“The Gospel of the Beast” will be the opening film of this year’s Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. The festival will also feature Jansen Magpusao, the festival’s second youngest Best Actor.
The Gospel of the Beast is a coming-of-age film about a teenage boy, Mateo, who is ceaselessly searching for his missing father. After accidentally killing his best friend, his life is turned upside down. He runs away with his father’s friend, Berto (Ronnie Lazaro), not knowing that his escape will set him on a journey towards becoming a beast, as Berto exposes him to the drug-fueled and violent world of the syndicate.
This regional film by Sheron Dayoc features all-Western Visayan actors and won two awards at the recent 47th Gawad Urian: Best Supporting Actor for Lazaro and Best Editing.
“In a world that continues to grapple with various forms of violence, including war, domestic abuse, modern-day slavery, and other affronts to human dignity, the story speaks to the broader human experience—the struggle for justice and enduring hope—through the character of Mateo,” Dayoc said in an interview.
Magpusao was then an unknown 15-year-old child actor from a far-flung town in Antique when he won Best Actor in 2019 for John Denver Trending. He portrays a young boy whose life changes after a video of him goes viral, leading to cyber-bullying.
Aside from the Best Actor award won by Jansen, John Denver Trending was the biggest winner in 2019, securing Best Film, Best Original Music Score, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and the NETPAC Award for the Full-Length Category.
Lino Brocka’s Bona, starring Nora Aunor and Phillip Salvador, is the closing film. It tells the story of a fan who becomes infatuated with a bit actor from a movie, but the endless infatuation has unfortunate results. Nora Aunor won Best Actress in Cinemalaya 2014 for Hustisya in the Directors’ Showcase.
Documentaries from GMA Public Affairs will also be shown: Mav Gonzales’s Sisid sa Putik, Howie Severino’s Boat to School, Atom Araullo’s Bawat Barya, and Kara David’s Ambulasyang de Paa. Bryan Brazil’s Lost Sabungeros delves into the unsolved disappearances of sabungeros (cockfighting enthusiasts) in 2022.
“Loob, Lalim, Lakas” is this year’s theme of the 20th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, which will run from August 2 to 11, 2024.
Competing in the Full-Length Category are: JL Burgos’s Alipato At Muog; Dominic Bekaert and Sarge Lacuesta’s An Errand; Arlie Sumagaysay and Richard Salvadico’s Tumandok; Kip Oebanda’s Balota; BC Amparado’s Gulay Lang Manong (No More Than Veggies); Joshua Medroso’s Kantil (Trench); Jaime Pacena II’s Kono Basho; Jonathan Jurilla’s Love Child; Lawrence Fajardo and Honee Alipio’s The Hearing; and Julius Lumiqued’s The Wedding Dance.
The entries, often called “indie films,” embody Cinemalaya’s vision: “the creation of new cinematic works by Filipino filmmakers”—works that boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity.
It also aims to invigorate Philippine filmmaking by developing a new breed of Filipino filmmakers.
I consider myself a Cinemalaya loyalist, having watched the festival’s films since it started in 2005, 20 years ago.
Eddie Garcia won Best Actor that year for ICU Bed#7, Merylle Soriano was Best Actress for Room Boy, and Pepot Artista was Best Film. Garcia is the only person to have won Best Actor thrice: for ICU Bed#7 (2005), Bwakaw (2012), and ML (2018).
My passion for film may be an offshoot of my exposure to experimental films during my college years in the late ‘80s and ‘90s at UP Diliman, where I saw several highly sensitive and political films, some of which were even banned from commercial screenings.
The UP Film Center served as a venue for screening films free from censorship, in salute to the ideals that independent filmmaking promotes—imagination, creativity, reinvention, and critical thinking. Academic freedom is essential to the University’s mission, and the showing of films is an integral part of its academic programs.
Named after a mythical bird, Cine Adarna is an 800-seater theater that has been a favorite venue for international, regional, national, and sectoral film festivals.
Some of the films I saw include Lino Brocka’s Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975), Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim (1985), Ishmael Bernal’s Himala (1982), Mike de Leon’s Sister Stella L. (1984), and Marilou Diaz-Abaya’s Karnal (1984), whose daring works portrayed revolt, labor unionism, social ostracism, and class division.
“While it is the duty of the artist to work for what is true, good, and beautiful, first we have to expose and fight for what is wrong,” Brocka said in an interview.
Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, email [email protected], or call 09175025808 or 09088665786.
