Friday, March 29, 2024

Dumaguete Shorts 2 starts local film history

By Kristine Ann M. Fernandez
AFTER A YEAR of absence, Silliman University Cultural Affairs Committee (SUCAC) brought back film festival “Dumaguete Shorts” which showcased short films from students and filmmakers in Dumaguete City to strengthen local cinema, Monday at the Audio Visual Theater 1.
“Dumaguete Shorts 2,” the second edition of the city’s film festival, gathered school film festival winners from Foundation University (FU), Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) and Silliman University (SU). Works from filmmakers like Ramon del Prado, Theodore Boborol and Razceljan Salvarita who have made it to the national scene were also featured in the said film fest.
Highlights of “Dumaguete Shorts 2” included the first screening of Star Cinema produced “Ang Asawa Kong Si Nikulet” by Boborol, an alumnus of SU High School and director of ABS-CBN primetime drama “Annaliza”, outside Luzon and sneak peak of del Prado’s newest animated project “Katalina” which revolves around the folklore of Dumaguete City.
Organizer Ian Rosales Casocot said: “Teddy Co, the spirit behind Cinema Rehiyon—the annual festival films made from the regions and not from Manila, asked me during the Cinemalaya congress in 2008 ‘Are there any films being produced in Dumaguete?’ And my answer was ‘No, not really.’ There was no such thing as grassroots efforts in filmmaking in Dumaguete which is why we are here to answer that question once more with a resounding yes!”
“That’s what we are doing here—encouraging local efforts of filmmaking just to make a start. It is always better to start with something than with nothing and soon enough we will have filmmakers who are more daring in their themes and brilliant in their uses of their language of cinema.”
Del Prado’s animated film “I am Superhero” and Salvarita’s “Confession” were also among the eight short films that were screened in the said film fest.
‘Dumaguete Shorts 2’ is a great opportunity for filmmakers to share their works to the public. It shows that Dumaguete, being the university town, is home to a lot of talents in filmmaking,” said Melissa Pal, a graduate of SU College of Mass Communication (SUCMC) who won Best Director for her short film “Jeepney” in SU’s 61 Film Festival last February.~

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest articles