Don’t get confused. Cinemanila and Cinemalaya are two different Filipino film festivals. They are both from Metropolitan Manila, but one is located in Taguig City on the east coast while the other Pasay City on the west coast (I heard that they were both very progressive). Cinemanila is six years older than Cinemalaya. Since its inception in 1999, Cinemanila has developed into a full-blown international film festival. Cinemalaya, on the other hand, is entirely dedicated to independent Filipino cinema. Despite their differences, both are major film fests in the region and are well regarded for their missions and accomplishments.
Cinemanila 2011 / source: Cinemanila
This year, Cinemanila 2011 or the 13th Cinemanila International Film Festival took place from Nov. 11 to 17. It is undoubtedly growing in stature year by year.
Cinemanila 2011 has an official line-up of 102 films from both its competition and exhibition sections. 31 of them are directed by one or more Filipino directors. The festival’s opening film is German documentary filmmaker Wim Wender’s Pina (2011) about deceased German choreography Pina Bausch and her dance troupe. It is the first 3D film ever shown at the festival. The festival’s closing film is British Independent Film Award Winner Life in a Day (2011), a documentary that sources 4,500 hours of footage from YouTube users. These two films give a strong indication that Cinemanila emphasizes cinema that is both sincere and original.
There was a strong presence of South Korean cinema at the festival too, as evidenced by special screenings provided by the Jeonju International Film Festival and by the “Focus on Korea” program. K-horror, K-thriller, and Korean romance dramas were all well represented.
Oberhausen Programmer Herbert Schwarze also brought in high-caliber award-winning shorts from the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, one of the world’s oldest and most respected short film fests. During the festival, he gave a seminar on short films free for the public. It was a great learning opportunity for young Filipino filmmakers.
“The Beautiful Game” was probably the audience highlight of Cinemanila 2011. This new program curated eight sport films, all centered on soccer. They ranged from drama and comedy like Bend it like Beckham (2002) to gripping documentary like Rise & Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story (2011).
Winners of Cinemanila 2011 have been published on the festival’s official website. In contrast to last year, documentaries did not compete for awards in the Young Cinema section, which seemed to have restructured to focus on short films only. As for the lifetime achievement awards, they went to “Italian Hitchcock” Dario Argento (1940-) and Filipino actress Nora Aunor (1952-). You may get a glimpse of young Nora Aunor act in Himala (1982) below.
