I Went to Cinemalaya Film Festival

August 30, 2017

I Went to Cinemalaya Film Festival

I'm so happy to be able to watch different Indie films from this year's Cinemalaya Film Festival, and I can't wait to watch more in the following years.

This is my first time to go to Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, it is a film festival in the Philippines held annually during the months of July and August at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex. (As per Wikipedia). I don't really know what's up with it ever since I was a kid as our family always passes by CCP and see the colorful Cinemalaya logo being displayed.

I once watched a video before of a film student that watched lots of films in Cinemalaya and it got me like "What's up with it?" talk about Cinemalaya marathon. It was actually really fun , including the student discount which makes it a lot better !

I did not watched films in competition because honestly I was not aware of other films being presented on every theater. Some theaters presented film in competition , Indie films from last year or at least those who are included in the 2016 MMFF and films that are made my the students. I was set to buy 4 tickets from the movies last year and I didn't know till its 3rd to the last day that there are also other films that are being shown, but it's okay there's always a first time in everything and I don't regret watching the films that I watched too, even though I know the films in competition were really great based on the reviews. Congratulations to "Respeto"

The films that I watched were Saving Sally , Mercury is Mine, Oro and Instalado.

I was supposed to watch 2 films with my friend(Sharie) and 1 person whom I'm not really close with (maybe that's why it did not pushed through). Instead I watched "almost" all of it with my mom except Instalado because it was sold out and I thought Sharie can make it but buying on the day itself was not a good idea, because 2 days before it was already sold out, considering it's also the 2nd to the last day of the film fest, Sadly Sharie weren't able to make it , we were planning to watch together since forever, Miss you Shariebells !

On the other side, I think it's awkward to watch a film/movie with someone whom I'm not close with. In addition, not really related but people who go to movies for their first date is really awkward... Imagine sitting next to a person whom you don't really know well "yet" and watching a film/movie for like an hour or 2 without talking to each other.

My Mom and I enjoyed the films that we watched together, our favorite is Mercury is mine too bad my mom missed Instalado, it was a very well written film directed by one of my favorite directors, Jason Paul Laxamana. He also directed the movie 100 Tula Para Kay Stella that's also included in line up of Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino.

Every film that I watched was worth it and I can say the films that was presented were definitely worth every penny. I hope that my work will also be exhibited in the near future.

Special Thanks to My Mom for her company. I really appreciate you watching these films with me.

In addition : There's a video below about my Cinemalaya experience