We present a list of ten films you cannot miss at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival that is taking place from August 3rd – 12th, in Metro Manila. Please bear in mind these are films not included in the Main Competition (Full Length).

The Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival is perhaps one of Philippines’ most important festival. But before we talked about our recommendations we would like to advice readers to watch ALL the films presented for the Main Competition (Full Length and Short Films) as they are the main attraction. Please remember that the festival is taking place at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and selected Ayala Cinemas (Greenbelt, Glorietta, UP Town Center, TriNoma and Legazpi). For more information PLEASE go to the official website: http://www.cinemalaya.org

Ang Larawan by Loy Arcenas – Philippines | 2017 – 124 min.

In Manila, pre-WW II, two spinster sisters, Candida and Paula, are gifted with a bewildering portrait by their father, Don Lorenzo, a renowned but recluse painter. The sisters reject the attention the portrait receives until sly vaudeville piano player Tony tells he knows an American who is willing to buy it for a high price. Tired of being poor, Candida schemes to sell the portrait with naive Paula as bait. The musical is based on Nick Joaquin’s play A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino.

* The film based on the three-act play A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino by Nick Joaquin, National Artist for Literature, also won Best Actress for Joanna Ampil, Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award, Best Production Design, and Best Musical Score. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
August 8th, 2018 – Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 9:00 pm

Trailer (from Sine Pelikula):

Ang Panahon Ng Halimaw by Lav Diaz – Philippines | 2018 – 234 min.

An anti-musical musical, a rock opera that delves into mythology. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
August 12th, 2018 – Tanghalang Manuel Conde (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 12:45 pm

Trailer (from Sine Pelikula):

Baconaua by Joseph Israel Laban – Philippines | 2017 – 92 min.

After a particularly strong squall, a sleepy fishing village in a tiny island in Southern Tagalog wakes up to an astonishing sight–their sea has turned red with thousands of floating apples. No one knows where it came from. Some look at it as a bad omen from the baconaua – a creature of myth. A few think it is a miracle from heaven, while others fear a more sinister source. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
August 10th, 2018 – Tanghalang Manuel Conde (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 9:00 pm

Trailer (from Sine Pelikula):

Bomba by Ralston Jover – Philippines | 2017 – 94 min.

Pipo makes ends meet by taking on the toughest jobs. Life is more difficult because he’s deaf. He supports himself and his teenage lover Cyril. His irate boss is getting difficult and Ben, his childhood friend wants his daughter Cyril back. Like a bomb, Pipo’s ticking to explode, anytime soon. (Letterboxd)

Schedule:
August 7th, 2018 – Tanghalang Manuel Conde (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 9:00 pm

Trailer (from Sine Pelikula):

Call Her Ganda by PJ Raval – Philippines, USA | 2018 – 94 min.

When Jennifer Laude, a Filipina transwoman, is brutally murdered by a U.S. Marine, three women intimately invested in the case–an activist attorney (Virgie Suarez), a transgender journalist (Meredith Talusan) and Jennifer’s mother (Julita “Nanay” Laude)–galvanize a political uprising, pursuing justice and taking on hardened histories of U.S. imperialism.. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
August 4th, 2018 – Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 3:30 pm

Delia and Sammy by Therese Cayaba – Philippines | 2018 – 84 min.

Upon learning of her terminal illness, faded and forgotten actress Delia has to find family to take care and leave her difficult husband Sammy with, before she dies. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
August 11th, 2018 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 9:00 pm

Trailer (from Unreel):

Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus by Dwein Baltazar
Philippines | 2018 – 105 min.

Scientifically, they say that the heart doesn’t recognise love or any other emotional activity but it’s rather the hypothalamus, a small part of the brain, perhaps just as small as Avenida Rizal, a major thoroughfare in the centre of Manila where the fate of four men intertwine. Each of them longing for a mysterious girl named Aileen. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
August 7th, 2018 – Tanghalang Manuel Conde (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 12:45 pm

Trailer (From Sine Pelikula):

Of Love & Law by Hikaru Toda – Japan, UK, France | 2017 – 94 min.

Fumi and Kazu are partners in love and law; they run the first law firm in Japan set up by an openly gay couple. As lawyers driven by their own experience of being an outsider, they attract a range of clients who reveal the hidden diversity of a country that prides itself for collective obedience, politeness and conformity. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
August 4th, 2018 – Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 6:15 pm
August 10th, 2018 – Tanghalang Manuel Conde (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 3:30 pm

Clip:

Respeto by Treb Monteras II – Philippines | 2017 – 100 min.

Hendrix dreams of hip-hop greatness, but he is spiraling down a rabbit-hole of crime and poverty until he meets Doc, an old poet still haunted by his martial law past. Can they turn each other’s lives around before they are swallowed by their circumstance? The film is a celebration of the underground Pinoy hip-hop world and how we find the words to find ourselves. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
August 11th, 2018 – Tanghalang Manuel Conde (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 9:00 pm

Trailer (Sine Pelikula):

Smaller and Smaller Circles by Raya Martin – Philippines | 2017 – 111 min.

A serial killer in Payatas leaves the bodies of young boys in the dump as two Jesuit priests try to solve the murders. The film is adapted from the award-winning novel of F.H. Batacan. (Cinemalaya Catalogue 2018)

Schedule:
August 5th, 2018 – Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Cultural Center of the Philippines) – 3:30 pm

Trailer (from Sine Pelikula):