Monday, September 28, 2015

Long Test on October 2


We will have a long test this coming October 2, 2015 (Friday), 6pm-7pm. The venue will be Room F513G, 5th Floor Finster Hall. The coverage of the long test will be the articles on film editing and the "Cutting Edge" documentary.

Kindly download the following for your long test preparations:

The Art of Editing
It took a long time to discover the importance of imaginative editing in films. In the beginning, the film was considered as one continuous whole and not as an assemblage of fragments. For instance, the French filmmaker, George Melies and his American counterpart Edwin Porter, set their cameras in front of the action and let them record things as they happened.

But it was Edwin Porter who made a bold step towards the art of editing when he inserted a previously shot footage within a larger film. And in 1915, David Griffith, the Father of American Films, discovered that only part of the action was needed to be shown onscreen. (Read more.)

Soviet Montage
Montage served a different purpose and has several meanings in the context of film and is not exclusively used to refer to Soviet Montage. It is used as a synonym of editing. In Hollywood cinema it means to edit a concentrated sequence using a series of short shots as brief transitions to create the effect of the passage of time or movement over large distances or for expressionistic moods and representation of symbolic meanings. Contrary to the conventional styles and movements, the soviet filmmakers was stepping away from a common narrative structure and adapting what has come to be called "Soviet Montage". This new theory of editing was invented by Sergei Eisenstein and then adopted by a few other Russian filmmakers. Eisenstein, however, was the one who discovered its potential and first put it to work to make the people in the audience think whatever he wanted them to think of. “Thematic” or Soviet Montage was achieved arranging striking juxtapositions of individual shots to suggest an idea that goes beyond meanings within an individual shot. It is called collision montage as sequences create significant effects mainly through editing. Its rejection of the forms and conventions of the dominant Hollywood entertainment cinemas have inspired many filmmakers to challenge the styles by creating films which emphasizes on the editing which aims to shatter the illusionistic storytelling and seamless continuity cultivated by Classical Hollywood. (Read more.)

Five Principles of Editing
As a new industry grew, practitioners raced to understand this amazing new medium and how it worked. Back then there was no precedent and there were no rules about how a shot should look or how a piece should be edited together. Sound familiar? But the early filmmakers did such a good job of understanding the medium, by the end of the 1920s the basic tenets had been laid down – and are still used by us today. (Read more.)







The Cutting Edge (from YouTube) - a copy of this can be obtained from the beadle, Karen Bañas.



Artist PollyNor and the Male Gaze



Artist PollyNor Talks Art, Her Take on Modern Female Sexuality, and the Male Gaze

London-based illustrator Polly Norton, or PollyNor, as she goes by, considers the modern girl and her life as inspiration for her work. Quirky and frank, her illustrations are a change from the usual fare of objectified women we see every day, everywhere. She says of her art, “I am questioning the ubiquitous male vision (of women),” and offers an “alternative view on sexuality, relationships and emotions from a modern-day female perspective.”

She derives her inspiration for her artwork from “funny texts, angry tweets, memes and selfies” as well as “girl chat.” She graduated from Loughborough University in 2011, and says that her illustrations often begin with a “line of dialogue or image in mind” and then puts her vision to paper, and then digitally colours it. When it comes to the subject of her work, she says, “If you were to write a piece about your feelings on gender issues you would have shit loads of comments calling you out over every detail and people writing insults at you in capital letters YOU ARE SO WRONG U FEMNAZI, I BET YOU ARE FAT, NOBODY WANTS TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU - GET OVER IT. People take what they want from an image but words are very concrete.”


Read more.

PollyNor's Website

Friday, September 18, 2015

Heneral Luna Film Viewing ( Requirement)



For this coming Saturday class, 19 September 2015, we will watch Heneral Luna (2015) at SM City Davao (Ecoland). The schedules of the film showing for Ateneo de Davao Univesity are the following:

19 September 2015 (Saturday)
9-11am: First Year Students
1-3pm: Second Year Students
4-6pm: 3rd-4th Year Students

For our class, we are scheduled at 4pm-6pm film viewing slot. Please be at the cinema floor before the scheduled viewing. As what I understood, Cinema 1 to 6 during those block time shows are open for us. Just bring your school identification cards. SM Cinemas are giving 50% discount for the tickets. I will be there at Cinema 1 at 4pm, see you!

