORMANCE VISUAL DESIGN Lou Veloso (Da Dog Show) Balikbayan # 1 Memories of Alessandra de Rossi (Bambanti) Overdevelopment Redux III (C: Boy Mercedes Cabral (An Kubo sa Yñiguez, Lee Briones, Abi Lara, Santos Kawayanan) Bayucca, Kidlat de Guia, Kawayan de Mercedes Cabral (Da Dog Show) Guia, and Kidlat Tahimik; PD: Kidlat Nora Aunor (Taklub) Tahimik) Ronwaldo Martin (Ari: My Life with a AnKubo sa Kawayanan (C: Ronald King) Rebutica; PD: Paolo Rey Mendoza Piaña) Julia Montes (Halik sa Hangin) Bambanti (C: Joseph Delos Reyes and Ma. Micko Laurente (Bambanti) Solita Garcia; PD: Aped Santos) Epy Quizon, Felix Roco, Nicco Manahan, Da Dog Show (C: Carlo Mendoza; PD: Earl Ignacio, Angela Cortez (Mga Deans Habal) Rebeldeng May Kaso) Halik sa Hangin (C: Moises Zee; PD: Jessy Mendiola, JC De Vera, Barbie Manny Morfe) Capacio, Karl Medina, Joel Saracho Miss Bulalacao (C: Christian Linaban; PD: (Salvage) Ernest Diño and Philip Sinajonon) Mga Rebeldeng May Kaso (C: Raymond BEST FIRST FEATURE Red; PD: Danny Red) Ari: My Life with a King (Carlo Enciso Salvage (C: Malay Javier; PD: Joel Catu) Geolamen) Dayang Asu (Bor Ocampo) Taklub (C: Odysseus Flores; PD: Harley Miss Bulalacao (Ara Chawdhury) Alcasid and Brillante Mendoza)

BEST EDITING 27th Circle Citations, 2016 Salvage (Lawrence Ang) BEST PICTURE Balikbayan # 1 Memories of Women of the Weeping River (Sheron Overdevelopment Redux III (Charlie Dayoc) Fugunt, Abi Lara, Chuck Gutierrez, Clang Baboy Halas (Bagane Fiola) Sison, Malaya Camporedondo) Ma’ Rosa (Brillante Ma. Mendoza) Da Dog Show (Kats Serraon) Malinak Ya Labi (Jose Abdel Langit) Halik sa Hangin (Beng Bandong) Mrs. (Adolfo Alix, Jr.) An Kubo sa Kawayanan (Benjamin Tolentino) BEST SCREENPLAY Mga Rebeldeng May Kaso (Raymond Red Mrs. (Ralston Jover) and Erwin Toledo) Women of the Weeping River (Sheron Shapes of Crimson (Emil James Mijares) Dayoc) Ma’ Rosa (Troy Espiritu) BEST SOUND AND AURAL Malinak Ya Labi (Jose Abdel Langit) ORCHESTRATION Patay Na Si Hesus (Fatrick Tabada and Balikbayan # 1 Memories of Moira Lang) Overdevelopment Redux III (M: Los Indios Area (Robby Tantingco and Ferdinand De España and Shanto; S: Ed De Guia) Dizon Lapuz) Ari: My Life with a King (M: Jake Abella; S: Ang Tulay ng San Sebastian (Alvin Yapan) Gilbert Obispo) Halik sa Hangin (M: Francis Concio; S: Addiss Tabong)

