By Matthew Andrada Jr.
Quezon City- based free screening program and conversation space Cinema Is Incomplete is back after more than a year of hiatus, shortly after opening in 2011. It reopened last month with Vincent Sandoval’s Aparisyon (Apparition, 2012), a critically-acclaimed drama about cloistered nuns faced with a dilemma in the midst of Marcosian regime. The response in the opening was overwhelming as its new home- Handuraw Pizza Sikatuna was jam packed.
For its second screening week, Adjani Arumpac’s Nanay Mameng and Mae Caralde’s Yanan were screened. Both are new documentaries about two fierce women involved in the people’s struggle for social change. The audience’s turnout, like the first week, remained very good and again, it was a full house.
For this week, the focus is on the cinema of renowned production designer and experimental filmmaker Cesar Hernando. The program features four of Hernando’s works spanning three decades: Botica-Bituka (1987), Kalawang (1990), Maalinsangan ang Gabi (1993) and Kagat ng Dilim (2006), which stars Piolo Pascual and Yul Servo. All of which are made in film. Some of the productions designed by Hernando are Lav Diaz’ Batang West Side, Mike de Leon’s Sister Stella L., Batch 81 and Kisapmata, and Raymond Red’s 2012 Cinemalaya entry Kamera Obskura. He also designed the iconic poster of Himala, arguably one of the best Filipino films of all time.
This is basically what Cinema Is Incomplete is all about: a program that films that are under screened, less seen but are relevant, thought-provoking, even award-winning and deserving of audiences.
Cinema Is Incomplete has easily gained a cult following among film buffs, artists, students and professionals when it opened in 2011 at a rented apartment turned cinematheque in Anonas Extension, Sikatuna Village. With its barefoot and floor-sitting arrangement, watching films over bottles of beer and “pulutan” of choice has never been so “cool”. Since then, Cinema Is Incomplete has already screened and curated a little less than a hundred feature, experimental and short films. Most of these films are made by Filipino filmmakers, while some are films from other countries such as from neighboring Southeast Asia. It also played host for other cinema activities such as Sinebahaghari, Ateneo Video Open and Green Papaya Art Projects.
This time, Cinema Is Incomplete has its new home at the quaint Handuraw Pizza Sikatuna, just almost across the original location of the program.
Aside from Sandoval, Arumpac and Caralde, also among the filmmakers who have screened at Cinema Is Incomplete are Lav Diaz , Arnel Mardoquio, Remton Suazola, Chritian Linaban, Monster Jimenez and Mes De Guzman. De Guzman’s retrospective was one of the highlights of the program featuring some of the auteur’s best works.
Gawad Urian-winning filmmaker Jewel Maranan (2012 Best Documentary for Tundong Magiliw) who founded the program with some of her friends, envisioned a screening and conversations space geared towards audience development. The culture of conversing before or after screening is also encouraged in the program. Thus, the filmmakers are invited to present their films in the screening. A question and answer follows after every screening, allowing direct exchange between filmmakers and the audience.
The films screened at Cinema Is Incomplete are curated, but it is open to suggestions, submissions and collaboration. For the coming weeks, Cinema Is Incomplete lines up documentaries, features, shorts and possibly, another retrospective or two.
For inquiries, please email its current organizers/managers Jewel Maranan at jewelmaranan@gmail.com and Tey Lopez at lopez.tey@gmail.com.
