Cinemanila Now Showing
The 8th Cinemanila International Film Festival is currently on-going (November 3 to 15, 2024) in SM Digital Cinemas at the Megamall, SM North Edsa and the Mall of Asia; in Greenbelt Cinemas at Ayala Center, Makati City; and in the National Commission for Culture and the Arts Auditorium in Intramuros, Manila. It features 75 full-length films from 35 countries in five sections—World Cinema, Young Cinema, Digital Lokal, Philippine Panorama and Sineng Pambata.
Below are synopses of Short Films in Competition.
1. BUOG/30min / Philippines / 2024
Director: Milo Tolentino
A battered boy sought refuge in an abandoned lighthouse and strikes an unlikely friendship with a mysterious, playful little boy.
2. SAKDAL LAYA / 15 min / Philippines
Director : Tey Claymor
A dream like film that revolves around the mystery behind a painting, which leads to a brutal rape, and an end that will question what freedom is. Three women of different generations travel through time and space, and experience life’s tragedy.
3. The BALLAD of MIMIONG’S MINON /35 min / Philippines
Director: Jon Ballesteros
Jaime, a folk singer, has just been kicked out of the job as the weekly evening entertainment of a long-standing music bar, once known to be a haven of artists, activists, and NGO workers on
the grounds of being “too subversive”. Without a job and a place to stay, he seeks refuge in the town plaza, where, through irreconcilable circumstances, he meets Mimiong, a blind street musician. This is where their ballad begins.
4. GRANDMA’S RECIPE /19mins / USA-Philippines
Director : Imelda Betiong
Set in Hawaii, Milan Gomez, a down-to-earth, sweet grandmother, is obsessed with winning the coveted Honolulu Dessert Contest. For the past four straight years, Milan has lost to her ruthless neighbor, Betty Lau, a brass, cocky woman who has the upper-hand because of a secret ingredient. A day before the contest, Milan and her granddaughters discover Betty’s secret ingredient and the choices they make will turn this contest upside-down.
5. HOPIA EXPRESS 14mins/Philippines/2024
Director : Janus Victoria
Kinky is a recent chinese immigrant living in Manila’s neon-lit Chinatown. She falls for a stranger who frequents the yam cake store where she works. Unable to speak his language, Kinky relies on his schedule and the cake he loves to buy to forge a friendship. But one day, he doesn’t show up when she expects him to.
6. MISTERYO NG HAPIS /15mins/Philippines/2024
Director : Mark dela Cruz
Pa-siyam is a Filipino traditional ritual of praying for the soul of the dead for 9 consecutive nights. On the last night, Jay, a young professional gay theater actor joins his mother in praying for the soul of his dead father for the first time. For every mystery prayed, all the painful past of Jay unveils. In the end, will all the mysteries of sorrows turn into mysteries of joy?
7. ONE MAN SHOW /14mins/Phil. / 2024
Director: Dohna Sarmiento and Glenn Ituriaga
One-Man Show explores the realizations of a man as he delivers the performance of his life: from the bright lights of his peak as a star until his eventual descent into obscurity. When all the lights of prestige go down, will he cease to believe in himself as well.
8. EMBERS / 12 mins/New Zealand/2024
Director : Marc Laureano
During the winter of 1946 in rural New Zealand, an isolated young wife awaits the return of her husband from World War II. Her fears about his demise come to vivid life in her imagination, but his sudden return only brings new fears.
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