Now on its fifth year, QCinema International Film Festival 2017 will run from October 19 to 28 at the following venues:

• Trinoma Cinemas,
• Gateway Cineplex,
• Robinsons Movieworld Galleria,
• U.P. Town Center Cinemas, and
• Cinematheque Centre Manila.

Since its foundation in 2012, the Quezon City Film Development Commission (QCFDC) has been providing grants to help filmmakers produce their own works. QCinema is its annual platform where the new cinematic gems are given the chance to be appreciated by the public through its full-length and short film competition.

Admission

Tickets for the film screenings is at 150 PHP each. These can be purchased at the respective cinema ticket booth. No discount is applicable except for Senior Citizen discount as covered by the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

FESTIVAL PASS

There will be two kinds of festival passes available to the general public.

1. Festival pass for 5 films = 830 PHP (with freebies: QCinema shirt, drawstring bag, coaster, and sanitizer.)
2. Festival pass for 10 films = 1640 PHP (with freebies: QCinema shirt, eco bag, ballpen, notebook, and sanitizer)

Terms & Condition:

• Use of the festival pass is applicable to Gateway, Galleria, Trinoma, and U.P. Town Center.
• The festival pass is composed of perforated stubs equivalent to regular movie tickets that must be exchanged at the cinema ticket booth. One stub is equivalent to one movie ticket hence, once screening only.
• Use of the pass is subject to seat availability on a first come first served basis.
• The bearer of the festival pass can choose any regular screening film on any day of the festival starting October 20 until October 28. For gala screenings, seats are subject to availability. The festival pass is NOT valid for invitational and/or special block screenings.
• QCinema will only release a limited number of festival passes.
• Regular Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) passes are not valid for festival screenings. Only MTRCB Board or staff IDs are accepted but not on gala, invitational, or special block screenings.

HOW TO PURCHASE FESTIVAL PASS

1. Go to QCinema Eventbrite page;
2. Select ticket type with your preferred Pick-up Location;
3. Check out and pay;
4. Wait for the confirmation email for confirmed purchase with your electronic ticket;
5. Print or save electronic ticket.

HOW TO REDEEM FESTIVAL PASS

1. Proceed to the QCinema desk found in the cinema lobby of your chosen Pick-up Location;
2. Present a printed or electronic copy of your Eventbrite ticket with a valid government-issued ID;
3. Claim your physical Festival Pass and freebies.

HOW TO USE THE FESTIVAL PASS

1. Proceed to the mall’s cinema ticket counter;
2. Present your stub/s and exchange for actual cinema ticket/s of your chosen film;
3. Queue at the corresponding cinema and enjoy!

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Screening Schedules

Last update: 9-Oct-2017 12:08PM. Schedule subject to change. Please check with the cinemas on the day of screening.

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QUICK LOOK: Films in Competition

1. Circle Competition (Full Length Category)

• “Gugu” by Khavn
• “Neomanila” by Mikhail Red
• “Medusae” by Pam Miras
• “The Ashes and Ghosts of Tayug 1931” by Christopher Gozum
• “The Write Moment” by Dominic Lim
• “Hubog ng Langit” by Lawrence Fajardo
• “Dormitoryo” by Emerson Reyes
• “The Chanters” by James Mayo
  

2. QCShorts (Short Film Category)

SET A

• “Anya Iti Nagan Mo? (What is Your Name?)” by Ice Idanan
• “Babylon” by Keith Deligero
• “Gikan Sa Ngitngit Nga Kinailadman (From the Dark Depths)” by Kiri Dalena
• “Kun’ Di Man” by Phyllis Grae Grande

SET B

• “Si Astri maka si Tambulah (Astri and Tambulah)” by Xeph Suarez
  
• “Link” by Mike Esteves
• “Love Bites” by Carl Joseph Papa
• “Pixel Paranoia” by Epoy Deyto

3. Rainbow QC

• “Beach Rats” by Eliza Hittman
• “Close-Knit” by Naoko Ogigami
• “Fathers” by Thai helmer Palatpol Mingpornpichit
• “Those Long Haired Nights” by debuting filmmaker, Gerardo Calagui
• “Signature Move” by Jennifer Reeder
• “Tom of Finland” by Dome Karukoski

4. Asian Next Wave

• “Dragonfly Eyes” by Bing Xu
• “In Between Seasons” by Dong-Eun Lee
• “Kfc” by Le Binh Giang
• “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts” by Mouly Surya
• “Pop Aye” by Kirsten Tan
• “Snow Woman” by Kiki Sugino

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Opening Film

The festival’s invitational opening film on October 19 is “Loving Vincent,” dubbed as the “world’s first fully painted feature film,” from directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. It paints the life and times of the Vincent van Gogh, the controversial 19th-century post-impressionist artist, through letters, paintings, and fictional interviews.

