Ilonggo films bag top prize in Fil-Am film fest shorts tilt

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By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Ilonggo-made films bagged top prizes for short films in a prestigious Filipino-American film festival which culminated last week, dominating almost all categories from the over-all to the more technical.

Seth Andrew Blanca’s “Kung sa Diin ang Suba Tarabuan” (Down the River We Meet) and Kevin Piamonte’s “Solo” both garnered the Gold award at the 29^th Annual International Filipino Cine Festival organized by the San Francisco, California-based Filipino Arts and Cinema International (FACINE).

Blanca also won Gold for Direction, while his film also topped various categories including Performance in a Lead Role – Female (Ma. Theresa Genona), Performance in a Secondary Role – Female (Niahannah Rizzah Garalda), Cinematography and Editing (Serge Alfred España), Silver for Writing (Rodjie Tabigo-on),

Piamonte bagged Silver for Direction and Particularly Noteworthy for Writing, while “Solo” got Gold for Performance in a Lead Role-Male (Peter Deocos), Performance in a Secondary Role-Male (Marveen Ely Lozano), Editing (Kenneth de la Cruz), Visual Design (Ron Matthews Espinosa), and Silver for Cinematography (Ruperto Gitay).

Piamonte told Daily Guardian in a statement that his short film’s win, which follows on the heels of the Best Film citation at the 4^th Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival last year, was a big thing for regional cinema.

“The awards of SOLO at FACINE 2022 is also a big win for regional filmmaking. As regional filmmakers, we are champions of our stories and our stories are relevant to the world.  Regional filmmaking matters because we make art, we make films that matter,” Piamonte said.

“Sa Paglupad ka Banog” (The Flight of Banog) by Elvert Bañares won Gold for Cinematography and Visual Design (Bañares for both categories), and Aural Design (Bañares for sound and Jay Pope Larroza for music). It was also cited as a Particularly Noteworthy for Film and Editing (Bañares).

“Mga Bag-ong Nawong sang Damgo kag Katingalahan” by Bacolod City’s Mark Garcia also won Silver for Visual Design (Garcia), and Particularly Noteworthy for Cinematography (Garcia) and Aural Design (Mark Sambi for sound and Rocky Nicor for music).

These results of the short film category were announced by FACINE Founder and Artistic Director Mauro Feria Tumbocon Jr. on his personal Facebook page on Wednesday (Tuesday in San Francisco time).

The 29^th edition of the Annual International Filipino Cine Festival, which ran from November 6 to 13, is the second to be held virtually, after the 27^th edition in 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 28^th edition in 2021 was held online.

FACINE is a nonprofit media and arts organization of Filipino-Americans committed to developing media arts and advancing interest in cinema from the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora.

The annual film festival, organized by FACINE, traces its roots to the Sine! Sine! 1^st Filipino-American Video Festival held in San Francisco in 1993 as part of the Filipino-American Arts Exposition and had its first standalone festival in 1996.

With many Filipino full-length and short film titles produced in the Philippines, the United States, and elsewhere, the festival is still considered the largest of its kind in North America.