A glimpse of this year’s Binisaya Film Festival

By now, 2019’s Binisaya Film Festival had flown off from its first stopover at the University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI) Film Center at the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City. Its excellent three-day sendoff on Oct. 16 to 18 in Cebu City, indeed, highlighted a diversity of feats: one, the festival capped its “Adlaw-adlaw” series with the omnibus “Huwebes Huwebes,” written and directed by Don Frasco, Kris Villarino and Januar Yap; two, the competition shorts; and finally, with the festival’s culmination film, Keith Deligero’s “A Short History of a Few bad Things,” a Cinema One Originals feature released in October 2018. Where the festival heads to remains to be seen, this movable feast is something to catch.

The festival’s official poster trained its lights on good old “Pilemon,” the fisherman fellow from the Cebuano folk song who caught little, earned small but got drunk big time with his tuba. Ahmed Durano illustrated Pilemon the fisherman, basking on a sea turtle’s back, holding his fishing rod steady against surge, critters and moonlight. “Nostalgia, humor, reality,” Durano thus explained his illustration.

“Huwebes Huwebes” is about three men whose stories not only focus on the commonality of the sea presence, but also tackle the current issue of the drug war, its feats and foibles, most especially the dehumanizing effects of its consequent bloodbath.

The festival’s “Best Short Film” award went to “Budots” by Jay Rosas and Mark Limbaga.

The “Best Director” award, which is selected from the main sections of the festival—the “Binisaya Shorts,” “Binisaya Horizons” and “Asian Shorts”—went to “Death of a Sound Man” by Sorayos Prapapan.

The “Best Director Special Jury Citation” went to “Gitlo” by Bobby Villacarlos II.

The traditional four-hour student shootout exercise competition was topped by “Harvest.”

The festival’s closing film, Deligero’s “A Short History of a Few Bad Things” tells the story of Felix Tarooy (Victor Neri), the cop investigator who unwittingly immerses himself in a farcical yarn that exposed corruption in the force.

Festival director Grace Marie Lopez said that this year’s festival was a gesture of giving back to the Cebuanos, the inspiration behind the Binisaya Film Festival.