Earlier this month, Maginhawa Street’s Cinema Centenario bid goodbye to its physical space because of the pandemic. But this does not mean that it’s the end of our beloved microcinema. To grapple with the recent crisis, Cinema Centenario, which is known for featuring Filipino films that aren’t usually widely shown and don’t reach many viewers in the country, has decided to move online through its virtual movie-on-demand platform MOOV to continue its commitment to promote the future of Philippine cinema.
On its third run, Maginhawa Film Festival will serve up compelling stories in their Open Category and Student Category from November 11 to 22. With the pool of promising narratives, including solitude tales and terrifying encounters, this year’s festival aims to showcase the exceptional talents of emerging filmmakers and bring to the screen some of the most gripping issues of today.
MFF 2020 will feature 13 short films under the Open category, including Tokwifi, which won the Best Film and the Netpack Jury Prize at Cinemalaya 2020, and another 13 short films under the Student category.
The festival, which opened Cinema Centenario’s operation in 2017, has started as a program that aims to showcase Filipino films until it finally became a competition festival in 2018. This year, Maginhawa Film Festival will reopen Cinema Centenario’s online movie house with the theme “Transition,” in line with the move to shift to a digital platform to provide viewers an opportunity to watch the best Filipino films within the confines and safety of their homes.
OPEN CATEGORY
Director: Frank Go
The film is set in 2019. A small film crew is standing by as its members prepare for a shoot. The director says action and the timeline jumps. A 60-year-old cinephile spends his last days selling original copies, also the only copies, of Cebuano films just outside the entrance of a theater in downtown Cebu. A group of “tanods” wants to rid the sidewalk of illegal vendors like him. The film goes back to the small crew in modern times.
Ang Gasgas na Plaka ni Lolo Bert
Directors: Janina Gacosta & Cheska Marfori
A closeted gay man in his 60s has been living with HIV for 10 years. His monotonous life takes a sudden turn when he receives an old vinyl record from his dead ex-lover.
Director: Vince Entuna
“Ang Laswa ni Lola Mame” is a narrative film about concealing the trauma of Lola Mame in her experience of World War II. She tries to hide the painful past from her grandson, Sen through cooking. However, there are no secrets hidden forever.
Ang Nagliliyab na Kasaysayan ng Pamilya Dela Cruz
Director: Miguel Louie De Guzman
Set during the year 1971, this film follows the story of the Dela Cruz family who lives in Central Luzon, the rice granary of the Philippines. The family is composed of Lina, Nestor, and their only child, Tonio, whose lives are constantly being threatened and exposed to acts of violation and exploitation due to their peasantry.
Director: Lora Cerdan
The film is set in 2019. A small film crew is standing by as its members prepare for a shoot. The director says action and the timeline jumps. A 60-year-old cinephile spends his last days selling original copies, also the only copies, of Cebuano films just outside the entrance of a theater in downtown Cebu.
Director: Terence Giourdan Gonzales
The film “fml” revolves around Lexie, a 17-year-old teenager who overshares on social media. After an eventful day out, Lexie found herself alone in a terminal, waiting for a ride home. She cures her boredom by checking her profile and random people’s stories on Instagram.
Director: Lynn Lim
In the contemporary suspense drama ” The Sound of Silence”, Gabriela Magsayo must escape and runaway after an intruder hunt and forces her for sexual slavery.
Director: Mark Gerald Foliente
A lonely writer wants to remember the word for a specific feeling to complete a piece he is writing –but is challenged by him unable to connect and express it to other people. In the end, a familiar character will make him realize that a word isn’t enough to describe a feeling.
Director: Juan Carlo Tarobal
A young lady screams in silence as she seeks salvation from the evil that surrounds her.
Directors: Diana Maguiat and Angelica Nitura
A tyrannical patriarch lives with his family in a secluded place where fear and ignorance keep them together. When his son, Toto, lives up to what he’s accustomed to; he fell into the realization of their hapless state.
Directors: Ron Dulatre & Elaiza Rivera
Reg is a socially awkward stand up comedian who gets help from his imaginary friend: Alyssa, but when Reg is supposed to give the performance that will boost his comedy career, Alyssa suddenly vanishes.
Director: Carla Pulido Ocampo
As Limmayug carries firewood back to his home village, something falls from the sky: a 1950s television, with a hysterical showbiz star trapped inside it. She is Laura Blancaflor. The frightened man saves the television — nay, saves Laura — from the flames of the impact
Director: Arjanmar Rebeta
Viral Kids is about the trending stories of five different street children who have their own past and dreams but being hindered and utilized by an unknown force behind the online scheme.
STUDENT CATEGORY
Director: Frances Irish Villaflor
The film is all about Isaac. He is a seafarer who wants to give a beautiful life to his family but eventually, his work affects his relationship to his children. Isaac always feels the distance with his daughter (Alayssa)…
Director: Nicole Rey
Karen, an indigenous people’s and women’s rights advocate, tries to navigate her role as a daughter, and her place as a woman in a tumultuous society.
Director: Reyna Nicole Paner
A law student struggling to forget her ex finds a way to delete her memory of him and their entire relationship but in the process of doing so, accidentally deletes everything she has reviewed for her upcoming BAR exam.
Director: Regine Villazanta
Gian and Rona are a troubled couple disturbed by a recent tragedy. They decide to visit a beach house where their relationship started hoping to start anew by recapturing long lost happiness that they once had.
Director: Grace Clarisse Cinco
Maggie San Pedro, a transferee student tries to win friends through Baon Royale. An underground game by Grade 5 Malusog, each student vies to win the favor of their gamemaster, Maestro by offering him the best-tasting baon.
Director: Denise Dar Juan
A girl lost in the forest encountered a crossroad where she must decide which path to take or stay and be consumed by the wilderness.
Directors: Patricia Solano and Sally Barcial
Cloud and Dawn are living their days, enjoying each other’s company. One day, Cloud arrives home to find Dawn collapsed on the floor, and as he tries–and fails–to save her, he becomes consumed with grief and self-loathing
Director: Ivan Cortez Batallones
A mother goes home from his child’s funeral. Before sleeping, the mother is bothered by a lost family picture, while her husband tries to comfort her. She recalls the story when she found her son lying in the garden, staring at the sky.
Director: Marben Portucela
A night before its television episode screening, a visual effects artist, ARGEE, asks help from his long-time editor friends, LEO and QUENTIN, to edit three versions of a visual effects sequence to be finished under 4 hours to prevent Argee from being fired from his job.
Director: Yvette Mijares
Gel, a bisexual woman who is still in the process of moving on from her almost relationship, invites her friends on a quick getaway, little did she know her friends invited Nikki as well who happens to be her lover. One night, her friends asked and questioned about her sexual preference (bisexual) which confuses everyone in the group.
Director: Martin Espanya
Jems, a middle-aged trans woman, is forced to walk home from her shift at a gay disco bar due to a jeepney strike.
HOW TO WATCH MFF FILMS
See the full lineup for the Open and Student categories here. Open Category and Student Category access passes are priced at P120 each, while the MFF all-access pass is at P200. Early bird at P160 available for purchase until Nov. 6, 2020 only.
For more movie online streaming, visit Cinema Centenario’s MOOV.
