Twelve short films competed at the recently concluded 18th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, with Zig Dulay’s Black Rainbow nabbing the Best Short Feature award.
If you missed the festival’s run at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and in select cinemas, you still have a chance to catch some of the winning shorts (Best Short Film, Special Jury Awardee, Audience Choice, and NETPAC Awardee) from 23 to 28 August in Cinematheque Davao and Cinematheque Iloilo, and all the shorts from 24 to 31 August in Cinema ’76.
Here’s my take on the six short features under Shorts B.
‘SI ODDIE’
Maria Kydylee Torato’s dramatic short Si Oddie brings to the surface some painful truths during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. It follows a delivery rider named Oddie in Iloilo City as he tries to locate the recipient of a cash-on-delivery item.
The item costs a whopping P5,000 and Oddie refuses to give up on his search because he cannot afford to shoulder the cost of an unreceived item.
His predicament is unconvincing since couriers are not obligated to pay for a CoD item — they simply return it to the seller.
The ending, though, breaks the heart and almost redeems the questionable courier policy depicted in the film.
2.5 out of 5 stars
‘DUWA-DUWA’
Nena Jane Achacoso’s Duwa-Duwa features a breathtaking mountainous location. A teenage girl is in desperate need of cash to “fix” her dilemma. A troublemaker, the young girl gets the ire of her mother who refuses to help out with her money problems.
Achacoso touches on maternal love and a societal ill in a backdrop of stunning and vibrant hilltops and striking mountainous terrains. However, the narrative lacks impact.
Also, the albularyo is a critical element to the plot — and albularyos in real life do not accept cash payments at all.
1 out of 5 stars
‘DISTANCE’
Dexter Paul de Jesus’ dramatic animated short, shot with a smartphone, talks about the pain of a strained mother-child relationship.
Children of overseas Filipino workers suffer from this form of emotional trauma, but the film is slow and dragging.
Mostly a quiet film, De Jesus frames the sad, awkward scenes in a dining room with the super long table symbolizing the guy and his mom’s emotional distance.
While the silence and distance between a son and his mother evoke melancholy, the conflict is drowned by the sound of cutlery against plate — and overshadowed by the interesting animation itself. Hence, the lack of emotional impact.
1 out of 5 stars
‘DIKIT’
Special Jury Awardee, Best Director
Gabriela Serrano’s silent movie Dikit, loosely based on a lost work by Jose Nepomuceno, observes a young manananggal in an urban setting. When a young couple moves in next door, she becomes interested in their daily lives.
Tackling violence against women, women’s rights and women empowerment, Dikit is a well-crafted experimental horror that is more visually interesting than intellectually thrilling.
2.5 out of 5 stars
‘SEE YOU, GEORGE’
Mark Moneda’s dialogue-heavy, pandemic-themed short is seething with rage. His actors are annoyingly loud and insufferably rabid, and the execution is terribly manipulative.
The message unfortunately gets lost in its force, hostility and theatrics.
The plot twist is clever, but you cannot shake off the arrogance and the fanaticism of the two main characters.
0 out of 5 stars
‘BLACK RAINBOW’
Best Film, Best Screenplay, NETPAC Award
Laugh, cry and gasp over the beauty of Zig Madamba Dulay’s Black Rainbow, which hits all the right marks of a powerful short. Winner of the Best Short Feature in this year’s Cinemalaya, it follows a 12-year-old Aeta boy who longs to finish his education.
This is a film that does not exploit the indigenous people for the sake of art. Every gorgeous frame bursts with sincere compassion for our Aeta brothers and sisters without being emotionally manipulative.
If See You, George strangles you to believe in its advocacies, Black Rainbow simply tells a heartfelt story.
Storytelling at its finest, it’s one of the best local films in recent memory.
5 out of 5 stars