94 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AND Lacap, Eurocina Peña, Rein Gutierrez, VISUAL DESIGN Vicky Vega-Cabigting (Area) Baboy Halas (Raphael Meting, Mark Allen Dizon, Angeline Quinto, Luz Limbaga, Joel Geolamen) Fernandez, Richard Quan, Dexter Doria, Mrs. (Albert Banzon, Arthur Maningas) Menggie Cobarrubias, Marcus Madrigal, Tuos (Mycko David, Steff Dereja) Althea Vega, Timothy Castillo, Dante Ma’ Rosa (Odyssey Flores, Brillante Balois, Tabs Sumulong, Raul Tamayo, Mendoza) Shiela Paragas, Karla Zabala, Angela Women of the Weeping River (Rommel Alfero (Malinak Ya Labi) Sales, Harley Alcasid) Jaclyn Jose, Julio Diaz, Baron Geisler, Jomari Angeles, Neil Ryan Sese, Mercedes BEST EDITING Cabral, Andi Eigenmann, Mark Anthony Women of the Weeping River (Carlo Fernandez, Felix Roco, Mon Confiado, Francisco Manatad) Maria Isabel Lopez, Rubi Ruiz, John Paul Ma’ Rosa (Diego Marx Dobles) Duray (Ma’ Rosa) Malinak Ya Labi (Gilbert Obispo) Jaclyn Jose, Chai Fonacier, Melde Montañez, Vincent Viado, Mailes Kanapi, BEST SOUND AND AURAL Olive Nieto, Sheen Gener, Albert Chan ORCHESTRATION Paran (Patay Na Si Hesus) Ang Tulay ng San Sebastian (Hiroko Nagai, Jess Carlos) BEST FIRST FEATURE Ma’ Rosa (Teresa Barrozo, Albert Michael 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten (Petersen Vargas) Idioma) Malinak Ya Labi (Jose Abdel Langit) Women of the Weeping River (Kit Mendoza, Albert Michael Idioma and Immanuel Verona) 28th Circle Citations, 2017 Malinak Ya Labi (Emerzon Texon, Gilbert Obispo) BEST PICTURE Patay Na Si Hesus (Francis de Veyra, Mark Baconaua (Joseph Israel Laban) Laccay and Nicholas Varela) Kiko Boksingero (Thop Nazareno) Medusae BEST PERFORMANCE (Pamela Miras) Mga Gabing Kasinghaba ng Hair Ko Laila Putli P. Ulao (Women of the Weeping (Gerardo Calagui) River) The Chanters (James Robin Mayo) Ai-Ai de las Alas (Area) Barbie Forteza (Tuos) BEST SCREENPLAY Daria Ramirez (Mrs.) The Chanters (John Paul Bedia and Elizabeth Oropesa (Mrs.) Andrian Legaspi) Nora Aunor (Tuos) Baconaua (Joseph Israel Laban and Jaclyn Jose (Ma’ Rosa) Denise O’Hara) Jaclyn Jose (Patay Na Si Hesus) Kiko Boksingero (Emmanuel Espejo Jr., Luz Fernandez (Malinak Ya Labi) Ash Malanum, Denise O’Hara, Heber Joem Bascon and Sandino Martin (Ang O’Hara, and Thop Nazareno) Tulay ng San Sebastian) Medusae (Pam Miras) Nora Aunor and Barbie Forteza (Tuos) Mga Gabing Kasinghaba ng Hair Ko Ai-Ai de las Alas, Allen Dizon, Sue Prado, (Mark Duane Angos) Sarah Pagcaliwagan, Ireen Cervantes, Tabs Sumulong, Sancho de las Alas, Francisco Guinto, Cecile Yumul, Bambalito

95 BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN BEST FIRST FEATURE CINEMATOGRAPHY AND Kiko Boksingero (Thop Nazareno) VISUAL DESIGN Si Chedeng at si Apple (Rae Red and Baconaua (C: TM Malones; PD: Marielle Fatrick Tabada) Hizon) The Chanters (James Robin Mayo) Kiko Boksingero (C: Marvin Reyes; PD: Ericson Navarro) Medusae (C: Albert Banzon; PD: Aped Santos; VE: Vladimer Castañeto) Nervous Translation (C: Albert Banzon, Jippy Pascua, Dennise Victoria; PD: Leeroy New) The Chanters (C: Jav Velasco; PD: Carmela Danao)

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING Nervous Translation (Shireen Seno and John Torres) God BLISS Our Home (Lawrence Ang) Medusae (Lawrence Ang) Mga Gabing Kasinghaba ng Hair Ko (Bradley Liew)

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND AND AURAL ORCHESTRATION Nervous Translation (M: Itos Ledesma; S: Mikko Quizon) Baconaua (M: Jema Pamintuan; S: Monoxide Works, Bryan Dumaguina, JR Miano) The Chanters (M: Erwin Fajardo; S: Immanuel Verona)

BEST PERFORMANCE Anthony Falcon, Mga Gabing Kasinghaba ng Hair Ko Jana Agoncillo, Nervous Translation Noel Comia, Jr., Kiko Boksingero Mon Confiado, Mga Gabing Kasinghaba ng Hair Ko Desiree del Valle, Medusae Duo performance (Noel Comia, Jr. and Yayo Aguila), Kiko Boksingero Elora Españo, Baconaua Jally Nae Gilbaliga, The Chanters Lead cast ensemble (Matt Daclan, Anthony Falcon, Rocky Salumbides), Mga Gabing Kasinghaba ng Hair Ko Carl Palaganas, Medusae