Kindly read this Study Guide for your film review: http://henerallunathemovie.com/files/Heneral-Luna-Study-Guide.pdf

Synopsis


Joven (Arron Villaflor), a young journalist interviews General Antonio Luna (John Arcilla) as he prepares for battle. The newly formed cabinet of President Emilio Aguinaldo (Mon Confiado) is divided on the issue of American presence in Manila. Felipe Buencamino (Nonie Buencamino) and Pedro Paterno (Leo Martinez) harbor pro-American sentiments while Apolinario Mabini (Epy Quizon) and General Luna take a militant stand and advocate nothing less than independence. General Luna urges the cabinet to authorize a pre-emptive strike on the Americans while their land forces have not yet arrived. President Aguinaldo tells the cabinet that there is nothing to worry about because the Americans promised him that their sole purpose in going to the Philippines is to help the revolutionaries win freedom from their Spanish overlords. As politics divide the Filipino leaders, the Americans take Intramuros after a mock battle with the Spaniards.

General Luna and his trusted comrades – General Jose Alejandrino (Alvin Anson), Colonel Francisco “Paco” Roman (Joem Bascon), Captain Eduardo Rusca (Archie Alemania), Captain Jose Bernal (Alex Medina), and Colonel Manuel Bernal (Art Acuña) embark on an arduous campaign against the wellequipped, well-trained and more experienced American troops that are terrorizing the local population.

Despite the disadvantages, General Luna rallies his troops to fight in the trenches in defense of freedom. American military officials recognize General Luna as a most worthy adversary. In the middle of an intense battle, General Luna asks for reinforcements from the Kawit Brigade but Captain Pedro Janolino (Ketchup Eusebio) refuses to obey because the order did not come from President Aguinaldo. Angered by the stubbornness of the Kawit soldiers, General Luna reprimands Captain Janolino and humiliates him in front of them. Luna declares his infamous Article One, which states that all men who refuse to follow orders shall be shot without the benefit of a trial in a military court. Captain Pedro Janolino and General Tomas Mascardo (Lorenz Martinez) approaches President Aguinaldo to complain about General Luna’s brusqueness. This complaint notwithstanding, Apolinario Mabini counsels President Aguinaldo to support General Luna’s war plan that involves digging trenches in strategic locations and drawing the American forces to the North.

In the midst of war, the cabinet members continue to argue on the official stand of the government. General Luna flares up as Felipe Buencamino discusses the autonomy proposal of the Americans. He orders the arrest of pro-autonomy cabinet members. President Aguinaldo is torn: he is aware that politicians and businessmen want to get rid of the fiery general but the execution of the Bonifacio brothers still bothers him. General Luna’s campaign is undermined by cabinet members who are willing to strike a deal with the Americans, officials who receive orders only from President Aguinaldo, and the general lack of discipline of soldiers. General Mascardo blatantly opposes General Luna’s order for reinforcements. While the two generals clash, the American forces continue to advance steadily as the other Filipino generals like Gregorio del Pilar (Paulo Avelino) lose strength.

General Luna is advised by the women in his life to take care. Isabel (Mylene Dizon) loves him but knows that their responsibilities in the war are more important than their feelings. Doña Laureana Luna y Novicio (Bing Pimentel), his mother, remind him of better days and warns her son about the alleged plot on his life. General Luna is summoned by telegram to the President’s headquarters in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. He discovers upon arrival that President Aguinaldo had already left. Only Felipe Buencamino is in the office and they exchange heated words. When General Luna investigates a single shot fired outside, he encounters soldiers from the Kawit Brigade who attack him. General Luna suffered more than thirty wounds and was valiant until his bloody end (http://henerallunathemovie.com/).

