Friday, September 05, 2008 Davao-made film competes in Canada film festival
THE Davao-made "The 'Thank You' Girls" will have its international premiere in Canada.
The movie debut of Dabawenyo Charliebebs Gohetia is one of the six Filipino entries in the 27th annual Vancouver International Film Festival where 75 Asian produced films will be featured in the filmfest's cornerstone Dragons & Tigers: The Cinemas of East Asia program.
But "Thank You Girls" is the only Filipino nominee in the Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema, a competition for emerging Asian directors, which includes a prize of $10,000 to the film's director.
Now on its 15th year, the Dragons & Tigers program is one of the pre-eminent showcases of East Asian films in the world.
The festival, which is set to run September 25-October 10, is said to be the largest slate of East Asian cinema in North America. It will feature 27 international premieres and 18 North American premieres.
"Thank You Girls" will be contesting against seven other films by first-timer directors from Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea.
Judges include Tokyo movie producer Ichiayama Shozo, Thai filmmaker Pe-nek Ratanaruang, and American critic Elisabeth Lequeret.
Other Filipino films included in the non-competition section of the filmfest are "Altar" by Rico Maria Ilarde (international premiere), "Blink" by Ronaldo Bertubin (North American premiere), "Jay" by Francis Pasion (North American premiere), "Years When I Was A Child Outside" by John Torres, and "Serbis" by Brillante Mendoza (a Cannes entry written by Davaoeno Amado Lao).
"Thank You Girls" follows the adventure of six drag queens and their quest for a beauty crown. It featured some of Davao City's downtown and mountain sceneries.
The website of the Canadian filmfest described "Thank You Girls" as "deeply Filipino variation on "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert."
"(It's) a gaggle of drag queens and their domestic entourage travel around the sticks, joining "beauty pageants" in which they impersonate the likes of Miss Ecuador. There's laughter and tears on stage, but how do their off-stage realities match up?"
The movie starred Davao actors Pidot Villocino, former K.S.P. host E.J. Pantujan, July Jimenez, Kit Poliquit, Kim Vergara, and Manila stand-up comedian Gie Salonga.
It also stars 2003 Mutya ng Davao and Musika del Sur writer Joan Mae Soco. The movie premiered last August 28 at the Adarna Theater in UP Diliman where Gohetia earned his film and audio-visual communication degree.
"Thank You Girls" will have it first run in commercial theater in Davao, as Gohetia's tribute to Davao where he was born and raised.
It will have a premiere on Sept. 8 at Gaisano Mall, where the regular will also be held starting Sept. 10 (Wednesday). It will the first Davao-produced full-length film to have a week-long presentation in Davao.
Its Manila run will be on September 24.
Financed by US-based Brooklyn Park Pictures, the movie is co-produced by the Davao-based Alchemy of Vision and Light, the company behind the annual Mindanao Film Festival.
Before making his movie, Gohetia edited most of the award-winning films of Brillante Mendoza such as "Foster Child," "Manoro," "Pantasya" and "Tirador" (which earned him a nomination in the 2nd Annual Asia Film Festival in Hong Kong and this year's Urian Award). He also wrote the indie hit, "Daybreak."
