QCinema unveils QCSEA competition lineup, with 5 out of 10 films coming from PH
The first-ever QCSEA Shorts Competition is happening this year, and the lineup puts a spotlight on Filipino filmmakers with five out of 10 entries coming from the Philippines.
QCinema International Film Festival announced the entries to the inaugural edition of its competition on Thursday, Oct. 11. According to the organization's call for applications last August, the films can cover any form of genre, from documentary to experimental and narrative. Only movies produced from January 2022 to August 2023 were qualified to join.
The ten films that made it in this year's lineup were selected from 380 entries submitted by Southeast Asian directors from August to Sept. 1. Five of those selected came from the Philippines.
First on the list is Cross My Heart And Hope To Die by Sam Manacsa. It tells the story of an exploited worker named Mila as she finds the comfort she needs in her new love interest, but only to find out that things are about to become much more complicated.
Manacsa's masterpiece was the only Southeast Asian entry at this year’s Venice International Film Festival under the Orizzonti Short Film Competition.
Meanwhile, Bea Mariano's Dominion is a voiceless eight-minute short wherein a drowning narrator recounts their experience using colonial photographs, captions, and a barrage of sounds and images from the past and present.
Hito by Stephen Lopez is a sci-fi political short that follows a fourteen-year-old girl named Jani, who finds a companion in the talking catfish she was served for dinner. Together with the fish named Kiefer, Jani attempts to break away from the oppressive environment they are currently in.
The film was the only Filipino entry at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival held in February this year.
Kung nga-a Conscious ang mga Alien sang ila Skincare (The Thing About Aliens And Their Skin Care) is a film about aliens and how we've been living with them in the same world. This drama and comedy film is directed by Seth Andrew Blanca and Niño Maldecir.
The last Filipino entry on the list is When You Left Me. on That Boulevard by Kayla Abuda Galang. The coming-of-age comedy chronicles how 15-year-old Ly Diaz and her cousins get high before a family Thanksgiving in her aunt's house in Southeast San Diego.
Here is the other half of the 2023 QCSEA Shorts Competition lineup consisting of works from Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Myanmar:
- Basri And Salma In A Never-Ending Comedy by Khozy Rizal, Indonesia
- Buoyant by Toan Thanh Doan & Hoang-Phuc Nguyen-Le, Vietnam
- I Look Into The Mirror And Repeat Myself by Giselle Lin, Singapore
- MOP by Joon Goh, Malaysia
- The Altar by Moe Myat May Zarchi, Myanmar
All ten films will have their Philippine premiere during the 11th QCinema International Film Festival from Nov. 17 to 26, 2023.