Saturday, August 29, 2015


The Gaze and History of the Discovery of Cinema





The Gaze


The following are assigned articles for the next meeting. I will conduct oral recitations in the next classes based on the these articles:

(1) Movie Pleasure and the Spectator's Experience: Toward a Cognitive Approach (Click to download)
Some of the topics here were already discussed previously, this will be part of the midterm examinations.

(2) Notes on "The Gaze" by Daniel Chandler (Click to download)

You must read also the original text "The Gaze" written by Laura Mulvey, she is a British feminist film theorist. You can look for the Ms. Mulvey's article here.


  • What is "the gaze" exactly?  -- describes the act of looking; began as the study of the objectification of women in visual texts.
  • How does it impact women in particular?
  • What are some of the issues involved in discussing "the gaze"?
    • the objectification of women-- seen as objects
    • the commonality of female nudity -- display implies subordination
    • internalization of the gaze, changes women's perceptions of themselves and makes them think of themselves as objects
    • shift to objectification as a source of pleasure (for both the looker and the looked-at)
    • men as the dominant group have been the looker (the subjects; women the objects)
    • ties back to another aspect of the feminist critique of Freud-- the degree to which Freudian theory is based on visual dynamics
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Outline of Laura Mulvey's Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema

I. INTRODUCTION

a) A Political Use of Psychoanalysis


  • Film reflects the language of patriarchy by being bound up in the same story of sexual difference that all patriarchy is founded on.  In film women is seen as Other, as an object not a subject.  In a way she represents the unconscious of the male because she is always the object he is looking at and never is able to speak for herself.
  • Phallocentrism -- a world view which sees the penis (symbolic and otherwise) as the defining center of meaning.  In other words-- there is a central, stable meaning to things; that meaning is defined largely by men who associate their power to name and define and control reality with their masculinity.
  • Symbolic Order -- the realm of meaning controlled by the Law of the Father  (in Lacan's theorizing): the language of patriarchy.  As opposed  (by Kristeva) to the Imaginary -- the primal language of connection associated with pre-Oedipal bonding with the mother.


b) Destruction of Pleasure as a Radical Weapon
  • Hollywood film reflects the dominant ideology of their culture.  We get our pleasure from films from this presentation of the erotic.  If we learn to make films which do not encode these ideologies, a lot of people will lose their pleasure in looking at film.
  • Mise-en-scene means staging an action. It is historically to do with directing plays, and became later to do with film to express how the material in the frame is directed.

II. PLEASURE IN LOOKING/ FASCINATION WITH THE HUMAN FORM

  • a) Film satisfies this primal pleasure we all get from looking at other people. 
            scopophilia - - the pleasure we get from looking, in seeing other people as objects. We get a sense of power from being able to do this.  With John Berger she believes the one who looks has the power. 


Voyeuristic scopophilia -- 
  • b) Narcissistic scopophilia is looking at other people as seeing them as surrogates for yourself.  We also identify with people in movies.   So there is a tension here between the sense of power we get from observing others as separate from ourselves and the pleasure we get in imagining that we are the people we are looking at. 
           the mirror stage: 
  • c) tension between these impulses-- to see others as separate and to identify with them



 III. WOMAN AS IMAGE, MAN AS BEARER OF THE LOOK


a) Split between male, active gaze which looks and female passivity which is looked upon. Women are always on display in film.  Seen as objects of sexual desire; this is transformed into exhibitionism.  Visual presence of female tends to stop the story line to dwell on the image. 
diegesis -- "In a narrative film, the world of the film's story. The diegesis includes events that are presumed to have occurred and actions and spaces not shown onscreen. "
Why are so many women in film showgirls, strippers, etc. 
b) Gender split carries over into narrative of film--men carry the story, make things happen, while woman remains the icon.
c1) Problems with woman as icon: 
    c1a) voyeurism -- sadistic desire to punish woman for her lack 
    c1b) fetishistic scopophilia -- builds up beauty of woman in order to compensate for anxiety 

