Binisaya Film Festival wraps up hybrid 2022 edition

CEBU, Philippines —  The Binisaya Film Festival concluded its 2022 edition on October 21 with an awarding and closing ceremony held at Casa Gorordo Museum during the return of the highly-anticipated “Gabii sa Kabilin” museum tour event.

This year’s Binisaya Film Festival took place in a hybrid set-up. The film entries were screened online through the Vimeo video platform, while the closing ceremony took place in the garden of the Casa Gorordo Museum which was hosted by Cebuano filmmaker and the festival’s founder Keith Deligero.

Filmmakers and film enthusiasts who were able to attend in-person gathered at the venue, while other filmmakers who couldn’t make it to the cermony gathered virtually on Zoom.

Winners of Binisaya 2022

“Tong Adlaw Nga Nag-Snow sa Pinas”, directed by Davao-based filmmaker Joshua Caesar, won as Best Film in the Binisaya Shorts category, while the Davao de Oro-based filmmaker Doydoy Megriño’s “Jakol or (Clair de Lûlû in “D” Major)” won the Jury Award of the same category. The festival’s most popular film “Sorry I Didn’t Mean to Pry” by Pasig-based filmmaker Jermaine Tulbo won the Audience Choice category for obtaining 34 percent of the total views from the Binisaya viewers in Vimeo during the festival’s run.

Other category winners include “Dikit” by Manila-based Gabriela Serrano for Best Film in Binisaya Horizons category, “Itom nga Bugas Kanaryo ng Ugat” by Iloilo-based Leonard Billone for Jury Award of Binisaya Horizons, “Gatas” by Davao-based Emperador Santiago for Best Film in Binisaya’s 24-hour Shoot Out Category, and “The Sprayer” by Iranian filmmaker Farnoosh Abedi for Best Film in Binisaya World, the festival’s international category.

Deligero said that the festival does not want to “only present crowd-pleasing films” but to also showcase those that “exist to challenge the audience of what they think cinema is” as well as to “inspire critical thinking”.

“Tong Adlaw Nga Nag-Snow sa Pinas” won the Best Film in the Binisaya Shorts category because of its “rare feat to be able to wrangle children artfully and present [them] without prevention or remorse”, while “Itom nga Bugas Kanaryo ng Ugat” won the Jury Award for the Binisaya Horizons category with its “nightmarish exploration of childhood abuse [taking place] in Central Visayas”. The Iranian film “The Sprayer” won Best Film in the Binisaya World category with its depiction of a dystopian future ruled by “militaristic governments” as well as for its criticism towards fascism.

Awarding the audience too

To take advantage of the online aspect of the Binisaya festival, as well as to encourage “critical thinking” from viewers, the festival created a new category for the Binisaya audience for “Best React Video”. Binisaya viewers were encouraged to post a video reacting to the festival’s film entries on Facebook and tag Binisaya’s official Facebook page.

Kent Yagono (known as Kentaray) and Nikko Martinez emerged as winners for their reaction videos to the festival’s film entries. Deligero explained that dedicating an award for the audience and their reactions is part of the festival’s foundation of putting the audience first, saying that “there is no cinema without the audience”, and that “even the filmmakers are also part of the audience”.

Return to the big screen?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Binisaya Film Festival screened their entries on the big screen in physical locations, with the 2019 edition taking place at Ayala Center Cebu Cinemas. The 2020 and 2021 editions took place online due to the closure of theaters because of the global pandemic.

Even as many film festivals in the Philippines returned to theaters this year, Binisaya opted to host their film screenings online this year for logistical reasons. Deligero said that going to theaters is not practical for a small independent festival, citing the slow economic recovery of the Philippines.

Despite not screening the entries on the big screen like previous editions, Deligero said that hosting the festival online allowed them to reach more people. Deligero said he is open to holding future editions still in a hybrid set-up. - Januar Junior Aguja