96 97 The Circle ng Film Desk ay binubuo ng mga miyembro ng akademya na sa loob ng matagal-tagal na ring panahon ay naging mga matalas na Atagamasid ng pelikulang Filipino. Galing sa iba’t ibang disiplina, linalapat nila sa pagsuri ng pelikula ang interdisiplinaryong lapit. Sa ganitong perspektiba, ang salitang “young” sa Young Critics Circle ay tumutukoy hindi sa literal na pakahulugan gaya ng edad kundi sa isang metaporikal na pag-unawa sa kabataang pananaw. Ang ibig sabihin, ang “young” ay tumutukoy sa pangangahas ng bago at sa giting ng pagsalungat.

he Film Desk of the Young Critics Circle is composed of members of academe who, through the years, have become attentive observers of Philippine cinema. Coming from various disciplines, they bring into Tthe analysis of film an interdisciplinary approach. In this perspective, the word “young” in the Young Critics Circle pertains not to a literal mode of understanding as in age but rather to a metaphorical sense of appropriating youth. “Young” is construed as the daring of the new and the courage to be different.

ARISTOTLE J. ATIENZA teaches language, literature, and popular culture in the Filipino Department at the Ateneo de Manila University. He has also taught special courses on eroticism and pornography, and performing femininity in cinema (with J. Pilapil Jacobo and Alvin B. Yapan). He is currently taking his Ph.D. in Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He is co-editor (with Rolando B. Tolentino) of Ang Dagling Tagalog, 1903-1936 (2007).

JOHN BENGAN teaches writing and literature at the University of the Philippines Mindanao. He received a Ford Foundation International Fellowship to pursue an MFA in creative writing at The New School. His stories and essays have appeared in Kritika Kultura, Likhaan: The Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature, Asiatic, BooksActually’s Gold Standard, and the “Writing the Philippines” issue of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. He lives in Davao City.

98 CHRISTIAN JIL R. BENITEZ is a faculty member of the Kagawaran ng Filipino, Ateneo de Manila University, where he graduated with an AB- MA in Filipino Literature. The locus of his research is time, as ecological and mythological assemblage, tropically articulated through history as metaphor. He has won a Palanca award for Tula (2015) and two UP Press awards for essays in English and Filipino (2016).

EMERALD O. FLAVIANO (Chair, 2018-2019) is a Research Associate of the University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center. She has done research on social memory in Mendiola and on Cinemalaya and Philippine independent cinema. Her research interests include political culture, popular culture, and Philippine film. She is currently studying for an MA degree in art studies at the College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman.

PATRICK D. FLORES is Professor of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines, which he chaired from 1997-2003, and Curator of the Vargas Museum in Manila. He is Adjunct Curator at the National Art Gallery, Singapore. He was selected by the Philippine government to curate the Philippine Pavilion of the 56th Venice Art Biennale in 2015. He was also one of the curators of Under Construction: New Dimensions in Asian Art in 2000 and the Gwangju Biennale (Position Papers) in 2008. He was a Visiting Fellow at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1999 and an Asian Public Intellectuals Fellow in 2004. Among his publications are Painting History: Revisions in Philippine Colonial Art (1999), Remarkable Collection: Art, History, and the National Museum (2006) and Past Peripheral: Curation in Southeast Asia (2008). He was a grantee of the Asian Cultural Council (2010) and a member of the Advisory Board of the exhibition The Global Contemporary: Art Worlds After 1989 (2011) organized by the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe and member of the Guggenheim Museum’s Asian Art Council (2011). He co-edited the Southeast Asian issue with Joan Kee for Third Text (2011).

TESSA MARIA GUAZON is assistant professor at the Art Studies Department, University of the Philippines Diliman. Her research interests center on cities and culture, specifically art production in the context of urban development. She was recently awarded the Asian Public Intellectuals Fellowship for fieldwork in Thailand and Indonesia in 2014.

LISA ITO-TAPANG teaches art history and theory at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts (UP CFA). Her writings have appeared

99 in Pananaw Philippine Journal of Visual Arts, Forum on Contemporary Art and Society, Asian Art News and Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art, among others. She co-authored Without Walls: A Tour of Philippine Paintings at the Turn of the Millennium (2010). She holds a degree in Fine Arts (Art History) from the UP CFA and is currently completing a master’s degree in art studies at the UP College of Arts and Letters.

