Pretty in Pink
by Don Jaucian
The ridiculous amount of gay “indie” films skittering in the theaters every week (Every week! Which means these kinds of “films” are produced at a regular basis) may not paint a good picture of the LGBT issues in cinema, with all these low-budget exploitation films which aim to showcase more glistening bodies than the actual struggles of its characters. But as in any film industry, there is a fine line between good films and bad, distasteful ones. With all the issues faced by the LGBT-community in these tumultuous times, it’s a relief that there are actually filmmakers who craft films that are skillfully made and have something relevant to say. These are the films that deserve to be seen by a larger audience.
With this in mind, and in celebration of the National Arts Month (and also in time for Valentine’s Day), Akei, Pinoy G4M, and Pelikula Tumblr present Sine Bahaghari, a series of screenings of films that provide a wider perspective of the depiction of the lives of Filipino gay men and women in cinema.
Here are some of the award winning films included in the line-up:
Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (The Dance of Two Left Feet, Alvin Yapan, 2011)
Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa glides in elegant rhythms, dispelling the shackles of gender roles and artistic notions through the subtle guidance of the poetry of dance and glances teeming with possibilities. More than an unspoken love affair between its two leads (Paulo Avelino and Rocco Nacino), what Sayaw distills is an understanding of the place of art in our society and how we form and break values and traditions based on its heavy-handed maneuverings.
Winner of Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Original Music at the 2011 Cinemalaya Film Festival and the Bronze Prize at the Bogota International Film Festival. Sayaw is also hailed as one of the best Filipino films of 2011.
Next Attraction (Raya Martin, 2008)
The second part of Raya Martin’s intended Box Office Trilogy, Next Attraction follows a film crew shooting a short film which stars Coco Martin, Paolo Rivero, and Jaclyn Jose. In the short film, Martin runs away from his mother and meets Rivero, who gives him his first sexual encounter.
Next Attraction is a film about filmmaking and our local film industry. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Cinemanila International Film Festival.
Muli (The Affair, 2010)
Based on Gerry Geracio’s Palanca Award-winning screenplay, Muli is the love story of an activist, Jun (Sid Lucero), and a lawyer, Errol (Cogie Domingo), in Baguio City, whose affair goes through a series of tribulations for over four decades. As the country goes through a tumultuous change over forty years, Alix shows how these issues affect the lives of Jun and Errol and their struggle to keep their relationship from falling apart.
Winner of Best Actor (Sid Lucero) at the 2011 Gawad Urian.
Señorita (Vincent Sandoval, 2011)
Far from the maddening crowd of Manila, Sofia (Vincent Sandoval), formerly a high class transsexual sex worker, starts anew as Donna. She then helps Pepe Holganza, a doctor in Talisay, in his mayoralty bid to topple over the town’s regime. By grooming Doc Pepe as the messiah of Talisay (both the name and the setting a probable Rizal reference), with all his ideals of a morally conscious governance and the ever-present promise of eradicating corruption, along with taking care of a friend’s son, Sofia finds a chance to redeem herself, establishing a personality that erases any hint of her past. But her past is not through with her.
Señorita premiered at the 64th Locarno Film Festival.
Apart from these critically acclaimed films, Sine Bahaghari will also screen two LGBT-themed films by national artist Lino Brocka and films by Sigrid Bernardo and Roni Betubin.
Sine Bahaghari opens today, February 11, 5 PM at Chef’s Bistro, Tomas Morato, with the screening of Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa and Next Attraction. Admission is free. Sine Bahaghari is included in the National Commission for Culture & the Arts’ (NCCA) Philippine Arts Festival this February 2012.
For more info on the other screenings, visit sinebahaghari.pelikula.info
(via pelikula)
