Who’s spending a chunk of their month in Cebu? Aside from hunting down your next favorite dish or living your best life as a barbecue stan, there’s an upcoming event that can secure your hangout with friends.
After shifting to online streaming because of the pandemic, the Binisaya Film Festival is back to IRL mode. This year’s celebration of regional gems will run from Sept. 10 (Sunday) to Sept. 17 (Sunday) at University of the Philippines Cebu’s cinematheque Lawak Sinehan. It’s open to the public, with each screening at P50. Gaby Serrano (Cinemalaya Shorts 2022 best director), Wowa Medroso (Binisaya Shorts 2022 best film), and Januar Yap (Cinemalaya Shorts 2023 best film) will take over the judges’ table.
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The festival’s 13th edition will open with cult favorite “Cleaners,” a coming-of-age feature debut by Binisaya Horizons alum Glenn Barit. Set in IV-Rizal’s classroom in Tacloban, this 2019 film follows a high school cleaners group as they individually deal with growing pains, campus misadventures, and the “pressures of being clean” while discovering how dirty the world is. In case you didn’t know, this film is made out of 40,000 printed, photocopied, colored (with highlighters, like the high school-coded film it is), and scanned frames. The screening will be paired with carpet interview, the “Jared Show.”
We also got to talk to the “Cleaners” cast in 2021:
The festival’s Binisaya Shorts section is composed of “Senyas” by Donetha Grace Merka, “Kasulaw” by JM Hermoso, “Tagulilong” by Ivan Zaldarriaga, “Asher” by Dan Lopez, “End Times” by Conrad Dela Cruz, “Cinebuano” by Joaquin Perocillo, “LA MESA” by Kez Fuentes, “ARISE” by Dianna Marie Velasquez, “Sa Dihang Nabulabog Ang Tanan” by Redh Honoridez, and “Balod sa Kinabuhi” by Febe Bongato.
The Horizons roster features various narratives from Manila, Rizal, Tarlac, Negros Occidental, and Iloilo. Meanwhile, the World lineup showcases both foreign and local projects (including Whammy Alcazaren’s “Bold Eagle”) and Cinemathon will show films from Binisaya’s 24-hour shootout.
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The festival will close with Januar Yap’s “Sibuyas ni Perfecto” and Archipelago Rising, an anthology of shorts (which includes Zambales-shot “It’s Raining Frogs Outside” by Maria Estela Paiso).
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Check out the full list of films and schedule on Binisaya’s official site.
Read more:
Understanding Filipino youth culture through regional cinema
Want to biuld your own film festival? Take notes from Binisaya
It ‘rained frogs’ at Berlinale this year. We talked to its mastermind (a Filipink filmmaker)
Still from “Cleaners” (2019)
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