(Activity) Cinemalaya 2014

I've always wanted to go to a movie festival. I planned on going a few years ago, either with a friend or alone (I was single T_T), but I never knew when there was one. I've been hearing about the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, on how it's been producing great films year after year since its inception 10 years ago—becoming the biggest indie film festival in the country. 

Last year, I got to watch one of Cinemalaya's film entries in 2013, "Ekstra." The movie was released in select cinemas after the festival. Yes, I got someone to watch it with me, the woman I now call "Love," only back then I only knew her as "office mate-I-have-a-crush-on." We liked how the film depicted the lives of TV extras—a break from the usual Pinoy movie plots. And we also got a picture of how a telenovela production is like. 

This year, I followed the Cinemalaya Facebook page to know when the festival will take place, which was last week, August 1–10, 2014. Love and I researched the film entries, read the synopses and watched the trailers on YouTube. The screenings this year were held not only in CCP but also in some Ayala malls. We decided to watch in Greenbelt as it was nearer to both our workplaces.

Here are some of the things we discovered after watching some[6] of the films: 

1. We bought our tickets during the week of the festival (two days before the first day) and some of the screenings were already sold-out. I guess buying tickets a week earlier would be optimal. Tickets for CCP screenings are available online and tickets at Greenbelt are available once the schedules are released.  
2. The synopsis may look interesting but the movie might not be so good.
3. The opposite also applies, the synopsis or trailer might not be appealing but the movie can be really good.
4. Films with famous actors/directors get sold out quickly (Hustisya).
5. Watching more than one drama movie in a day was draining (Dagitab + Ronda). We had more fun with a combination of drama and action (Separados + The Janitor).  

I'm not a film critic (this is not a review) so I'll just write our reactions.  

Day 1: Separados + The Janitor

This was the best day for us. Separados was nice, finally, a movie where the girls were the root of relationship problems.

Next was The Janitor. I liked it, especially the fight between Dennis Trillo and Derek Ramsay, may grappling pa talaga... Made us think if the PNP really uses a hitman for sensitive issues.

Day 2: Asintado

The story was kind of dragging, a lot of talking with no background music. The actor playing the kid was good though.  

Day 3: #Y

This was a hate-love movie. It was funny and interesting, but at the same time, I hated that the representatives of generation Y were a slut, a lunatic, a social climber and a pervert, who all spoke in a dialect I hate—Conyo. What would generation Z say? 

Day 4: Dagitab + Ronda

Dagitab was one of those movies where it was interesting at first then towards the end, we were like, "Hindi pa ba tapos?"

Ronda was the worst one we've watched. Puro Ronda... Haha! What did we expect from a movie with that title?

Other films we did not watch:

• Hustisya - sold out early.
• Buwaya - we thought it wasn't good, turns out, it was the best film in the new breed category.
• 1st Ko si 3rd - I wish we've watched this one instead of Ronda.
• Kasal - I can't watch 2 guys making out (no offense intended)—best film in the director's showcase category.
• Children's Show - ayaw ni Love ng mga batang nagsasakitan.

These ones just didn't look appealing to us:

• K'na The Dreamweaver 
• Hari ng Tondo
• Sundalong Kanin

Overall, it was a nice experience which can be a yearly thing. I'd like to watch in CCP next time to feel more of the film festival spirit.