C2) Examples: Sternberg's Dietrich films show fetishism.  Hitchcock--

SUMMARY
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The following will be asked during the oral recitation in the next class/ sessions. Please read the article “Notes on the Gaze” by Daniel Chandler.

a.     Why does viewing a recorded image have a voyeuristic dimension?
b.    What is the difference between a gaze and a look?
c.     Why does a gaze of indirect address represent an offer?
d.    Why does a gaze of direct address represent a demand?
e.     Why do glamour photographers enhance their photographs by dilating the pupil of their models?
f.     Why is it common for male models to look off or up?
g.     Why do actors in conventional narrative film gaze very rarely directly at the camera?
h.     Why is peripheral gaze more common to Asians?
i.      Why is an expert presented in a profile or in an interview rather than in a direct gaze?
j.     What is the intention of seeing the back of a depicted person?
k.     Why does a frontal portrait have been associated with the working class?
l.      In Michael Watson’s study what group of people chose to stand closest together? What group stood farthest apart from each other?
m.   Why is BCU seldom used for important figures? – BCUs may emphasize interviewee’s tension, guilt, may suggest lying?
n.     Why does the camera turn the depicted person into an object, thus distancing viewer and viewed?
o.     What is photographic seeing? Why is it a “controlling gaze”?
p.    Why is it the voyeuristic mode of gazing more intense for the cinema spectator than television viewer?
q.    What constitutes the suspension of disbelief? – Identification of the viewer with the camera: my eyes are the camera.
r.     Why does the film spectator re-enact the “mirror image” of Jacques Lacan? Why does a camera become a tool of self-reflection and surveillance?


See my Class Lecture on "The Gaze" here.

Continue browsing through the following articles:

Saturday, August 01, 2015

Materials for the Film to be viewed today


Materials for the Film Viewing Today (1 August 2015)

There will be no lecture today, we will postpone to the next meetings
the oral recitation and discussion since the film we will watch will be 3.25 hour long.

1. Supplemental Materials for Schindler's List

Oskar Schindler (1908 — 1974) was an ethnic German born in the village of Zwittau in Sudetenland, a portion of Czechoslovakia with many German inhabitants. He was known in the village by the name "Gauner," which meant swindler or sharper. A Jewish woman who lived in the town and whose life Schindler later saved, said, "As a Zwittau citizen I never would have considered him capable of all these wonderful deeds." 

Oskar Schindler was a member of the Nazi party. He arrived in Cracow, Poland, just after the collapse of the Polish Army and at the beginning of the German occupation. His first effort, as shown in the film, was to capitalize on the misfortune of the Jews who had recently been forbidden to engage in business. As an added inducement for them to "invest" in his new business, Schindler offered to employ the investors or their relatives in his factory. For years, relations between Schindler and his Jewish workers were circumspect. But as the lot of the Jews in Poland worsened, the workers at Schindler's factory noticed that they were somehow protected. Word of this spread through the Jewish community. 


2. Schindler's List Essay Questions

Children are used throughout the film to indicate family loyalty, despite horrific circumstances. During the liquidation of the ghetto, there are many children/parent pairs featured. One father tries to stop a soldier from shooting his son as he runs away, giving up his own life. Children are also used to symbolize the hopelessness of the Jews' situation. A notable example of this is the little girl in the red coat. Despite her efforts to resist and hide, and despite the red coat that identifies her as special, she ends up dead and piled up with the other victims, nameless and unimportant.

3. Schindler's List: Student Discussion Questions


What is the central theme of Schindler's List? This is a complex question with no "right" answer. The film will speak to each student differently. But the search for the central theme will provide students with a framework to gain useful insights and analytical skills.




