Unsa Diay na ang Shoot Out?: Cinema on Adrenaline at the 15th Binisaya Film Festival

jea nicolefeature

Aug 26

Unsa Diay na ang Shoot Out?: Cinema on Adrenaline at the 15th Binisaya Film Festival

Jea Nicole August 26, 2025, 08:00 PM

“Unsa diay na ’ng shoot out sa Binisaya? Pusil-pusil na?”
(“What’s in the Binisaya Shoot Out? Does it really have gunfights?”)

Blasting the big screen with the action-packed, Filipino-way battle of bullets, the 15th BINISAYA Film Festival had its gun loaded with fresh gimmicks and reckless genius as the Shoot Out category rolled its most daring reiteration yet.

No strangers to the deadline adrenaline, student filmmakers know that some of their best ideas are born under pressure. When there’s no space for excuses, when the stakes are high, raw ideas rush and break walls. Around the world, film shoot out competitions put that theory to the test with their own spin on the challenge. In its local version, Binisaya filmmakers in Cebu prove that limitations don't stop them from unleashing creative instincts that speak to their community's soul.

*The 15th Binisaya Film Festival Shoot Out | Photo courtesy of Binisaya*

In this year’s hybrid Shoot Out, student teams from media or film-related programs across Cebu universities stepped up in an even more challenging race against the clock as they shot a film within 24 hours, bound by one place with nothing else but a camera and the wits of a Bisaya.

“The shoot out this year is very different. Dili na siya open call,” said Danielle De los Reyes, one of the festival organizers, in an interview with SINEGANG.ph.

(“The shoot out this year is very different. It is no longer an open call.”)

The teams, each formed by coaches from their respective schools, underwent a workshop and mentorship program before they began filming. This was a collaboration with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) to prepare the participants before they took on the challenge. The workshop featured talks from renowned local filmmakers like Keith Deligero, one of the pioneers of the Binisaya Film Movement, who spoke about story development and writing, and Christian Paul Naparota, winner of the 2018 Binisaya 48-hour Shoot Out, who shared his expertise on cinematography and sound recording.

“This aspect was very important because it helps us ensure the quality sa ila buhaton. We helped them tweak their concepts a bit and improved their ideas,” De los Reyes said of the organizers’ involvement in their brainstorming process.

(“This aspect was very important because it helps us ensure the quality of what they do. We helped them tweak their concepts a bit and improve their ideas.”)

Unlike in previous years when challenges were announced just before filming on the festival's opening day, the three key elements were revealed in advance, and the shooting day took place a month before its premiere. All of the entries were stitched into a single feature-length film titled Diring Dapita. Each team was asked to choose one of the seven deadly sins as the basis for their story’s concept, drawing elements from the Adlaw Adlaw series' Biyernes Biyernes (One Day, One City, Seven Stories), an omnibus film by seven local filmmakers, which opened the inaugural edition of Binisaya Film Festival in 2011.

All of the filming had to take place inside the Mango Square Mall in Cebu City. Within the 24-hour period, each team was given a specific timeframe to complete both the shooting and editing.

“Their stories are tied up by the elements. Different stories siya and ang link nila kay location. Gisumpay na siya tanan from the start of the shooting day until the next morning, from sunrise to sunrise ang setting sa film,” De los Reyes said.

(“Their stories are tied up by the elements. They are different stories and they are all linked by the location where the filming took place. They are all pieced together from the start of the shooting day until the next morning, from sunrise to sunrise per se.”)

‘Diring Dapita’ sa Mango Square Mall

*The Omnibus Shoot Out Film, ‘Diring Dapita’ | Still courtesy of Binisaya*

One day. One camera. Seven scenes. Seven deadly sins snaking through the corners of a mall.

Creatives in Cebu are all too familiar with the 32-year-old Mango Square Mall. In a city where appreciation for the arts is still constrained by commercial and government interests, budding artists find a space here to hone their craft and connect with other creatives. This time, filmmakers channel their familiarity with the place to portray how worldly sins leak through the surface at any time, from morning office bickering to stressing over a bloody accident at night, or what-may-come of male loneliness before the dawn breaks.

Following the talks, the Shoot Out competition officially began at 6 PM on July 11. The teams proceeded with the filming on their assigned schedule, each taking their turns with the sole Blackmagic Cinema Camera provided.

“We did this to have control over the visual quality since we intend to stitch them into an omnibus film. Kay if lahi-lahi ang camera ang gamiton, lahi-lahi ug quality ang different scenes,” De los Reyes said.

(“We did this to have control over the visual quality since we intend to stitch them into an omnibus film. If different cameras are used, each scene will have a different quality.)

The teams were accompanied by the organizers during the Shoot Out until everything wrapped up on July 13.

“Technically, it's still a 24-hour challenge, but overall it took us more than 24 hours to finish everything,” she added.

On August 17, the Shoot Out omnibus film Diring Dapita premiered during the festival's opening at Robinsons Galleria Cebu alongside the screening of short films under the Binisaya World category. It was also part of the festival's limited online screening at the EXIT page on YouTube.