Ben Madilynn
Themed “The Gaze,” the QCinema International Film Festival (QCIFF) has returned for its 12th edition with another notable lineup of local and global films to be screened across Gateway Cineplex 18, Ayala Malls Cinema at Trinoma, Red Carpet at Shangri-la Plaza, and Powerplant Mall from Nov. 8 to 17.
The film festival will showcase a total of 77 titles, including 22 short films and 55 full-length films, across 11 sections.
Four feature films from Directors’ Factory Philippines, an omnibus film project created in collaboration with Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, will kickstart the QCIFF. These movie projects include “Walay Balay” directed by Eve Baswel and Gogularaajan Rajendran; “Nightbirds” by Maria Estela Paiso and Ashok Vish; ”Silig” by Arvin Belarmino and Lomorpich Rithy; and “Cold Cut” by Don Eblahan and Tan Siyou.
Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Cloud” is the closing film. It has earned international attention, premiering at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and getting selected as Japan’s Best International Feature Film entry at the 97th Academy Awards or Oscars.
The Asian Next Wave competition, on the other hand, features “Don’t Cry Butterfly” by Duong Dieu Linh, the Grand Prize winner at Venice Critics’ Week; “Pierce” by Nelicia Low, Best Director at the recent Karlovy Vary Crystal Globe Competition; and “Mistress Dispeller,” a feature documentary by Elizabeth Lo, winner of the NETPAC award for Best Asian Film at Venice filmfest.
Also making their QCinema debut are Neo Sora’s “Happyend,” which recently premiered in Venice; “Tale of the Land,” winner of the FIPRESCI prize at last month’s Busan International Film Festival; Truong Minh Quy’s “Viet and Nam,” featured in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard; and Bor Ocampo’s “Moneyslapper.”
Under the QCShorts International competition, the participating shorts are “Alaga” by Nicole Rosacay; “Kinakausap ni Celso ang Diyos” by Gilb Baldoza; “Refrain” by Joseph Dominic Cruz; “RAMPAGE! (o ang parada)” by Kukay Bautista Zinampan; “Supermassive Heavenly Body” by Sam Villa-Real; and “Water Sports” by Whammy Alcazaren.
Joining these titles are Southeast Asia films, namely, Al Ridwan’s “Are We Still Friends?”; Chanasorn Chaikitiporn’s “Here We Are,” which made its international premiere at the Berlinale: Forum Expanded; Exsell Rabbani’s “In the Name of Love I Will Punish You,” which world-premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival; Ekin Kee Charles “Peaceland”; Hong Anh Nguyen’s “Saigon Kiss,” which received the Special Mention: Queer métrage Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival; and Mickey Lai’s Locarno-winning “WAShhh.”
New sections
In this year’s program, RainbowQC and New Horizons are now both in international competition sections under the Special Critics Prize awards, with their respective juries.
RainbowQC includes three Cannes Queer Palm nominees: “Baby” by Marcelo Caetano, from Critics’ Week; “The Balconettes” by Noémie Merlant, from Midnight Screenings; and “My Sunshine” by Hiroshi Okuyama, from Un Certain Regard. The other titles include “Pooja, Sir” by Deepak Rauniyar from Venice Orizzonti and “Sebastian” by Mikko Mäkelä, from this year’s Sundance World Dramatic Competition.
The New Horizons section showcases Constance Tsang’s “Blue Sun Palace,” winner of the French Touch Prize at Cannes Critics’ Week; Pham Ngoc Lan’s “Cu Li Never Cries,” which won this year’s Best First Feature in Berlin; Sandhya Suri’s “Santosh” from Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, which happens to be UK’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards; Ingrid Pokropek’s “The Major Tones,” which is selected for the Generation Kplus section at the 74th Berlin Film Festival; and Saule Bliuvaite’s “Toxic,” which won this year’s Locarno Golden Leopard.
Ten titles will be shown under the Screen International section. From the San Sebastian Film Festival are “Afternoons of Solitude” by Albert Serra and “When Fall is Coming” by François Ozon.
To be screened from Cannes are Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,” the first Indian film in decades to compete in Cannes’ main competition, where it won the Grand Prix; Best Director award winner Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour,” which is Portugal’s entry to the 97th Academy Awards; Federico Luis’ “Simon of the Mountain,” which is the Critics’ Week section Grand Prize winner; and the Palme d’Or winner, Sean Baker’s “Anora,” already touted as a strong Oscar contender.
