Oct 16, 2024

6:00 pm DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 16 Oct) – After a two-year hiatus, the 9th Ngilngig Asian Fantastic Film Festival is set to take centerstage from Oct. 26 to 30 in Davao City, featuring a total of 57 short and 7 full-length films from the Philippines and other parts of Asia. From left: Festival programmer Maki Cabrera, festival director Bagane Fiola, and Melina Grace Mascariñas of Pasalidahay, Inc. at the “Wednesdays Media Forum at Habi at Kape” on 16 October 2024. MindaNews photo by ANTONIO L. COLINA IV During “Wednesdays Media Forum at Habi at Kape,” Maki Cabrera, festival programmer, said that the selected film entries were produced by students and professional filmmakers. Of the short films, 34 entries are from the Philippines and 23 are from other Asian countries, which include Sri Lanka, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Meanwhile, the full-length films include those produced by Filipino filmmakers such as “Kantil” by Joshua Cesar Medroso, “Nitrate: To the Ghosts of the 75 Lost Philippine Silent Films (1912-1933)” by This Is Not A Film by Khavn, and “Salome” by Gutierrez Mangansakan II. The festival will also screen “Monisme” by Riar Rizaldi from Indonesia, “This Land of Mine” by Feisal Azizuddin from Malaysia, “Dog God” by Ing K. from Thailand, and “Dreaming and Dying” by Nelson Yeo from Singapore. Bagane Fiola, festival director, said that the featured short films would have a runtime of 25 minutes or less, while full-length films range from 1 hour 10 minutes to 2 hours. Cabrera said there is competition among short film entries, none in the full-length films. The festival will be held in two venues – Cinema 3 of Abreeza Mall and Cinematheque Centre Davao. It will open at the Abreeza Mall with “Kantil” and end at the same venue with “Dreaming and Dying.” Meanwhile, all short films will be screened at the Cinematheque Davao. Fiola added that as a fantastic film festival, they welcome various genres such as science fiction or sci-fi, fantasy, drama, thriller, documentary, and experimental “which may not be horror but have ngilngig factor.” Ngilngig is a Cebuano word for “ghastly.” According to a briefer, the festival expanded its scope from a horror-genre festival when it started in 2010 to “become one of the fantastic film festivals in Southeast Asia by extending its reach to neighboring countries’ ‘ngilngig’ stories and foregrounding their ‘di ingon nato’ or the not-like-us, and the other—the marginalized and oftentimes demonized.” “We take pride in the positioning of this festival particularly as a local cinema culture in Davao, Mindanao, and hopefully continuously expanding and growing our influence and reach in the region, Asia, with the dream of really making it as an international film fantastic festival,” he said. The festival is organized by Pasalidahay, Inc., a Davao-based collective of filmmakers and enthusiasts “who recognize the importance of film as a platform for expression and of change; who value the diversity of audiences, and who are on a mission to cultivate a local filmgoing culture that is critical and appreciative through organizing workshops, film talks, screenings, and fora.” Cabrera said that Mindanao has a thriving community of filmmakers and that they try to bring in industry experts who have been to different international film festivals to hone the craft of up-and-coming filmmakers. He added that festival organizers came up with “pay what you can scheme” for moviegoers to support the homegrown filmmakers. “You can just go to screenings and pay only what you can,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)