KIDLAT Tahimik’s “Balikbayan #1: Memories of Overdevelopment Redux III” will be the closing film of this year’s Cinema Rehiyon, which will be hosted by Cebu.
The film won the Caligari Film Prize in the 65th Berlin International Forum of New Cinema in Germany. It will be screened on Aug. 9 at SM City Cebu.
Tahimik’s film narrates the story of Enrique, Ferdinand Magellan’s Malay slave, suspected to be a Visayan. It was first filmed 35 years ago and went on to be intermittently shot across the decades by Kidlat, who plays Enrique.
Other actors in the film are the director’s family—Kawayan de Guia, Katrin de Guia and Kabunyan de Guia—as well as George Steinberg and Wig Tysmans.
“Balikbayan #1: Memories of Overdevelopment Redux III” supports the chronicle of Antonio Pigafetta that seems to show that Enrique was actually the first man to circumnavigate the globe.
Cinema Rehiyon, the flagship project of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) National Committee on Cinema, opens the festival with the 1970 Visayan film “Badlis sa Kinabuhi,” by actor-director Leroy Salvador.
Cebuano actors will grace the festival, including Gloria Sevilla; the “queen of Cebu movies,” Pilar Pilapil; and Undo Juizon, the first best child actor of the Film Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (Famas) awards.
Cinema Rehiyon will give emphasis on movies about the aftermath of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” such as T. M. Malones’s “Dapya sang Paglaum,” Charena Escala and Rowena Sanche’s documentary “Nick and Chai,” and Thomas Fitzgerald’s “Tigdao.”
Films that tackle issues revolving around cultural communities will also be showcased, such as Ida del Mundo’s “K’na The Dreamweaver,” Nef Luczon’s “Father Said, Let’s Return Home,” Lester del Valle’s “Walang Rape sa Bontok,” Adjani Arumpac’s “War Is a Tender Thing,” Ivy Universe Baldosa’s “Marciano,” and “Busol: The Last Headhunters.”
Cinema Rehiyon will also screen Alec Figuracion’s “Bitukang Manok,” Bagane Fiola’s “Sonata Maria,” Charliebeb Gohetia’s “Chasing the Waves,” Lemuel Lorca’s “Mauban: Ang Resiko,” John Paul Laxamana’s “Magkakabaung,” and Remton Zuasola’s “Soap Opera.”
Short films, particularly made by Cebuanos, will be part of the outreach screenings in different venues around Cebu. Rare works of National Artist for Film Lamberto Avellana will also be screened.
Now on its seventh year, Cinema Rehiyon takes the theme “At the Crossroads of the Seventh Art.” The festival runs Aug. 6-9 in different theaters of Cebu City.
Call festival director Bambi Beltran at 09471763343; e-mail bambibeltran@gmail.com; or Rene Napeñas of the NCCA Public Affairs and Information Office at 5272192 loc 208.