Closing Film

QCinema will bookend the festival on October 28 with the Philippine premiere of the restored version of Mike De Leon’s “Batch ‘81.” Labeled as one of the “best Filipino classics,” it tells the story of the vicious cycle of brutality in a fraternity through the eyes of neophytes.

Circle Competition (Full Length Category)

Balangiga: Howling Wilderness

Directed by Khavn Dela Cruz
Written by Jerry Gracio, Achinette Villamor

Synopsis: 1901, Balangiga. Eight-year-old Kulas flees town with his grandfather and their carabao to escape General Smith’s “Kill & Burn” order. He finds an infant amid a sea of corpses and together, the two boys struggle to survive the American occupation.

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Dapol Tan Payawar Na Tayug 1931 (The Ashes And Ghosts Of Tayug 1931)

Directed by Christopher Gozum

Synopsis: Set in Pangasinan, Dapol Tan Payawar Na Tayug 1931 follows the story of rebel leader Pedro Calosa and the Tayug Colorum Uprising of 1931. The events are retold from three sources: a silent film on Calosa’s return to his hometown in 1927; the story of writer F. Sionil Jose following the aging supremo as he searches for sacred cave in 1966; and a filmmaker who revisites the sites of the uprising for a film on the subject.

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Dormitoryo

Directed by Emerson Reyes

Synopsis: Dormitoryo features the lives of eight individuals who all spend the evening tucked away in personal galaxies, talking about collective experiences and sharing a similar fate.

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Kulay Lila Ang Gabi Na Binudburan Pa Ng Mga Bituin

Directed by Jon Steffan Ballesteros
Written by Jimmy Flores

Synopsis: Aries and Chai sign up for a couple’s retreat program where they are given free rein to fix their marriage in whatever way possible or impossible.

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Medusae

Directed by Pam Miras

Synopsis: A documentarist’s son goes missing when she films a story on the disappearances of the firstborns in a remote island. Her search reveals the presence of a cult and an abductor who looks like her, whom her son claims to be his real mother.

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Neomanila

Directed by Mikhail Red

Synopsis: Toto, a teenage orphan, is recruited by a notorious death squad. Irma, the group’s leader, soon becomes a maternal figure to the young boy. As the two form a familial bond, their loyalties will be put to the test when one of their targets turns out to be a familiar face.

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The Write Moment

Directed by Dominic Lim

Synopsis: When he fails to get back with an old flame, a writer finds himself living in the scenes of a “romantic-hugot” script he wrote. He is forced to follow everything verbatim, or he’s forced to relive the scenes in an endless loop.

The Chanters

Directed by James Mayo

Written by Andrian Legaspi and John Bedia

Synopsis: Sarah Mae, a 12 year old school girl, the grand-daughter of the last chanter of the Panay Bukidnon tribe. She obsesses with pop culture and readies herself for the visit of a sensational TV star to her school. As she perfects her dance, her grandfather, Lolo Ramon suffers the onset of dementia. As her Lolo starts losing his precious memories, Sarah Mae is tasked to help him complete the last of the remaining 12 epics, their tribe’s vanishing tradition.

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QCShorts (Short Film Category)

SET A

A1. Anya Iti Nagan Mo? (What is Your Name?)

Directed by Ice Idanan

Synopsis: A light drama film that follows a six-year-old girl who gets lost in a cemetery in her parents’ hometown. Despite the language barrier, a local stranger helps her find the way back home.

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A2. Babylon

Directed by Keith Deligero

Written by Gale Osorio

Synopsis: Two young girls travel through time to assassinate a barangay dictator to revise history.

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A3. Gikan Sa Ngitngit Nga Kinailadman (From The Dark Depths)

Written and directed by Kiri Dalena

Synopsis: A spiritual exorcism drives a woman to relive the disappearance of a young activist that took place years ago. But when prodded about the details of the tragedy, she sinks into herself and recreates a story that coalesces memory, delirium, and forgetting.

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A4. Kun’ Di Man

Directed by Phyllis Grande

Synopsis: Two blind musicians, Cindy and David, strives to provide for themselves as they work as singers at public transit stations. However, they were forced to perform separately. Apart, they grow anxious for each other and realize that their partnership goes beyond musical. The two end up in a search, hoping to find each other despite the absence of sight.

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SET B

B1. Si Astri maka si Tambulah (Astri and Tambulah)

Directed by Joseph Vincent “Xeph” Suarez

Written by Cenon Palomares

Synopsis: Astri is a 16-year old transwoman in a relationship with 17-year old Tambulah. Although it’s an unusual sight at the Bajau community where they live, nobody bothers them. Subsisting on the coins people throw at them when they perform their traditional dance at the sea, everything seems perfect except that Bajau traditions and a pact made long ago require Astri to marry a woman she hardly knows.

