#Planting Seeds: The Future of Philippine Cinema

[pinoyparazzi]

FDCP, ikinasa ang month-long activities para sa Women’s Month

Ipinagdiwang this March 8 ang International Women’s Day with lots of activities. FDCP Chairperson Liza Diño and her staff Ria Anne Rubia in a recent talk in Naga City Sa hanay ng mga kaibigan natin mula sa women’s group na Gabriela, mayroon silang kilos-protesta para manawagan ng trabaho, lupa,...

Continue Reading... http://www.pinoyparazzi.com/fdcp-ikinasa-ang-month-long-activities-para-sa-womens-month/

[fareastfilm]

NIGHT BUS + THROW DOWN A dark Indonesian masterpiece and To's  timeless classic (in a new version restored by the FEFF) for an incredible Closing Night!

UDINE – The last day of the Far East Film Festival 20 and the last journey to the pulsing pop heart of Asian cinema. And what a trip it's going to be! If the Closing Night of Saturday the 28th of April will be focusing on two authentic masterpieces - the Indonesian Heart of Darkness of Night Bus by Emil Heradi and the wonderful and timeless Throw Down by Johnnie To (in a restored version by the FEFF together with Bologna's L'Immagine Ritrovata and making its world premiere), the lineup will be dishing out gems all day right from the early morning. Prime among which, of course, the eagerly-anticipated Chedeng and Apple by Rae Red and Fatrick Tabada, a debut film which is already destined to become a cult classic for its irreverent radicalising of the plot of Thelma & Louise. An irresistible black comedy that's as surprising as it is entertaining and that doesn't hold back on the over-the-top pulp and humour. Chedeng and her friend Apple are angry. Really angry. And they're also really mean. Two 100% bad girls. Or rather, two 100% bad ladies – the most terrifying over-60s in the Philippines! It goes without saying that the film's extraordinary protagonists (Gloria Diaz, Miss Universe 1969, and eternal diva Elisabeth Oropesa), together with its directors, will be taking the stage in Udine, as will Emil Heradi and the king of Hong Kong King, Johnnie To, a fraternal friend to the FEFF since its very first edition. An edition – way back in 1999 – that saw him triumph at the Audience Awards with his now legendary A Hero Never Dies! Because at the Far East Film Festival, the best films are chosen by the public, and the winners - who will be announced around 00.30, after the screening of Throw Down - take home the FEFF's Mulberries, the “popular Oscars” assigned to the films in the lineup which earn the most love and the most votes. There are 55 films competing this year (out of 81 titles in total), 21 of which are debut or second films. An authentic treasure chest, and a genuine incubator for the Asian filmmakers of the future, who've knocked themselves out to get to Udine, and who Udine has knocked itself out to bring on board! And so from this year on, there's a new prize on offer: the White Mulberry for the best first or second film, awarded by Hong Kong producer Albert Lee, American producer Peter Loehr and Italian screenwriter Massimo Gaudioso (famed writer of director Matteo Garrone's films). A little revolution that carries within it the seeds of something greater: all the seedlings that the festival has planted and watered and watched grow from 1999 until today.

TEATRO NUOVO

9.00

THE CHASE by KIM Hong-sun (South Korea, 2017)

An irresistible cop thriller!

FEFF TALKS

In the spotlight from 10.00 to 10.30, Derek Chiu (No.1 Chung Ying Street) and Chapman To (The Empty Hands). Next, from 10.45 to 11.30, DING Sheng (A Better Tomorrow 2018) followed from 18.15 to 19.00 by the king in person: Johnnie TO.

11.00

SAD BEAUTY by Bongkod BENCHARONGKUL (Thailand, 2018)

A female road movie with a vein of pitch-black humour.

13.10

THE LEGEND OF THE DEMON CAT by Chen KAIGE (China, 2017)

(With the Asian and Latin American Film Festival of Milan)

A refined and visually astounding fable with mystical overtones from director Chen Kaige, Palme d'Or winner for Farewell My Concubine.

 15.30

LAST CHILD by SHING Dong-seok (South Korea, 2018)

A heart-wrenching film that will have audiences on the edge of their seats.

17.45

CHEDENG AND APPLE by Rae RED and Fatrick TABADA (Philippines, 2018)

At first glance, Chedeng and Apple have nothing in common, but both are trapped in their lives: devoted wife Chedeng can't come out until her husband has died and, after the umpteenth quarrel with her husband, Apple kills him. With the man's head inside a Louis Vuitton bag, the two friends set off - Thelma & Louise-style - in search of the sweetheart Chedeng abandoned as a young woman. A hugely enjoyable and over-the-top road movie and a paean to female freedom!

19.45

NIGHT BUS by Emil HERADI (Indonesia, 2017)

A cross-section of humanity finds itself aboard a night bus to Samper, a city at the centre of a civil war. There is a grandmother with her niece, a young couple on the run, an activist looking for his missing colleagues and many others besides. But the journey turns into a nightmare as they cross paths with the army, the guerrillas and the mercenaries and - as in Heart of Darkness - their journey through horror takes on metaphorical meaning full of shared human desperation...

22.10

THROW DOWN by Johnnie TO (Hong Kong, 2004 – Restored version, 2018)

The world premiere of the restored version of one of the greatest films in Hong Kong cinema! Sze-to, an ex-judo champion who suffers from glaucoma, makes ends meet by managing a down-at-heel bar and drowns his sorrows in booze. His destiny intersects with that of Mona, an aspiring singer, and Tony, an exuberant young judoka, and the enthusiasm of the two gives Sze-to the confidence to get back in the ring against his boss. This ode to men beaten down by life and confined to its margins is one of To's masterpieces.

