RANDOM THOUGHTS: DEKADA CINEMANILA

My first hand, "insider" thoughts on the 10th Cinemanila FF:

VENUE: So-so. For a Makati resident (like me) the place is far. At least there is the MRT wherein I can take a one-way drive going to Gateway Mall. Never mind that I have to pass by a lot of classy shops (Folded and Hung, Lacoste, Bench, Esprit, etc.) before reaching the Cineplex.
MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS: To the max! As in extensive broadcast and print media coverage. Name it and fest organizer Director Tikoy Aguiluz has contacts with: ABS-CBN (in an interview with Mario Dumauag last night), Phil. Daily Inquirer, Phil. Star, Tempo, and so on. But when it comes to
BOX-OFFICE: This year's fest is an unmitigated flop, except for two crowd pleasers that managed to be an audience favorite: Thailand's official 81st Oscar Best Foreign Language Film entry Love of Siam (a gay romance comedy-drama; pictured above ) and Israel's Cannes Filmfest winner and U.S. box-office hit The Band's Visit (a light but affable comedy based on "true events"). Blame it on the absence of more popular festival entries this year.
LINE-UP OF FILMS: Weak, compared with last year's fabulous array of entries (60th Cannes Palme d'Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days; Lino Brocka World Cinema Grand Prize winner and 60th Cannes Best Screenplay honoree The Edge of Heaven; 60th Cannes Jury Prize and eventual Cinemanila Special Jury Prize for World Cinema awardee Persepolis; 59th Cannes Camera d'Or winner Luxury Car, among others). Though the presence of last year's festival hits The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Roy Andersson's 60th Cannes Un Certain Regard entry You, The Living; 60th Cannes Un Certain Regard winner California Dreamin' are commendable (even if they were available on bootlegged DVD last year, thereby affecting ticket sales), the International and Southeast Asian Cinema films in competition (Indonesia's The Photograph; Thailand's Love of Siam; Japan's United Red Army; Russia's Vanished Empire, etc.) are relatively uncommon.
PARALLEL EVENTS: As if I care! Master Class in Filmmaking, Directing, Editing, and Screenplay Writing featuring Cinemanila regulars Lav Diaz (recent Venice Filmfest winner), relatively unknown filmmaker Amir Muhammad, and 53rd Cannes Palme d'Or for Best Short Film winner (and inactive of late indie filmmaker) Raymond Red for P150.00? Why attend a lecture when you can seek practical advice from other thriving indie directors? Or at the most, why not do it yourself?

FAVORITES SO FAR: Koji Wakamatsu's enthralling docudrama United Red Army; Johnnie To's latest film Sparrow (this year's opening Film); You, The Living; The Band's Visit

OF INTEREST: Kiumars Pourahamd's Night Bus; Karen Shakhnazarov's Vanished Empire; Roynston Tan's 12 Lotus; Malaysian films Flower in the Pocket and Village People Radio Show

MUCH AWAITED: Melancholia; The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela; Adolf Alix's Adela; Brillante Mendoza's Serbis, Foster Child, Tirador

OVERHYPED: Love of Siam (A gay romance comedy-drama? Have we seen something like this before?)

AVAILABLE ON DVD: The Diving Bell...; Persepolis; Tsotsi; Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth; Ken Loach's It's A Free World; With a Girl of Black Soil