B2. Link

Directed by Mike Esteves

Written by Jael Mendoza

Synopsis: A writer is approached by a strange man who claims to be a character in her story. The man tries to make sense of his situation as they walk along an empty street, but lurking underneath the words are their most violent, bodily, desires.

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B3. Love Bites

Directed by Carl Joseph Papa

Written by Aica Riz Ganhinhin

Synopsis: In a busy pub in Quezon City, a grieving old man and a lively old woman learn that two halves
make one whole.

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B4. Pixel Paranoia

Directed by Epoy Deyto

Synopsis: Kiko, constantly being hired by Lily to upload videos on Deep Web for a pay-per-view website, was given a task to upload a mysterious video which origins they do not know of, but would be a sure hit once it is up. Ever since he viewed the video, he’s been receiving ghost calls and constantly feels like someone is watching him.

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Rainbow QC

Competition category “Rainbow QC” showcases a broad spectrum of LGBT narratives across the world. Films to be screened here are the folowing:

“Beach Rats” by Eliza Hittman

“Close-Knit” by Naoko Ogigami

“Fathers” by Thai helmer Palatpol Mingpornpichit

“Those Long Haired Nights” by debuting filmmaker, Gerardo Calagui

“Signature Move” by Jennifer Reeder

“Tom of Finland” by Dome Karukoski

Asian Next Wave

This is QCinema’s competition sections for up-and-coming Asian filmmakers with less than three features. The films are

“Dragonfly Eyes,” the debut film of distinguished Chinese artist Bing Xu;

“In Between Seasons” by Dong-Eun Lee;

“Kfc” by Le Binh Giang;

“Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts” by Mouly Surya;

“Pop Aye” by Kirsten Tan; and

“Snow Woman” by Kiki Sugino.

Screen International

As with the classic titles, new films are among the highlights of QCinema. This year, the film fest brings in critically acclaimed movies from across the globe in “Screen International.” The films to be shown here are the following:

• “120 Beats Per Minute (BPM)” by Robin Campillo;
• “Loveless” by Andrey Zvyagintsev;
• “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” by Yorgos Lanthimos; and
• “The Square” by Ruben Östlund.

Before Midnight Series

Another section is QCinema’s “Before Midnight,” an unrated section composed of controversial titles meant to shock and stir cinephiles. This category will show the following:

• “68 Kill” by Trent Haaga;
• “A Prayer Before Dawn” by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire;
• “Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)” by Eva Husson; and
• “Revenge” by Coralie Fargeat.

Digitally Remastered Series

QCinema allocates a space for classic titles that have been remastered by ABS-CBN Film Restoration Group and international entities. The films that will have a second life are the following:

• “High School Scandal” directed by Gil Portes;
• “Karma” by Danny Zialcita;
• “Tatlong Taóng Walang Diyos (Three Godless Years),” a 1976 period film directed by Mario O’Hara;
• “All About My Mother” by written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar;
• “Blow-Up” directed by Michelangelo Antonioni;
• and “The Graduate” by Mike Nichols.

Cinema Rehiyon

QCinema’s collection of films created by different regional directors will be screened in “Cinema Rehiyon.” The films here are the following:

• “Experimental Forest” by Angelica Gamolo;
• “Squatterina” by Darryl Yap;
• “The Death of Pablo” by Arvin Belarmino; and
• “Utas” by Al Enriquez.

International Shorts

In “International Shorts,” QCinema will feature the following award-winning short films:

• “A Gentle Night” by Qiu Yang;
• “Batrachian’s Ballad” by Leonor Teles;
• “Dadyaa” by Bibhusan Basnet and Pooja Gurung;
• “Death of a Soundman” by Sorayos Prapapan;
• “Gaze” by Farnoosh Samadi;
• “Hiwa” by Jacqueline Lentzou;
• “Mobius” by Sam Kuhn; and
• “Tesla World Light” by Matthew Rankin.

Special Screenings

In “Special Screenings,” QCinema will showcase thrillers:

• “Diamond Island” by Davy Chou;
• “Fading Paradise” directed by Aurel Ayson; and
• “Out Run” by S. Leo Chiang and Johnny Symons.

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Other Events

• QCinema, in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), will hold the Film Industry Conference @QCinema to be graced by representatives from the global film industry. This event will take place from October 21 to 22 at Novotel Manila Araneta Center.
• Another highlight is the Rainbow Cinema Block Party sponsored by FDCP on October 21, 7:00 PM to 12:00 AM, to be held at the Manhattan Strip in Araneta Center.

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Awarding Ceremony

The awarding ceremony for the QCinema filmmaking competitions will be on October 26, 2017 at Novotel. The event is strictly invitational.