“Mga Bag-ong Nawong (sang Damgo kag Katingalahan)”, directed by rising Negrense director, Mark Raymund Garcia, is one of the 23 short films that will compete in the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition of the prestigious Singapore International Film Festival, from Nov. 25 to Dec. 5 this year.
“I am honored to be one of the three short films from the Philippines to be included in the competition,” Garcia posted on his Facebook page.
The two others are “To Pick a Flower” by Shireen Seno, and “Himala: A Dialectic of Our Times” by Lav Diaz, Garcia’s idol in the Philippine cinema.
“Grabe ka Lord!” Garcia enthused as he thanked the Almighty and all those who took part in the film and the benefactors.
“Para ini sa tanan nga nagpati sa amon salida, sa mga producers, actors, kag crew nga nagbulig para maubra ni, kag sa akon pamilya kag mga abyan nga padayon nga nagapati sa pwede namon mahimo apesar sang pandemya,” he added. “Para sa Sagay, Negros kag Pilipinas. Para sa mga damgo nga tani aton tanan malab-ot. Padayon kita tanan!”
“Mga Bag-ong Nawong” or “The New Faces (of Dreams and Mysteries)” runs for 11 minutes in Hiligaynon, and rated PG (Parental Guidance).
Its briefer states: “Masking up against an invisible adversary…A pandemic confronts us with a new masked reality. As masked personas take over, we question what has come before and what is to come”.
It has an Ensemble Cast, with Garcia also as its screen writer. The short film was produced this year by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (Philippines), University of Saint La Salle, and Kayab Films.
“Mark Raymund Garcia is a journalist and director based in Sagay City, Philippines. His previous short Buding Ang Babayi Nga Naglutaw was named Best Short Film at CineKasimanwa in 2019”, the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) posted on its Facebook page.
SGIFF is the largest and longest-running film event in Southeast Asia since 1987.
It said that films that made it to the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition–Programme 2 “demonstrate a range of interdisciplinary expressions, including dance, performance, traditional craft, digital animation, and sound design…while varied in the stories they tell”. | NND
Caption
Screenshots of the short film “Mga Bag-ong Nawong (sang Damgo kag Katingalahan)” of award-winning Negrense director, Mark Raymund Garcia, one of the three entries from the Philippines competing in the 2021 Singapore International Film Festival.
