The Quezon City Government, through the QC Film Development Commission (QCFDC), launched QCinema 2014: Quezon City International Film Festival on August 27, 2014 at Cerchio on Scout Limbaga, Quezon City.
The QCinema is one of the many ways Quezon City as the City of Stars supports the country’s film industry of the country after its successful staging last October. This year’s festival is set as a bigger event as one of the major highlights of Quezon City’s Jubilee celebration. With the theme From Flashbacks to Fast Forward, the November event will feature the contributing role of Quezon City in the development of the local cinema in the past and in the future. It will showcase an array of cinematic gems to include the world premiere of various films funded by the QCFDC and a competition of independent feature films. The festival will also take on a global dimension this year with foreign festival directors and critics to be invited and a slate of award-winning foreign films to be featured.
The Commission launched a competition earlier this year for production grants for various categories to give local filmmakers a chance to realize their dream projects. In keeping with its thrust for diverse entertainment fare for Quezon City residents, the QCFDC is awarding generous grants to a range of films – from shorts, documentaries, animation and full-length indie films. After a thorough screening, below is the line-up of the winning QCinema entries for its various categories:
The production grant for full-length feature (Php2 Million) is awarded to Arnel Mardoquio’s Alienasyon, about a UP professor who, in the twilight of his great career, finds himself wallowing in reminiscence of the precious histories of his homeland.
As part of an anthology entitled QCX (Quezon City Experience), five films qualified for production grants (Php150,000 each) for short films to include “Tila” by Rob Jara, “Ang Nanay ni Justin Barber” by Victor Villanueva, “Senior” by Jed Medrano, “Bonifacio” by Grace Simbulan, , and “Sa Ngalan ni Ultimate Warrior” by Miko Livelo.
Five independent features were selected as recipients for post-production grants of P150,000. The indie features that were given the grants are: “1st ko si 3rd”, a Cinemalaya 2014 New Breed finalist by Real S. Florido, “Nick and Chai”, a documentary about Typhoon Yolanda victims by Cha Escala and Wena Sanchez, “Tigbao”, a feature about the issue of desparecidos by M. Bonifacio, “Cemetery Life”, a documentary about a group of people living in society’s fringes, by Barbara Politsch, and “Sine Panitik”, a trilogy of literary adaptations by veteran directors William Mayo, Edgardo ‘Boy’ Vinarao, and Jose M. Carreon.
“We are hoping that for its Jubilee year, QCinema will make its definitive mark in the local festival scene,” says Ed Lejano, QCFDC’s Executive Director.
The commission also introduced the Circle Competition which Lejano described as “a new competitive section for local filmmakers with big cash prizes at stake for its winners.” The commission is now calling for local entries to fill in the ten slots of either fictional or documentary films to compete for the Pylon Awards.
The Pylon Awards has three categories and each category has a big cash prize for the awardee. The Best Picture winner will be given P300,000, Jury Prize winner will be given P200,000, Audience Choice winner will be given P100,000, and the Gender Sensitivity winner will be given P100,000, too.
Through its partnership with various embassies, QCinema, for the first time, will include an exhibition category for foreign films culled from the recent harvest from A-list festivals abroad.
A Lifetime Achievement Award will also be bestowed for the outstanding contributions of one of the country’s film personalities at the festival. Renowned prosthetic make-up artist, Cecille Baun, has been named as one of the awardees for QCinema 2014.
The QCinema International Film Fest will be from November 5 to 11, 2014at the Ayala Trinoma Mall.