JAYA JACOBO teaches literature, theory and criticism, and cultural studies in the Departments of English and Filipino at the School of Humanities of the Ateneo de Manila University in Loyola Heights. She holds the A.B.-M.A. (2002-2003) in Filipino Literature from the Ateneo de Manila University, and the M.A. in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (2010) and the Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, which she completed through a Fulbright Scholarship (2011). She has published scholarly work is keen on inhabiting the cusp between tropology, particularly the rule and the resistance of metaphor, and tropicality, argued as a rubric of time. Jacobo is currently preparing a critical edition of Fruto del Prado’s Bicol translation (1867) of Modesto de Castro’s Urbana at Feliza (1864), to be published by the vanguard press of the Ateneo de Naga University. She is founding co-editor of Queer Southeast Asia: A Literary Journal of Transgressive Art.

SKILTY C. LABASTILLA is a Research Associate at the Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University where he is engaged in research on urban informal settlements, governance, and children and youth. He also lectures at Ateneo’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies. He holds degrees in Anthropology and Social Development and has taught at U.P. Diliman, U.P. Mindanao, and La Trobe University.

NONOY L. LAUZON is the Programmer for Screenings at the U.P. Film Institute. He has double degrees in Philosophy and Humanities from the University of the Philippines. He is a published film critic and has previously worked for a number of national newspapers including the Philippine Journal, People’s Journal and The Manila Times. He used to contribute a column for the old Mirror Weekly and now regularly writes for two of the country’s leading national tabloid dailies. He is currently pursuing an M.A. in Media Studies (Film) at the U.P. College of Mass Communication.

JPAUL S. MANZANILLA (on leave) taught communication, humanities, and

100 Philippine arts courses at the University of the Philippines Manila and Filipino and history courses at the Ateneo de Manila University. He earned degrees in comparative literature and art history from the University of the Philippines and is engaged in research on the histories of photography, cinema, and television in the country.

JEMA PAMINTUAN (on leave) obtained her PhD in Philippine Studies from UP Diliman, and is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University. She was a recipient of the Elisabeth Luce Moore Award for Outstanding Fellow (2012-2014) under the United Board Fellows Program in Asia for her research and work as a visiting fellow at Tunghai University, Taiwan (2013), and Georgetown University, USA (2014).

TITO R. QUILING, JR. has a BA in Literature from the University of Santo Tomas and an MA in Media Studies (Film) from the University of the Philippines Diliman. He has received fellowships for national workshops in creative writing and arts criticism, and his works have been published in Unitas, Tómas, Humanities Diliman, Plaridel Journal of Communication, Media, and Society, among others. He is currently an instructor under the Department of Literature, Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. His research and writing interests center on the intersections of cinema, literature, heritage, architecture, and the city.

JAIME OSCAR M. SALAZAR is a graduate student and faculty member of the Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He has received fellowships to national workshops on criticism, and his writing has appeared in academic and popular venues. He is part of the research team of the recently launched TutoK Freedom of Expression (FoE), a social network and online platform for collaborative art production and educational discussions on art. TutoK FoE (http://www.tutok.org) is a project of TutoK, an artists’ initiative. He currently works for an international humanitarian organization.

CHRISTIAN TABLAZON works with video and other photo-based media, installation, and text. He is a recipient of several national fellowships in creative writing and cultural criticism, and his works have been published and exhibited in 14 countries. His writings have appeared in Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Kritika Kultura, Asian Journal of Culture, Literature and Society, Social Science Diliman, High Chair, hal., and Kilómetro 111: Ensayos sobre cine, among others. He runs Nomina Nuda,

101 a small nonprofit independent platform and exhibition space in Los Baños, Laguna, and works as a resident instructor and program coordinator at the Philippine High School for the Arts. His research interests include memory and autobiography in moving-image practices, low-resolution imagery, place and space in cinema, transportation and mobility in East and Southeast Asian horror films, and spaces of spectrality and representations of trauma in visual media.

ANDREA ANNE I. TRINIDAD obtained her AB-MA Filipino Literature degree from Ateneo de Manila University. Though currently working as a full-time Instructor of Filipino Language and Literature in the same university, she also considers herself as a full-time fan girl that majorly influences her academic interest in Pop Culture particularly the field of Fan Studies. As an academic-fan, she was able to present her papers recently at a conference in Sydney as part of the International Association of the Study of Popular Romance and in La Trobe University, Melbourne.

