QCINEMA International Film Festival presents its roster of six filmmakers and their projects selected for the 2024 QCShorts program.
This prestigious selection represents a diverse range of voices and storytelling styles, all united by a common thread of obsession.
The works of these talented grantees delve into themes of grief, labor, justice, public image, redemption, perfection, and romance, offering unique perspectives on the human condition.
They are Nicole Rosacay, Gilb Baldoza, Kukay Bautista Zinampan, Joseph Dominic Cruz, Sam Villa-real, and Whammy Alcazaren.
The batch has a strong inclination for post-production, deep interest in mixed media techniques, and a keen awareness of genre and the ways in which it can be subverted to reveal the distinctly Filipino.
Nicole Rosacay’s film “Alaga” is about a woman who tries to raise a deformed creature as her own child while dealing with her grief.
Rosacay, a sound designer from Quezon City, is teaming up with producer Cynthia Saluba on this new project. It's Rosacay's first pitch outside of school, and she's thrilled she has been chosen as one of the grantees, especially since both she and Saluba are fans of QCinema. Rosacay was also part of the QCShorts 2023 grantee A Catholic Schoolgirl by Myra Angeline Soriaso.
Gilb Baldoza adds an absurdist film in the lineup. His film, “Kinakausap Ni Celso Ang Diyos,” is about Celso, a factory worker. He goes extreme and makes a life-altering decision, challenging reality to secure his family's future, after discovering a hidden clause in his work insurance.
Baldoza is a Filipino queer filmmaker known for “Girly Is in Control of His Life,” which won Best Film at the Shanghai Queer Film Festival and Best Screenplay at Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival in 2019. The film's producer is Stelle Laguda, Production Head of Higante Media Inc. and co-owner of KT House, a creative hub for project development.
Kukay Bautista Zinampan’s entry, “Rampage! o ang parada,” is a sci-fi, heist, and drama film involving taxidermied queer kids who paraded on May 1 as the new saints. During the parade, a heist is organized by Joyrunners Pearl, Klara, and to retrieve their sister, Sta. Bonita, from the mouths of the alien police.
Zinampan is a queer writer, film and theater collaborator who co-founded Pothos Collective, a group of young filmmakers who venture emancipative and novel approaches to filmmaking. They are working with producers JT Trinidad, whose award-winning debut short — the river that never ends — was screened by QCinema, and Kim Vivar, who also produced QCShorts 2022 entry “Mga Tigre ng Infanta” by Rocky Morilla.
Joseph Dominic Cruz’s “Refrain” is a coming-of-age film about Lisa, a single-minded woman in her 30s, who attempts to land an audition 15 years past her music lessons, to unrequitedly pay off her parents' financial and emotional investments in her through the years. This objective has become a perennial obsession for Lisa, much to the detriment of the other aspects of her life.
Cruz, an experienced writer and director, has been featured in CCP Gawad Alternatibo and the 2019 Sinag Maynila Film Festival. He collaborates with Maiqui Tolentino, a creative director at a video marketing agency, as his producer.
Sam Villa-real presents another coming-of-age film in this year’s QCShorts. “Supermassive Heavenly Body” is about a chubby 10-year-old who has a ravenous black hole in her stomach and strives to attain the perfect body in time for picture day.
Villa-real is a video editor who works on projects in both local and international spaces and a storyteller by passion. Her works have gathered recognition locally and abroad. Producing Villa-real’s film is Kesh Rubina, a brand strategist in digital advertising. She is also part of Baño Folks Production Independent Collective.
Completing this year’s batch and returning to QCinema is Whammy Alcazaren, whose film “Bold Eagle” won QCShorts Best Film in 2022.
His film, “Water Sports,” is about sad boys who harness the power of love in an attempt to survive a world devastated by climate change.
Alcazaren is a director and multi-awarded production designer for film and advertising. He partnered again with producer Alemberg Ang and Mara Ravelo Bernaldo in this project. Ang is an alumnus of the Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Talents, La Fabrique Cinema du Monde, and EAVE Producers Workshop. His films have been screened in Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, and Busan, among others. Bernaldo is a multi-hyphenate who has worn different hats in the creative industry with a career that spans over 20 years as a Designer, Post Producer, Line Producer, and Executive Producer.
These grantees were chosen from among 254 entries submitted this year.
Selection committee members are QCinema festival director Ed Lejano; producer Armi Cacanindin; composer, sound designer, and film curator Erwin Romulo; film critic and programmer Jason Tan Liwag; producer and programmer Kints Kintana; film critic Philbert Dy; writer and director Rae Red; and writer and director Sherad Anthony Sanchez.
The 12th edition of the QCinema International Film Festival will be held on November 8-17, 2024. (PR)