BAKUNAWA CINEMA OF THE YOUNG: A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE


 

     Bakunawa Cinema of the Young, is a film camp and series of film workshops for young filmmakers that culminates the youth in film festivals, which gives a lot of opportunities for those people who wants to discover their talents when it comes to filmmaking. Honestly, I am one of those people who are not aware that there are tons of films and filmmakers existing in different countries most especially in the Philippines – short films, indie films, and a lot more genres that are underrated, but because of our subject I got to discover amazing short films and talented filmmakers that I never knew existed.

     Let me start with the first film that I’ve watched which is See You Next Century, I love how this film gets me when I’ve read the title and how dramatic it seems for me. At first, I was kind of confused because I am not used to seeing films that uses a bunch of pictures to conceptualize the idea of its story and how simple they’ve come up with its cinematography but didn’t fail to deliver, which is very unique and hard to do. But what gets me the most is the lines being thrown as I watch it and how it moves me, like the director knows what I am going through in life which I can say very effective cause it touched my heart, to  how relevant time is. Same feeling as I watched the film of Hasoka Andagma entitled, Talking About Love where they showcased different aspects of love and how the director made me realize things like, Love is not just romance and happiness but, also a degree of fearfulness, sacrifices, and life choices. And how clean they’ve made the transitions resulting to frame by frame looks connected to each other even they have different stories about it – cinematography also is simple as it looks, and how objects can be used as a transition to a next scenario and how they use natural lighting to come up to a much more realistic scenarios which I liked. 

     Moving on to the next film, which is Tenebrae story of a young girl which is a resident of a high-rise apartment in Singapore vacate the premises for the last time before its demolishment and questioned its demise. Upon watching the film, I love how the cinematography works, how the main character illuminates from the background to give emphasis to her emotions, role, and the color used in the whole film which I think a representation of deep sorrow of the lost apartment that somehow gives a sentimental feeling in her life and slowly seeing it deconstructed in her sight. This film just not want to show the demolishment of the apartment but represent different aspects of her life and memories they’ve built slowly fading. What’s great in the films I’ve watched is not shallow to the point you need a much more understanding and makes them more interesting that the depth in narratives being used that a film should possess not just “mema”. Despite having a different genres in film like, horror, romance, comedy, etc. I have also watched the documentary film entitled, Bleached Bones where a team of journalist was digging up information on World War II battlefields. I was also confused while watching this film because it will leave a question in your head on what is going on in the film, there aren’t a lot scenarios being presented just the journalist digging up to know what really happened and just a typical documentary film like more of a behind the scene. Lastly, Ang Huling Hapunan by our very own Paolo Enrino Pascual where he gave us an unusual and shocking ending. I also want to give credits to the cinematography of this film to make it more look thrilling. The expressions made by the characters are well presented in the film which you can really feel their emotions. And what I’ve noticed in almost of the films I’ve watched in the Bakunawa Film Festival, is the importance of each and every camera angle to give a depth and emotion depending on the genre being presented – lighting, effects, camera positioning can really make the film great and helps  in presenting your stories and I learned how cinematography can help every film succeed. 

     I love how this Film Festival changed the way I look in films and how I become appreciative to these movies I’ve watched. It saddens me to know that only few people can appreciate this what we called masterpiece and yes I wouldn’t call myself a movie enthusiast but I like gazing upon these films that helps me grow and learn from their different strategies in making films and most especially, morally. I would like to give appreciation to these filmmakers, for all their works are beautifully written and very smart – they were as great as the mainstream films, and deserves more recognition for they are even better to those overrated films. And as what Robert Altman quoted “Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes.” so much realizations and learning to get as we watched different stories. 

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