My presence in the online world is hardly felt last week. I focused on watching the competing films featured at the 7th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. There are over 30+ films featured and just like the previous years, I focused on the New Breed Category. There are nine competing films under the New Breed category this year and I am proud to say that I saw ALL of them.

I am happy with the line-up of indie films this year. The organizers see to it that the movies for this year are from different genres with various themes. These movies made me cry, laugh, wonder, worry, depress, grateful and learned a lot from each film. The trailers are not spoon-feeding. I noticed a number of films that gave a melodrama impression to those who viewed the teasers on YouTube, but they end up to be far from what we expected. I think that is a big plus compared to most of our mainstream films where they give too much information about the story. Why watch then?

I only missed three days in Cinemalaya: The Opening Night, the Sunday and Wednesday screening. I was present in the rest of the movie days and luckily, I got the chance to attend the Gala Premiere of the following movies: Nino by Loy Arcenas, I-Libings by Rommel Sales, Isda by Adolf Alix Jr., Ang Babae sa Septic Tank by Marlon Rivera and Chris Martinez, Cuchera by Joseph Laban, Ligo Na U, Lapit na Me by Erick Salud, Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Paa by Alvin Yapan, Bahay Bata by Eduardo Roy Jr., Rakenrol by Quark Henares and Zombadings 1: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington by Jade Castro. Whew!

Here are some of the photos I took during the Gala Premiere of some of the competing films:

I can say that I am inspired to make a new film again! I am planning to blog about the Awards Night and how some of the movies made an impact to me. Know why I cried at the ending of I-Libings, why I admire the courage of the people behind the movie Cuchera, why i LOL-ed a lot of times in Ang Babae sa Septic Tank and at the same time think about poverty porn, why the director of Amok is my bet for Best Director, why I felt happy and gay that Paulo Avelino and Rocco Nacino didn’t kiss or strip to make people fall in love in Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa, why I feel the ‘friends with benefits’ rule will make things more complicated with Ligo Na U, Lapit na Me’, why now I appreciate mothers more with Bahay Bata, why I suddenly missed my dad when I saw Teoriya and why the bittersweet ending of Nino made me smile, think and feel blessed.

I’ll be writing a separate entry about my realizations in every film soon. Sorry guys, still have my Cinemalaya hangover up to this day. Awards Night photos up next!

Have you seen any of the Cinemalaya entries this year? Which of the films under the New Breed Category would you like to see?