ALL FILM & TV FEATURES
Contradictions Shape Us: Understanding Komorebi through ‘Perfect Days’
When struggles accumulate and shadows overlap, does darkness grow even more dimmer? If it’s indeed true, then why does the sunlight become more pronounced when shades of leaves rustle with each other from a branch of a tree?
‘The Roof (2006)’: Uncovering the Perspectives of Arabs in Israel
Arab citizens of Israel are being used as scapegoats to defend the genocide charges against the country. If it was genocide, they ask, why aren’t they being murdered as well? The Roof is an insightful documentary that explores the perspectives of Arabs living there and helps us understand their experiences in the midst of this conflict.
SINEPIYU XVI: College Students Celebrate Student Filmmaking
Held at the FEU Main Auditorium, veteran actors Bembol Roco and Rolando T. Inocencio were in attendance for the awarding of SINEPIYU XVI along with the selected cast and crew of the presented films.
Musings on music and physical media with 'Recto Records' director Jego Rafael
Amid minimalism and technology, Mang Greg continues to set up shop each day in Recto, surrounded by albums ranging from The Beatles’ Abbey Road to Avril Lavigne’s The Best Damn Thing. Read our interview with director Jego Rafael on ‘Recto Records,’ still streaming on Cinemata.
Fearless and Uncontained: The Ambitious Cast of Sinepiyu XVI
“Be liberated from convention,” goes Sinepiyu in their program invitation (arbitrarily translated by me). It’s not just a challenge posed to the filmmakers participating in the film festival, but it’s also a dare for future audiences: to suspend everything they think they know about student cinema and permit themselves to experience the new, the perverse, and the ambitious.
Behind Black Beret 2024: Talking to UP Student Filmmakers
In this year’s edition of Black Beret, student filmmakers from UP Film Institute presented stories about unconventional friendships, long-lost loves, and grief amidst personal transformation.
We interviewed three of the directors this year, namely Coby, Raia, and Hanns, read Sofi’s feature for more:
CINEKURO: Presenting Confident, Liberating Filmmaking
Kuro-kuro's CINEKURO presents four short films with one eye on engaging storytelling and another on the filmmakers’ advocacies, maintaining a confidence in their vision that their stories will resonate.
SINEGANG.ph's 2024 Oscars Predictions and Staff Choices
With the Oscars just right around the corner, staff at SINEGANG.ph has cast their own ballots as to who they think will win and are most deserving of the Oscar trophy.
Beyond ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’: On Male Gaze and Its Grip on Our Community
In honor of Women's Month, I find myself reflecting back on 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire,' its impact on the exposure of male gaze, the need for feminine empowerment, and my deepened love to the enduring grace of how inspiring it is to be a woman—a sister, a mother.
Sinalang Film Festival Offers Alternative Modes of Film Spectatorship
The inaugural edition of the Sinalang Film Festival celebrates Philippine cinema in unconventional and innovative ways, encouraging an active and participatory viewership.
Victor Villanueva raises the bar for comedy with 'I Am Not Big Bird'
Victor Villanueva’s 'I Am Not Big Bird' gives a new appreciation for friendship and introduces us to a more innovative style of filmmaking. Read about our interview with him as he discusses shooting in Thailand and directing the big comeback of Enrique Gil.
From Romblon to Berlinale, Ryan Machado on the unlikely journey of ‘Huling Palabas’
‘Huling Palabas’ director Ryan Machado talks about getting into Berlinale with a genre-bending coming of age film.
Anyone But You: Sigh no more, it's the return of the modern Shakespeare adaptation
Anyone But You, directed by Will Gluck brings back a Shakespeare flavored rom-com with 2000s energy, in an imperfect but charming movie that’s a fun time at the cinemas.
John Rogers Gets Real With 'As If It's True'
In 'As If It's True', a social media influencer and a musician enter a fake relationship to resuscitate their dying careers. Read our interview with director John Rogers as he talks about the process of making his film and more.
Tokyo Story, on the inevitability of change and its universality
Tokyo Story explores the limits of finite time and the inevitable passing of age, while offering a subdued yet profound examination on the gaps between tradition and modernity.
Iginuhit ng Tadhana: A Deep Dive into the First Marcos Propaganda Film
Iginuhit ng Tadhana was the Marcos family’s first propaganda film, a biopic produced to rally support for their 1965 presidential run against Diosdado Macapagal. It was filled with blaring historical inaccuracies that laid the foundations for a mystical mythology around Ferdinand E. Marcos that has persisted to this day.
The blessing in disguise of seeing a wrong film, and some thoughts on Before, Now and Then (2022)
Hopefully more people would see this gem, with the knowledge of actually seeing Before, Now and Then instead of watching this because it was mistakenly projected.
“In the Mood for Love”’s New 4K Restoration is More Tragic as It Replaces Romance with Ambivalence
Wong Kar-Wai’s new 4K restoration of “In the Mood for Love” mutes its ravishing reds and replaces it with a tint of ambivalent green. This shifts the mood from romance to ambivalence, with more of a focus on each character’s individual processing of trauma and less on their warm connection with one another. It also further amplifies its sense of tragedy.