Filmmaking on the fringe
May 13, 2005 | 12:00am
Korean filmmaker and lecturer Park Kiyong, a resource speaker at the Asia-Europe Digital Film Workshops, relates a story of having met key Nouvelle Vague figure Agnes Varda in Paris three years ago, shortly after she had shot the documentary The Gleaners and I on Betacam and digital video.
In the film, you can see that Varda has her final cut pro-editing system next to her kitchen, and she runs back and forth to it, editing while cooking a meal. Kiyong approached Varda and asked her if she could give a DV class at the Korean Academy of Film Arts, where he is the director. Varda humbly refused his request.
"I’m 73, I’m old, and will die soon" she said, "I must spend my time making films." Before leaving she grabbed Kiyong’s hand, and said, with a smile, "Isn’t DV wonderful!"
Digital Video is rapidly changing the way movies can be made. What started as early digital experiments have evolved into a vibrant and thriving art form, one aesthetically distinct from the film format, but which can effectively be called cinema. The immediacy of the images, simplicity of use, and the cost-effectiveness of the format have endeared digital video to filmmakers around the world.
With this in mind, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) – working with the Singapore International Film Festival and the School of Media and Film Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic – organized the Asia-Europe Digital Film Workshop.
DV artist Khavn De la Cruz, as well as young and talented filmmakers Roel Mondelaers (Belgium), Piotr Rosolowski (Poland), TinTin Wulia (Indonesia), Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia) and Noh Dong Seok (Korea, whose exceptional low budget black and white digital film My Generation was screened at the festival) were invited to each guide and mentor a team of graduating students from Ngee Ann Poly through the production of a DV short film.
For the students of Ngee Ann, whose final projects had been shot on 16mm film, working on a tight four-day schedule (one day of pre-prod, two days of shooting, and one day of editing) and shooting on DV was quite a challenge, but they were glad to face it. Each mentor worked with the students, giving them advice and feedback at every stage of production.
The six shorts that were produced, varying in length, theme, and aesthetic, were all screened at the Goethe-Institut as part of the festival’s "Fringe" events. Khavn, well known for his over-the-top extreme films, had a strong hand in the work of his students’ film titled Bad Times. Its shooting location: Singapore’s red light district of Geylang.
Khavn’s short films Lata at Tsinelas and MondoManila: Institusyon ng Makata were shown as part of the "Fringe" screenings at the Goethe-Institut. The nastiness and rage of MondoManila played counterpoint to the charm of Lata at Tsinelas (essentially a children’s film), displaying two conflicting sides of its maker. Both films were screened previously at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
Shown together with Khavn’s two shorts were Topel Lee’s Nak Nang and Mes de Guzman’s Diliman. The effects-laden action driven Nak Nang is the latest from Lee, who’s responsible for the masochist comedy short Bruce. Shot on black and white DV, the low-key Diliman is the first feature film from director Mes de Guzman, who directed Batang Trapo.
Also screened were Rox Lee’s Romeo Must Rock, and the three short films of John Torres – Tawid Gutom, Salat, and Kung Paano Kita Liligawan Nang ‘Di Kumakapit Sa Iyo.
Famed animator Rox drops his pencil and points his camera into a familiar subject: his enigmatic iconoclastic brother Romeo.
"I would have made this even if he wasn’t my brother," said Rox.
Rox captured scenes of a mellow Romeo at home and in his room discussing casually everything from modern Pinoy Rock to his university buddies, and juxtaposed them with wild footage of Romeo singing Wild Thing.
Even more personal than Rox’s documentary are the short films of John Torres. SIFF head programmer Philip Cheah spoke enthusiastically about Torres’ work, saying that they reminded him of the excitement he felt when he first saw Pinoy cinematographer Regiben Romana’s shorts.
Torres has created – through the fusion of found footage, organized footage, and a somber introspective voiceover – some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful video poems you will ever see. In one particularly moving scene in Kulob, a portion of Salat, John and his ex-girlfriend are shown onscreen, directly addressing the camera. He coerces her into a game she is familiar with, asking her to cry on cue. Are the tears genuine or phony? The answer becomes irrelevant, since the pain of the filmmaker is sincere.
Lyle Sacris presented his second commercial feature First Time. Selected for competition in the Silver Screen Awards category, First Time is a sexually explicit omnibus film penned by three very promising young scriptwriters – Ramon de Veyra, Erwin Romulo, and Lyndon Santos. What could have been an exciting and daring undertaking was mangled during production, leaving only a few inside jokes and an interesting middle story to show for it.
The festival, in a daring and audacious move, attempted to market itself to audiences by highlighting its screening of two of the longest films ever made: Edgar Reitz’s Heimat 3 (six episodes, 680-minute running time) and Lav Diaz’s Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino (one story, one 30-minute break, 643-minute running time, sans credits).
Diaz’s five-hour Batang West Side was considered challenging when it won the Best Asian Film Award at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2002. But in comparison to Ebolusyon, Batang West Side looks like popcorn.
Spanning the critical years of 1971-1987 in Philippine history (just before, during and after the Ferdinand Marcos imposed Martial Law), Ebolusyon charts the lives of the members of a single rural family, framing their stories around the historical events of the period. Filmed over the course of 11 years, Ebolusyon is, flaws and all, a towering achievement in world cinema. Its duration, aesthetic, and scope combine to create a physical, mental, and emotional experience unlike anything one has felt at the cinema before, causing Philip Cheah to hail the film as a "Southeast Asian masterpiece."
Diaz combines 16mm film, Digital Video, and harrowing historical footage, to create a hybrid film that is neither pure fiction nor pure documentary.