102 THE 29TH ANNUAL CIRCLE CITATIONS FOR DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM IS PRESENTED IN COOPERATION WITH

UP Diliman Office Initiatives in Culture and the Arts Young Critics Circle Film Desk UP College of Arts and Letters

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Film Desk of the Young Critics Circle and the UP Vargas Museum would like to thank the following for all the support: UP Department of Art Studies Kagawaran ng Filipino ng Pamantasang Ateneo de Manila Department of Theory, UP College of Fine Arts Department of Literature, Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas Dr. Cecille De La Paz (UPD-OICA) Malou Arandia (UPD-OICA) R. Jordan P. Santos Awards Central Philippines Lea Marie Diño and all YCC friends from the media, academe and the arts

Film Desk of the Young Critics Circle, Current Members: Aristotle J. Atienza, Christian Jil R. Benitez , Emerald O. Flaviano, Patrick D. Flores, Tessa Maria T. Guazon, Lisa Ito, J. Pilapil Jacobo, Skilty C. Labastilla, Nonoy L. Lauzon, JPaul S. Manzanilla, Jema M. Pamintuan, Jaime Oscar M. Salazar.

Film Desk of the Young Critics Circle, Former Members: Romulo P. Baquiran, Jr., Melissa Contreras, Flaudette May V. Datuin, Joel David, Mike Feria, Noel D. Ferrer, Eulalio R. Guieb III, Eloisa May P. Hernandez, Eileen C. Legaspi-Ramirez, Gerard R. A. Lico, Charlson Ong, James Rañeses, Jerry C.

103 Respeto, Clare Salaveria, Neil Martial R. Santillan, Ariel N. Valerio, Ailyn A. Villamarin, Galileo S. Zafra, Choy Pangilinan.

Presidents, Young Critics Circle: Galileo S. Zafra (1996-1997); Romulo P. Baquiran, Jr. (1997-1998); Ariel N. Valerio (1998-1999); Noel D. Ferrer (1999-2000); Flaudette May V. Datuin (2000-2001); Patrick D. Flores (2001- 2002); Nonoy L. Lauzon (2002-2003); Jerry C. Respeto (2003-2004); Neil Martial R. Santillan (2004-2005); Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez (2005-2006); Patrick D. Flores (2006-2007); Romulo P. Baquiran, Jr. (2007-2008); Galileo S. Zafra (2008-2009); J Pilapil Jacobo (2009-2010); Eulalio R. Guieb III (2010- 2011); Eloisa May P. Hernandez (2011-2012); Tessa Maria T. Guazon (2012- 2013); Skilty C. Labastilla (2013-2014); Jaime Oscar M. Salazar (2014-2015); Aristotle J. Atienza (2015-2016); Jema M. Pamintuan (2016-2017), Lisa Ito-Tapang (2017-2018), Emerald O. Flaviano (2018-2019)

Keynote Speakers, Annual Circle Citations for Distinguished Achievement in Film: Soledad S. Reyes (1990); Petronilo Bn. Daroy (1995); Justino Dormiendo (1996); Benilda Santos (1997); Ma. Luisa F. Torres Reyes (1998); Alice G. Guillermo (1999); Teresita Gimenez-Maceda (2000); Brenda V. Fajardo (2001); Basilio Esteban Villaruz (2002); Albina P. Fernandez (2003); Ramon P. Santos (2004); Virgilio S. Almario (2005); Eufracio C. Abaya (2006); Lilia Quindoza Santiago (2007); Nick Deocampo (2008); Tito Genova Valiente (2009); Oscar V. Campomanes (2010); Glecy Atienza (2011); Ricardo Abad (2012); Francis Gealogo (2013); Elizabeth L. Enriquez (2016); Zosimo Lee (2017); Jazmin B. Llana (2018); Joseph Palis (2019).

Founding Members, Young Critics Circle: Mike Feria, Film and Theater Desks; Joy Barrios, Theater Desk; Jojo Buenconsejo, Dance Desk; Eric Caruncho, Music Desk; Melissa Contreras, Film and Theater Desks; Jaime Daroy, Music Desk; Joel David, Film Desk; Gin de Mesa, Visual Arts Desk; Patrick D. Flores, Film, Theater and Broadcast Arts Desks; Francine Y. Medina, Visual Arts Desk; Charlson Ong, Film and Literature Desks; Mozart A. T. Pastrano, Theater Desk; Danilo Reyes, Literature Desk; Antonio Tinio, Literature Desk.

104