Completing the list are Pinoy auteur Lav Diaz’s “Phantosmia;” Joshua Oppenheimer’s musical fantasy “The End”; Alexandre de la Patellièr and Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo,” said to be the most expensive French film of 2024; and the Venice Golden Lion winner, Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door.”
The QCIFF also presented new sections for this year — QCLokal, Rediscovery, Contemporary Italian Cinema and QCinema Selects.
The QCLokal section includes “Room in a Crowd” by John Torres and “Makamisa: Phantasm of Revenge” by Khavn. It will also have the Shorts Expo, which presents five world premieres of short films, such as “Brownout Capital” by Pabelle Manikan; “Forgetting Clara” by Nicole Matti; “May Puso ba ang Manika?” by Shiri de Leon; “Objects Do Not Randomly Fall from the Sky” by Maria Estela Paiso; and “Yung Huling Swimming Reunion Before Life Happens” by Glenn Barit. Joanne Cesario’s “Invisible Labor” will likewise have its Southeast Asian premiere at the film festival.
The Rediscovery category will feature “Delicatessen” by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro; “Dogtooth” by Yorgos Lanthimos; and “Ran” by Akira Kurosawa.
In Contemporary Italian Cinema section, the following films will take center stage: Antonio and Marco Manetti’s “Diabolik;” Matteo Garrone’s “Io Capitano;” Marco Bellocchio’s “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara;” Carlo Sironi’s “My Summer with Irene;” Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera” and Michele Riondino’s “Palazzina Laf.”
The QCinema Selects includes QCinema’s first anime film “Ghost Cat Anzu” by Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita; “No Other Land” by Rachel Szor, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal and Basel Adra; “Shahid” by Narges Kalhor; “Sujo” by Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero; and “The Sparrow In The Chimney” by Ramon Zürcher. Completing the list is Soi Cheang’s “Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In,” one of Hong Kong’s highest-grossing films and its official entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.
Meanwhile, making a comeback at the QCIFF 2024 are the Before Midnight and Special Screenings sections.
Included in the Before Midnight are “Motel Destino” by Karim Aïnouz; “Gazer” by Ryan J. Sloan; “Infinite Summer” by Miguel Llansó; “A Samurai in Time” by Junichi Yasuda; and “The Wailing” by Pedro Martin-Calero while “An Errand” by Dominic Baekart; “If My Lover Were a Flower” by Kaung Zan; “A Thousand Forests” by Hanz Florentino and “Lost Sabungeros” by Bryan Brazil are in the Special Screenings category.
The price of a regular ticket is P300. More details are available on QCIFF’s website at www.qcinema.ph.
Tax exemption
QCIFF festival director Ed Lejano explained at a mediacon that this year’s curation “embraces a kaleidoscope of gazes” — from Asian competition films, world cinema, genre works to arthouse gems. “The Gaze” offers “a rich and immersive experience that opens new insights into politics, gender, race, and more,” he said.
QC mayor Joy Belmonte also proudly shared that QCIFF is the Grand Winner for Best Event Hosting: International Event (Cities) at the 2024 Tourism Pearl Awards from the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP). It also won the same recognition in 2023 and she hoped it bags the award again next year.
“And this is a proof of how this local festival has been able to successfully position itself as a tourism destination. By maintaining QCinema’s key strength in programming, where curation is at the highest level, patrons and moviegoers can always expect a unique cinematic experience,” she said.
“While it continues to grow as a platform for the best of Philippine cinema and world cinema, QCinema remains true to its commitment — to deliver the best festival hospitality and the most audience friendly services. This is why it is generally acknowledged as the No.1 international film festival by film critics and reviewers,” she added.
She vowed to continue to get sources of support, and encouraged budding and homegrown artists to boost their craft. “But more than producing the best films and discovering the best talents, QCinema yearns to elevate appreciation of our citizens especially the youth on arts and films through its film education program,” Belmonte said, adding a museum dedicated to Philippine cinema is already in the pipeline. “QCinema has gone a long way but it can do more.”
She also announced that the QC council just passed a tax exemption ordinance for the creative industry. “If you belong to the creative industry, no matter what industry it is, as long as it is considered creative and of course, kasama diyan ang film, and you hold or open your head office in QC, magkakaroon po kayo ng three-year tax exemption sa business taxes.”
