Thursday, September 07, 2006
Indie director to grace Makati university film group jubilee
CUTTING-edge Filipino independent filmmaker Topel Lee will serve as guest speaker when the University of Makati Film Society (UMFS), based in the Center for Performing and Digital Arts, celebrates its first anniversary at the Building 1 Audio-Visual Room on Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Lee, who studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines (UP) and filmmaking at the Mowelfund Film Institute, will show some of the music videos he directed for local artists such as Gloc 9, Hale, Bamboo, Kamikazee, Radioactive Sago Project, Sugarfree, April Boy Regino, and others.
"Sayang," the music video he directed for Gloc 9, won Best Video at the MTV Pilipinas Video Music Awards 2004. Bamboo's "Hallelujah" video, which he also helmed, was nominated for Best Music Video at the NU Rock Awards 2005. Recently, he was nominated Best Director for Hale's "Kung Wala Ka," which eventually won Favorite Pop Video at the MTV Pilipinas 2006.
As part of the event and the campus tour kick-off for "Shorts," a new program which airs independently produced short films every Thursday night on ABC Channel 5, the university's premier film organization will also screen Lee's "Bruce" and "'Nak Ng." The seven-minute "Bruce," a wacky spoof of 70's kung fu flicks with a hilarious punch-line, was shown at the 2003 Antimatter Festival of Underground Short Film and Video in Victoria, BC, Canada.
"'Nak Ng," which is set in post-apocalyptic Manila, where a male character tries to be a hero, and a "damsel in distress" seems to need saving, was screened at the 20th Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The five-minute suspense comedy earlier won third place at the 2004 Nike "The Art of Speed" Digital Short Film Contest. Both "Bruce" and "'Nak Ng" were also shown at the Short Shorts Film Festival Asia 2004 in Japan.
Lee also helmed the two-minute The Filipino Channel's (TFC) 10th anniversary station ID "Isang Dugo, Isang Lahi, Isang Musika" (One Blood, One Race, One Music), which bagged the Promax World Silver Award in New York. Considered the equivalent of the Oscars and Cannes for movies, the Promax & BDA Award Show recognizes the best creative works worldwide.
The young avant-garde filmmaker also directed the stylish action thriller "Dilim," one of the finalists in the 2005 Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival and the 2006 Cinemanila International Film Festival Local Digital Competition. Produced by Creative Programs, Inc. (CPI), an entertainment subsidiary of ABS-CBN, "Dilim" tells the story of an enigmatic creature that roams the streets at night and does vigilante work, saving innocent victims by literally devouring the villains. The horror-action-drama stars Mario Magallona, Rica Peralejo, Archie Adamos, Emilio Garcia, Hermie Concepcion, and the late indie film actor Elmo Redrico.
The event will also pay tribute to Redrico with a screening of Anna Isabelle Matutina's 2006 Cinemalaya finalist "Puwang," which was mainly shot in the university, and Eric dela Cruz's "Sikyu," which is part of the ABC 5 "Shorts" campus tour, from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. On Thursday, renowned indie animator, short filmmaker, comic strip illustrator, painter, and musician Rox Lee will hold an experimental video workshop, where participants are required to come up with shoot-to-edit outputs, and "Sinekalye" or street cinema at the university grounds. (Press release)
(September 7, 2006 issue)
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