Add one more to November's Filmfest Smackdown; but, with the coming year being an open window into Philippine and Filipino Cinema, I thought it would warrant to get a head start.The Filipino American Center of the San Francisco Public Library in association with the Filipino Arts & Cinema International (FACINE) present the 16th Annual Filipino American Cine Festival on Friday, November 20, 1:00-5:00PM and Saturday, November 21, 10:00AM-5:00PM in the Main Library, Lower Level, Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove), free to the public. The FACINE festival is the longest-running festival of its kind in North America that showcases independent short films produced by Filipino American artists and other films made in the Philippines. FACINE is a nonprofit media arts organization that aims to promote and develop Filipino American cinema.
FACINE's Artistic Director Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr. has programmed the following screenings:
Friday, November 20, 1:00-5:00PM
PROGRAM 1: Our stories from the 'hood
1:00-2:00PM
Legend (Mark Villegas, dir & prod; 5 min, 2009)
Got Book? Auntie Helen's Gift of Books (Florante Pete Ibanez, dir; UCLA Department of World Arts & Culture / Center for EthnoCommunications, prod; 8:45 min, 2005). This short documentary concerns Helen Brown, the founder of the Pilipino American Reading Room & Library.
Sounds of a New Hope (Eric Tandoc, dir; Mass Movement & Sine Patriotiko, prods; 41 min, 2009). Director Tandoc follows Filipino American rap artist, Kiwi, through his work with youth both in the US and the Philippines where he uses music to raise political consciousness.
PROGRAM 2: In a weird, crazy world of my neighbors
2:00-3:00PM
The Reunion (Pio Candelaria, dir/prod; 3 min, 2009).
The San Miguel Family Reunion (Theophilus Jamal & Joel Rosal, dirs; MojaStudio & PhlipFLIX Productions, prods; 14:23 min, 2008).
Alice, Interrupted (Theophilus Jamal, dir; MojaStudio LLC, prod; 10 min, 2009).
Bunot / Husk (Ivy Universe Baldoza, dir/prod; 7:08 min, 2008).
Nekro (Crisostomo Juan Andaluz, dir; Carl and Carl Productions, prod; 19:01 min, 2008).
PROGRAM 3: Special Premiere US screening
3:00-5:00PM
Handumanan / Remembrance (Seymour Barros-Sanchez, dir; Red Room Productions, prod; 85 min, 2009). Filipina model/actress ChinChin Gutierrez stars as romance novelist faces the difficult changes in her career and life.
Saturday, November 21, 10:00AM-5:00PM
PROGRAM 4: The Filipino, undaunted
10:00–11:30AM
Gami dad Lumfwig / We, the Oppressed (Nerve Macaspac, dir; 32 min, 2008)—The indigenous peoples of the Philippines are still a people suffering from neglect and discrimination.
Kinulayang Kitil / Hand-painted feathers (Richard Legaspi, dir; Red Room Productions, prod; 24 min, 2009)—A young boy yearns to have his own painted chick believing that it can bring back the life of his father shot in a picket line.
The Momentary Enemy (Angel Velasco-Shaw, dir/prod; 24:30 min, 2008)—An experimental documentary that explores a century's worth of war rhetoric and filmic representation from the dawn of last century's Philippine-American War to Vietnam and the Iraq War. Features interviews with Reynaldo Ileto, Howard Zinn and Ninotchka Rosca.
PROGRAM 5: What of woman, herself empowered
11:30AM–12:30PM
Life Begins at O'Farrell Street (Peggy Peralta, dir/prod; 3 min, 2005).
Hello, My Name is Clarisse (Peggy Peralta, dir/prod; 3 min, 2005).
Killeg / Long life (Golda Mae Bao-ag Pay-ong, dir; University of Makati Film Society, prod; 9:52 min, 2008).
Soledad is Gone Forever (Mabel Valdivieso, dir; Cesar Viana Teague/Haiku Films, prod; 14 min, 2006).
Always Faithful (Sam Wellington, dir/prod; in association with South of Ten, Abyssinian Moon Productions, Palindrome Pictures, prods; Esperanza Catubig, star; 13 min, 2008).
PROGRAM 6: Special US Premiere screening
1:00-3:00PM
Puntod /Baby's tomb (Cesar Apolinario, dir; Arlyn de la Cruz/ADC Productions, prod; 111 min, 2009)—A daughter of Manila's slums dreams of having a dignified burial space for her mother, forges deep friendships with an old blind man and other children.
PROGRAM 7: Special US Premiere screening
3:00-5:00PM
Anacbanua / The child of the sun (Christopher Gozum, dir; Sine Caboloan, prod; 105 min, 2009)—The filmmaker's love letter to his province, Pangasinan, in text and stunning visuals. At Lessons From the School of Inattention, Francis Cruz provides a full-on rave review.All films are either in English or in different Filipino languages (Tagalog, Bisaya, Pangasinan, etc.) with English subtitles. A short Q&A with filmmakers in attendance follows after all screenings.