November 21 ------ The next generation of young talented Filipino filmmakers in Canada has been busy creating and producing different genres of short films.
Four Filipino-made films, "Almost," "Kuya," "Loop," and "One More Game" became finalists at the recent SNG Indie Short Film Festival in Vancouver. "One More Game," written and directed by Kevin Ang, won first place. "The budget is very small. So I shot it very early and then I did the animation work that came with it by myself though. So I really didn't really expect much of anything. It's just mostly for fun," Ang shared.
The film is based on a true story and is Ang's tribute to the best friend he lost when they were young. "I wanted to focus on just the loss, the loss of childhood, the loss of the friendship that you had and then him disappearing and then him dying. Although I never say what in the film, why he passed, but you know, the true story is cause he actually took his own life." The animation in the film also got the thumbs up from Filipino Canadian child actor Ranon Lucas, who played the young Kevin.
Meanwhile, the sci-fi film 'Loop' won third place at the SNG festival. Philip Planta wrote and directed the film, with his cousin Peter serving as director of photography. Planta said finalists at the festival followed a very strict criteria. "The four films had a $250 budget, and you had two months to make it. But you could only use the amount of gear that could fit in the trunk of your car. That's it. You could not have big cameras, no big lights, just very minimal," Planta shared.
In the 48-hour category of this year's Run N’ Gun competition, the horror-comedy 'White Lady' was awarded the Best in Sound. The movie was directed by Marc Yungco and written by Paolo Valdes. As the community of Filipino filmmakers in Vancouver continues to grow, Yungco and Planta believe the future is bright for Filipino-made indie films.
"We're not so limited and like relying on the gatekeepers to get us seen within the world. We can do it on our own. So that's what we're doing here. And I think we're doing a great job doing it," Yungco said. "It can only get better from here."
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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