Studio Cut

With feature films representing the different regions of the Philippines, the upcoming IndioBravo Filipino Film Festival might as well be called “Around the Philippines in 15 Movies”. The festival, which opens on June 11 at Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art and runs until June 14 at the Visual Arts Theater, showcases award-winning new films produced not only in Metro Manila but in key cities in Visayas and Mindanao, including Cebu City, Davao City and Bacolod – and in the local dialect at that (with English subtitles).

For many years, regional Filipino films have taken the backseat to Manila-based productions, released by mainstream studios like Star Cinema, with only occasional film projects from the South, such as Cesar Montano’s “Panaghoy sa Suba”. The prologue in the witty satire “Confessional”, which is set amidst Cebu’s Sinulog mardi gras, astutely pointed out that most people think that everything outside of Manila is “just a vacation spot”. In the past few years, however, the emergence of independent film festivals in the Philippines like Cinemalaya, where the indie hit “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” debuted, has encouraged young talent from all over the country. For instance, Davaoeno filmmaker Sherad Sanchez, whose “Ang Huling Balyan ng Buhi” is part of the festival lineup, has recently bagged the Grand Prize in South Korea with his second film – and he’s only 24. National Artist for Film Lino Brocka did not make his first feature until he was nearly 30.

So far, regional Filipino films have earned accolades in festivals abroad including Singapore, India and France – proof of the diversity and richness of Filipino culture as visualized by cinematic storytellers. (To purchase tickets, visit www.indiobravo.org or call 1-800-838-3006.) The IndioBravo Film Festival is presented in partnership with GMA Pinoy TV and GMA Life TV and in cooperation with Asian Journal, STIR.ph, HYPHEN Magazine, and Planet Philippines. Below, a quick tour of our regional cinemas:

Tirador (Metro Manila)

From Cannes 2009 Best Director winner Brillante Mendoza comes this virtuoso, fly-on-the-wall, at times shocking exposition of life in a volatile Manila slum. Mendoza’s camera work is so fluid and the acting so untethered, watching Tirador feels like spying. But Mendoza’s apparently self-effacing vision is at its most searing when trained on corrosive politicos, religious denialists and power-crazed cops—he appears to have merely turned on the camera and recorded them digging their own graves. Tirador makes it clear why Mendoza is considered a singular visionary among the mavericks of world film. (Friday, June 12, 8:00 p.m., Visual Arts Theater 2; Sunday, June 14, 6:20 p.m., Visual Arts Theater 1)

Baler (Pampanga)

You don’t choose love; it chooses you. Which can lead to some awkward situations. Take the case of winsome Feliza Reyes (Anne Curtis), who falls in love with the dashing Celso Resurrecion (Jericho Rosales). Match made in heaven, right? Problem is, it’s 1898 and Feliza’s father, the Philippine rebel leader Nanding (Phillip Salvador), is leading a siege against the Spanish rifle battalion to which Celso belongs. Come see why Baler, a sweeping historical romance, cleaned up at the Metro Manila Film Awards in 2008. Starring Jericho Rosales, Anne Curtis, Phillip Salvador, Michael de Mesa, Baron Geisler, Ryan Eigenmann, Joel Torre. (Opening Night Selection: Thursday, June 11, 7:15 p.m., MoMA Titus 1; Sunday, June 14, 4:10pm, Visual Arts Theater 1)

Ang Huling Balyan ng Buhi (Davao)

Imagine a world in which your beliefs and values, the music you listen to, the clothes you wear and even the language you speak are threatened with destruction—by technology, development and the encroachment of cultures more materially powerful than your own. Cultural survival lies at the heart of this bold and challenging film, in which a balyan (priestess) performs a non-indigenous ritual to save her grandchild, setting off a chain of consequences that impact everyone around her.(Friday, June 12 at 6:00 p.m., Visual Arts Theater 1)

Confessional (Cebu)

Do-it-yourself documentarian Ryan Pastor is a cynic. “Lies + Lies = Truth,” he snarks during Confessional‘s opening frames, before embarking with his girlfriend on a trip to shoot the Sinulog mardi gras festival in Cebu. True to the essence of this ancient costumed spectacle-cum-commercialized tourist trap, nothing is quite what it seems. The duo encounter a nun with a surprising past, an entertainer of indeterminate gender and an ex-politician who is either a charlatan, a menace, a genuine penitent or all three. Confessional gleefully explodes the boundaries between “reality” and fantasy, documentary and fiction, while offering a fascinating glimpse into the paradoxes of Filipino culture and identity. (Saturday, June 13, 4:00 p.m., Visual Arts Theater 1; Sunday, June 14, 3:30 p.m., Visual Arts Theater 2)

Donsol (Sorsogon)

Weary, urban sophisticate Teresa (the luminous Angel Aquino) flees Manila’s urban sprawl for the idyllic, sun-drenched coast of Sorsogon. Heading to Donsol, “whale shark capital of the world,” with her perky journalist sister (Cherie Gil) in tow, Teresa hopes to find solace and an underwater encounter with one of the endangered gentle giants who return perennially to the area to mate. What she encounters is young, easy-on-the-eyes Daniel (Sid Lucero), a local dive guide nursing some hurt of his own. Donsol is an elegaic meditation on nature, mortality, temptation and devotion. Starring Angel Aquino, Sid Lucero, Jaclyn Jose, Bembol Roco, Cherie Gil (Friday, June 12, 10:10 p.m., Visual Arts Theater 2; Saturday, June 13, 5:00 p.m., Visual Arts Theater 2)

Yanggaw (Bacolod)

This powerful horror film is set in a rural village where superstition and dark beliefs run deep. When gentle, beautiful Amor (Aleera Montalla) comes down with an illness no conventional doctor can diagnose, she begins to disappear on the same nights that residents of her village are violently murdered. Fearing their daughter is possessed, her parents (Ronnie Lazaro and Tetchie Agbayani) seek the counsel of a faith healer. But ultimately they are forced to take matters into their own hands. Starring Ronnie Lazaro, Tetchie Agbayani, Joel Torre (Friday, June 12, 10:15 p.m., Visual Arts Theater 1; Saturday, June 13, 5:15 p.m., Visual Arts Theater 1)