Fifty-two people bought tickets for the film in Singapore, and roughly 30 finished it – the highest non-Filipino audience for the film to date, according to Diaz. – Alexis A. Tioseco
In the film, you can see that Varda has her final cut pro-editing system next to her kitchen, and she runs back and forth to it, editing while cooking a meal. Kiyong approached Varda and asked her if she could give a DV class at the Korean Academy of Film Arts, where he is the director. Varda humbly refused his request.
"I’m 73, I’m old, and will die soon" she said, "I must spend my time making films." Before leaving she grabbed Kiyong’s hand, and said, with a smile, "Isn’t DV wonderful!"
Digital Video is rapidly changing the way movies can be made. What started as early digital experiments have evolved into a vibrant and thriving art form, one aesthetically distinct from the film format, but which can effectively be called cinema. The immediacy of the images, simplicity of use, and the cost-effectiveness of the format have endeared digital video to filmmakers around the world.
With this in mind, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) – working with the Singapore International Film Festival and the School of Media and Film Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic – organized the Asia-Europe Digital Film Workshop.
DV artist Khavn De la Cruz, as well as young and talented filmmakers Roel Mondelaers (Belgium), Piotr Rosolowski (Poland), TinTin Wulia (Indonesia), Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia) and Noh Dong Seok (Korea, whose exceptional low budget black and white digital film My Generation was screened at the festival) were invited to each guide and mentor a team of graduating students from Ngee Ann Poly through the production of a DV short film.
For the students of Ngee Ann, whose final projects had been shot on 16mm film, working on a tight four-day schedule (one day of pre-prod, two days of shooting, and one day of editing) and shooting on DV was quite a challenge, but they were glad to face it. Each mentor worked with the students, giving them advice and feedback at every stage of production.
The six shorts that were produced, varying in length, theme, and aesthetic, were all screened at the Goethe-Institut as part of the festival’s "Fringe" events. Khavn, well known for his over-the-top extreme films, had a strong hand in the work of his students’ film titled Bad Times. Its shooting location: Singapore’s red light district of Geylang.
Khavn’s short films Lata at Tsinelas and MondoManila: Institusyon ng Makata were shown as part of the "Fringe" screenings at the Goethe-Institut. The nastiness and rage of MondoManila played counterpoint to the charm of Lata at Tsinelas (essentially a children’s film), displaying two conflicting sides of its maker. Both films were screened previously at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
Shown together with Khavn’s two shorts were Topel Lee’s Nak Nang and Mes de Guzman’s Diliman. The effects-laden action driven Nak Nang is the latest from Lee, who’s responsible for the masochist comedy short Bruce. Shot on black and white DV, the low-key Diliman is the first feature film from director Mes de Guzman, who directed Batang Trapo.
Also screened were Rox Lee’s Romeo Must Rock, and the three short films of John Torres – Tawid Gutom, Salat, and Kung Paano Kita Liligawan Nang ‘Di Kumakapit Sa Iyo.
Famed animator Rox drops his pencil and points his camera into a familiar subject: his enigmatic iconoclastic brother Romeo.
"I would have made this even if he wasn’t my brother," said Rox.
Rox captured scenes of a mellow Romeo at home and in his room discussing casually everything from modern Pinoy Rock to his university buddies, and juxtaposed them with wild footage of Romeo singing Wild Thing.
Even more personal than Rox’s documentary are the short films of John Torres. SIFF head programmer Philip Cheah spoke enthusiastically about Torres’ work, saying that they reminded him of the excitement he felt when he first saw Pinoy cinematographer Regiben Romana’s shorts.
Torres has created – through the fusion of found footage, organized footage, and a somber introspective voiceover – some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful video poems you will ever see. In one particularly moving scene in Kulob, a portion of Salat, John and his ex-girlfriend are shown onscreen, directly addressing the camera. He coerces her into a game she is familiar with, asking her to cry on cue. Are the tears genuine or phony? The answer becomes irrelevant, since the pain of the filmmaker is sincere.
Lyle Sacris presented his second commercial feature First Time. Selected for competition in the Silver Screen Awards category, First Time is a sexually explicit omnibus film penned by three very promising young scriptwriters – Ramon de Veyra, Erwin Romulo, and Lyndon Santos. What could have been an exciting and daring undertaking was mangled during production, leaving only a few inside jokes and an interesting middle story to show for it.
The festival, in a daring and audacious move, attempted to market itself to audiences by highlighting its screening of two of the longest films ever made: Edgar Reitz’s Heimat 3 (six episodes, 680-minute running time) and Lav Diaz’s Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino (one story, one 30-minute break, 643-minute running time, sans credits).
Diaz’s five-hour Batang West Side was considered challenging when it won the Best Asian Film Award at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2002. But in comparison to Ebolusyon, Batang West Side looks like popcorn.
Spanning the critical years of 1971-1987 in Philippine history (just before, during and after the Ferdinand Marcos imposed Martial Law), Ebolusyon charts the lives of the members of a single rural family, framing their stories around the historical events of the period. Filmed over the course of 11 years, Ebolusyon is, flaws and all, a towering achievement in world cinema. Its duration, aesthetic, and scope combine to create a physical, mental, and emotional experience unlike anything one has felt at the cinema before, causing Philip Cheah to hail the film as a "Southeast Asian masterpiece."
Diaz combines 16mm film, Digital Video, and harrowing historical footage, to create a hybrid film that is neither pure fiction nor pure documentary.
Fifty-two people bought tickets for the film in Singapore, and roughly 30 finished it – the highest non-Filipino audience for the film to date, according to Diaz. – Alexis A. Tioseco
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