in celebration of ITI MAPUKPUKAW’sbox office success and BEST FILM victory at the 19th cinemalaya film festival, here’s a thread consisting of 15 films to celebrate ph cinema’s most underserved cinematic medium—animation.
⊹₊ ⋆ animation in philippine cinema, a thread:
disclaimer: i actually based this thread off a pre-existing film list by letterboxd user @/pelikula, who has compiled filipino animated works, both feature-length and short films. (doing the lord's work) 🙏
iti mapukpukaw "the missing" (carl joseph papa, 2023)
• the very first full-length animated film entry to compete in cinemalaya
• the story of eric, a mouthless young man who untangles memories from his childhood in the wake of his uncle’s death.
• had 90+ animators involved
manang biring (carl joseph papa, 2015)
• carl papa's debut film
• a comedy-drama featuring a feisty old lady who has learned to accept her imminent demise until she learns of her long-estranged daughter’s return from abroad.
• iwanttfc (streamable for free)
paglisan (carl joseph papa, 2018)
• carl papa's sophomore film
• an animated musical dramedy
• crisanto and dolores's marriage is falling apart. it is even more tested when crisanto is diagnosed with early-onset alzheimer's disease.
• stars eula valdez & ian veneracion
hayop ka! the nimfa dimaano story (avid liongoren, 2020)
• follows an attractive feline saleslady at a department store as she figures in a love triangle between her mongrel janitor boyfriend and her high society business dog.
• stars angelica panganiban as the lead
• netflix
saving sally (avid liongoren, 2016)
• an entry on the metro manila film festival 2016
• a tale of unrequited teenage love terrorized by giant animated monsters in the chaotic streets of metro manila.
• stars rhian ramos & enzo marcos
• netflix
urduja (reggie entienza, 2008)
• set in the 13th century, the animated film is a fictionalized tale of princess urduja, a legendary warrior princess of pangasinan.
• regine velasquez as the voice of princess urduja
dayo (robert quilao, 2008)
• the philippines' first all-digital, full-length animated feature film
• mmff 2008 entry
• follows the adventure of 11-year-old bubuy as he tries to save his grandparents who have been abducted to elementalia, a mysterious and magical land.
rpg metanoia (luiz suarez, 2010)
• mmff 2010 entry
• a group of kids seeks refuge from the mundane world by playing an online video game. but when a deadly virus starts blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, the kids must step up to defeat the virus.
• iwanttfc
cleaners (glenn barit, 2019)
• a rotoscope & stop-motion animation film (printed each frame, photocopied, used highlighters, scanned, and assembled them back into a movie)
• a filipino coming-of-age film about a high school cleaners group for the school year 2007-2008.
some animated short films!
lola loleng (che tagyamon, 2017)
• a young woman goes back to her province in the countryside where she gets to once again meet her grandmother loleng—a distant relative and a senile parol (christmas lantern) artisan.
• link: https://t.co/HT4rH4mmFX
ella arcangel: oyayi sa dilim (mervin malonzo, 2021)
• based on julius villanueva's comics, ella arcangel is a series of stories set in a strange community called barangay masikap where both humans & monsters struggle for survival.
• link: https://t.co/inbMc4BrQf
maski papano (glenn barit & che tagyamon, 2020)
• after getting disposed of, a facemask turns into a humanoid figure while looking for its previous owner. it then wanders around different places in manila and starts an adventure.
• link: https://t.co/DNqxbbrRbs
kinalimutan natin ang mga bata (gilb baldoza, 2017)
• a recollection of violence and truth, 46 years after the late dictator ferdinand marcos declared martial law in the philippines.
• link: https://t.co/03WyJb2LJ3
mga ulap tayong nagiging ulan (demetrio e. celestino iii, 2021)
• an anthropomorphic cloud shares how it achieves small wins in this natural cycle of life, one that dwells on the commonality that suggests "mga ulap tayong nagging ulan."
• link: https://t.co/T0p3k6RP9Xjuanflix.com.ph/search?q=mga+u…
ang mga sisiw sa kagubatan (vahn pascual, 2022)
• due to the persistent presence of a hungry monster in their town, a chick living in the forest strives to live peacefully together with its own community.
• please DM direk @vahnpascual to give you a private link to his film!
oops. may erratum pala akong for manang biring (2015). pasensya na!
my love for the genre of period pieces! which kind of stems na rin from my love for history. noong araw na nagsisimula palang ako rito sa film twt nabanggit ko rin ata na puro lang ako hollywood keme nun. lalo na mga pelikula ng nanay kong si keira knightley 🫶
and it was such a breath of fresh air that the local scene has invested in such production knowing gaano ka-expensive ng budget na kailangang i-allot for this. bihira lang tayong may gantong media na set in this genre—sure meron ngang some but ‘di nga sila masyadong recognized. +
hence the film thread i made recently. as for MCAI, i gave my full support and it was worth every second! thank yew sa serbisyo @GMADrama
inspired by my love of the recently concluded show, @gmanetwork's Maria Clara at Ibarra, this thread longs to open doors to watchers and inspire filmmakers to keep the genre of period films in philippine cinema alive.
⊹₊ ⋆ period films from the philippines: a thread
(note: this idea was originally conceived as a compilation of costume dramas in ph cinema, but i expanded it to include historical & fictionalized period pieces set not later than the 1960s, that aren't considered contemporary of their time of release.) boxd.it/l31xG
oro, plata, mata (dir. peque gallaga, 1982)
• set during the japanese occupation in ww2
• two wealthy filipino families escape to a jungle hideaway, but soon the violence of the outside world begins to creep into their refuge.
• written by ricky lee
• iwanttfc/netflix
you wouldn’t be saying that if you actually did watch the show bcs the filay subplot takes up almost only 5-10% of the whole story itself 😑
this. i like to believe fidel was a representation of an average ilustrado back then with an initial mindset of being a typical misogynistic, arrogant, privileged man until klay came and disrupted their worlds. her purpose was her influence towards these characters.
first love 初恋 (dir. yuri kanchiku, 2022)
• not a film but a 9-episode j-drama on netflix which inspired me to create this list
• a man and a woman retrace their memory of an unforgettable first love. they first met in the 90s and grew up together in the 00s.
the classic 클래식 (dir. kwak jae-yong, 2003)
• tackles two parallel romances & generations (set back n forth during the 60s & the present)
• “the story of her mother’s first love hits home for ji-hae as she is currently tackling her own feelings of first love.”