"Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria Kirschbaum" makes it to the 2010 Cinema One Originals

CEBU, Philippines - Out of over a hundred entries that were screened and deliberated by a judging panel, “Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria Kirschbaum (The Dream of Eleuteria Kirschbaum)” makes it to the Final 7 for the 2010 Cinema One Originals, which are to be given a P1-million grant for production.

“After a nerve-wracking panel presentation cum interview of the 26 shortlisted filmmakers last April 26 at the ABS-CBN Complex in Quezon City, ‘Ang Damgo…’ written by (Maria Victoria) Bambi Beltran and to be directed by me emerged as one of the seven finalists commissioned by Cinema One Originals with a P1 million budget each,” said director Remton Siega Zuasola of this project, which would serve as his first feature-length film.

“All seven films are expected to be finished by September this year in time for the Cinema One Originals Awards Night on November,” he added.

The story is about Eleuteria Duhaylungsod who married German national Hans Kirschbaum not for love, but because she “just really got fed up with the hardship in the Philippines.”

Eleuteria sees Hans as her “would-be savior from a life that has nowhere to go but poverty.”

She shares in the plight of certain Filipino women who married foreigners – they who hope for a better life through cross-cultural marriages but end up “half-full and half-empty” inside; partly gratified, partly frustrated.

“Ang Damgo” was originally written by Beltran in the Sinugbuwano (Cebuano) language but was translated by Jad Conde and edited by Cora Almerino.

Beltran, who is a writer of poetry, fiction, children’s story, play, and script in Cebuano and English, is changing the setting of the story from Guindulman (Bohol) to Olango Island and is spicing up the story with more details to meet full-length feature project requirements.

She starred in “Ang Pagbalik” – a recipient of the Gawad CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) Best Regional Entry and 2nd Best Short Feature, which was also shortlisted in the recent Gawad Urian. She is no stranger to Cinema One Originals as she not only co-produced but also starred in “Confessional” (directed by Jerrold Tarog, whose roots are also Visayan). It is a multi-awarded full-length film that bagged the Best Foreign Feature Film in the CineFan Film Festival in New Delhi, India in 2007. Confessional is a Cinema One original also shot here in Cebu.

Since 2005, Cinema One Originals has discovered and nurtured new filmmaking talents. The competition aims to fuse commercial filmmaking and the fresh, indie approach to produce extraordinary products of cinema.

Further, it was learned from Zuasola that “To Siomai Love” made us again Cebuanos very proud after it recently reaped the title “Pinakamahusay na Maikling Pelikula” (Best Short film) in the Gawad Urian 2010. This 26-minute Cebuano film earned for Zuasola the Cinemanila Young Cinema in Competition plum last year and was hailed Best Short Film at the Cinemanila International Film Festival also in 2009.

In relation to the “Ang Damgo” development, a casting call notice has already been posted at the www.sinebuano.com site. Email remton_zua @yahoo.com and bambibeltran @gmail.com for inquiries.