23.00 – Pavilion 9 of the Ente Fiera

The unmissable final party of FEFF 20 featuring a DJ set from PEI, the first lady of Chinese clubbing! Tickets on sale at the Teatro Nuovo bookshop.

00.30

CLOSING CEREMONY OF THE FAR EAST FILM FESTIVAL 20

Announcement and presentation of the Audience Awards 2018!

VISIONARIO

11.00

SIDE JOB. by HIROKI Ryuichi (Japan, 2017)

14.30

TAMPOPO by ITAMI Juzo (Japan, 1985)

16.45

RAMEN HEADS by SHIGENO Koki (Japan, 2017)

19.00

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA by Stephen NOMURA SCHIBLE (USA/Japan, 2017)

[pinoyparazzi]

FDCP at DGPI, palalaganapin ang regional filmmaking sa bansa

Bilib kami sa sipag at pagpupursige ni Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Chairperson Liza Diño mula nang pamunuan niya ang ahensiya. Halos linggu-linggo siyang dumarayo sa iba’t ibang regional areas sa bansa para makipagpulong sa local filmmakers at alamin ang kanilang...

Continue Reading... http://www.pinoyparazzi.com/fdcp-at-dgpi-palalaganapin-ang-regional-filmmaking-sa-bansa/

[fareastfilm]

FAR EAST EXPRESS

Saturday, April 21, iconic diva Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia will be accompanying iconic film Hong Kong Express (Chungking Express) to Udine to receive her Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award.

UDINE - Before even turning into an idea – an idea as crazy and visionary as all ideas that are ahead of their time – the seed of the Far East Film Festival was born out of a thunderbolt. The thunderbolt of a masterpiece that, back in the now-remote 1994, felt as if it had landed from Mars: Hong Kong Express (Chungking Express, for purists) by Wong Kar-wai. Five years later, on the 10th of April 1999, the house lights came up for the first time on the festival in Udine and now that it has become the European epicentre of Asian cinema and is about to celebrate its milestone twentieth year, things are coming full circle. Symbolically. Beautifully.

Avoiding self-celebration or playing the hard-bitten veteran, it's a handing down of the torch, from those little seedlings planted so long ago and watched and watered for over twenty years as they flourished to the dreams that are yet to come...

And so, if the Far East Film Festival 20 officially begins on Friday the 20th of April by offering the public a truly memorable Opening Night (Korean spy action thriller Steel Rain, shared with Netflix, and the world premiere of Malaysian thriller Crossroads: One Two Jaga), on Saturday the 21st of April, it will come full circle. And not just because, at 20.00, Hong Kong Express will be screened - that would be an event in itself, but 'she' will also be taking the stage of the "Giovanni da Udine" Teatro Nuovo theatre. The queen. The diva. Her Highness Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia, the elusive goddess who has always been, and will always be, the iconic star of Hong Kong Express!

A Special Guest with a capital 's' and a capital 'g', Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia will be receiving the Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award. She will be accompanied to Udine by legendary Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi (back at the FEFF after receiving a Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award himself in 2015) and will also be honoured with an intimate, precious retrospective at the Visionario (which includes a homage inside the homage: the European premiere of 1977's Cloud of Romance, which has just been restored by the Taiwan Film Institute).

And of course, as well as the memorable opening night, there'll be a Closing Night (Saturday, April 28) that's just as memorable and just as unique, because it sums up the entire meaning of the twentieth edition: eyes looking towards the future, with Indonesian thriller Night Bus, and heart faithful to the past, with the restored version of the wonderful Throw Down by Johnnie To  (the second film restored by the festival with Bologna's L’immagine Ritrovata after the FEFF's restored version of Made in Hong Kong, which was literally given a second lease of life last year – it's turned into something of a mission for us).

9 days of great cinema. 9 days of intense passion. 9 days of full immersion in the heart of Asia. A lineup as intense as it is diverse, carefully put together over an entire year by working on multiple fronts: geographic (films from 11 different nations: China, South Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam), artistic (5 world premieres, 9 international premieres, 21 European premieres and 3 world premieres of restored films) and technical (and as regards the future, there are the 14 titles selected for Focus Asia, the FEFF's project market, and 15 professionals selected for Ties That Bind, the international Asia-Europe workshop – more than 150 participants from 35 countries).

And this year's most incredible number of all? Out of a total of 81 films, 21 of the 55 titles in competition are first or second films. An genuine incubator for the Asian filmmakers of the future, who've knocked themselves out to get to Udine, and who Udine has knocked itself out to bring on board!

It's a first in the long history of the Far East Film Festival, so – with one eye always on the future - the FEFF decided to submit the Fab 21 not only to the examination of the spectators (who are, let us never forget, always the final judges), but also to that of a highly qualified international jury. Its three components: Hong Kong producer Albert Lee, American producer Peter Loehr and Italian screenwriter Massimo Gaudioso, famed writer of director Matteo Garrone's films.

In addition to the traditional audience awards for best film - the Golden Mulberry awarded by the public and the Black Mulberry awarded by Black Dragon pass holders - the FEFF has now added the White Mulberry for the best first or second film, which will be awarded by Lee, Loehr and Gaudioso.

Far East Film Festival 20. 10+10. A grand total of events, experiences and journeys, but also (and maybe above all?) a grand total of geographical and cultural distances which mathematics has delighted in bringing together: East and West, Europe and Asia, Udine and the world.

Asymmetries which are actually a better fit than they might initially appear - twins who might not be identical, but who are twins just the same.

The house lights go down: it's time to start!