Saturday, July 25, 2015

Cinema Paradiso



The story of a lifelong affair with the movies, Cinema Paradiso tells of a young boy in a small Italian village, where the only pastime is a visit to the movies at the Cinema Paradiso. Enchanted by the flickering images, Salvatore yearns for the secret of the cinema's magic and is overjoyed when Alfredo, the projectionist, agrees to reveal the mysteries of moviemaking to him. As their friendship grows, so does Salvatore, growing older with his good friend and the movies he adores, learning from both of them how to court his first love, and dreaming of one day making movies of his own. When the day comes for Salvatore to leave the village and pursue his dream, Alfredo makes the man promise to never look back, to keep moving forward. And so he does, for thirty years, until the day a message arrives that beckons him back home to a secret, beautiful discovery that awaits him there.

If you love movies, it's impossible not to appreciate Cinema Paradiso, Giuseppe Tornatore's heartwarming, nostalgic look at one man's love affair with film, and the story of a very special friendship. Affecting (but not cloying) and sentimental (but not sappy), Cinema Paradiso is the kind of motion picture that can brighten up a gloomy day and bring a smile to the lips of the most taciturn individual. Light and romantic, this fantasy is tinged with just enough realism to make us believe in its magic, even as we are enraptured by its spell.

Most of Cinema Paradiso is told through flashbacks. As the film opens, we meet Salvatore (Jacques Perrin), a famous director, who has just received the news that an old friend has died. Before departing for his home village of Giancaldo the next morning to attend the funeral, he reminisces about his childhood and adolescence, thinking back to places and people he hasn't seen for decades.

As a fatherless child, Salvatore (Salvatore Cascio) loved the movies. He would abscond with the milk money to buy admission to a matinee showing at the local theater, a small place called the Cinema Paradiso. Raised on an eclectic fare that included offerings from such diverse sources as Akira Kurosawa, Jean Renoir, John Wayne, and Charlie Chaplin, Salvatore grew to appreciate all kinds of film. The Paradiso became his home, and the movies, his parents. Eventually, he developed a friendship with the projectionist, Alfredo (Philippe Noiret), a lively middle-aged man who offered advice on life, romance, and how to run a movie theater. Salvatore worked as Alfredo's unpaid apprentice until the day the Paradiso burned down. When a new cinema was erected on the same site, an adolescent Salvatore (Marco Leonardi) became the projectionist. But Alfredo, now blind because of injuries sustained in the fire, remained in the background, filling the role of confidante and mentor to the boy he loved like a son.Cinema Paradiso's first half, with Salvatore Cascio playing the young protagonist, is the superior portion. The boy's experiences in the theater, watching movies and listening to Alfredo's stories, form a kind of journey of discovery. As Salvatore cultivates his love of movies, those in the audience are prodded to recall the personal meaning of film. It's an evocative and powerful experience that will touch lovers of motion pictures more deeply than it will casual movie-goers.

Once Salvatore has grown into his teens, Cinema Paradiso shifts from being a nostalgic celebration of movies to a traditional coming-of-age drama, complete with romantic disappointment and elation. Salvatore falls for a girl named Elena (Agnese Nano), but his deeply- felt passion isn't reciprocated. So he agonizes over the situation, seeks out Alfredo's advice, then makes a bold decision: he will stand outside of Elena's window every night until she relents. In the end, love wins out, but Salvatore's joy is eventually replaced by sadness as Elena vanishes forever from his life.The Screen Kiss is important to Cinema Paradiso. Early in the film, the local priest previews each movie before it is available for public consumption, using the power of his office to demand that all scenes of kissing be edited out. By the time the new Paradiso opens, however, things have changed. The priest no longer goes to the movies and kisses aren't censored. Much later, following the funeral near the end of Cinema Paradiso, Salvatore receives his bequest from Alfredo: a film reel containing all of the kisses removed from the movies shown at the Paradiso over the years. It's perhaps the greatest montage of motion picture kisses ever assembled, and, as Salvatore watches it, tears come to his eyes. The deluge of concentrated ardor acts as a forceful reminder of the simple-yet-profound passion that has been absent from his life since he lost touch with his one true love, Elena. It's a profoundly moving moment -- one of many that Cinema Paradiso offers.

Is Cinema Paradiso manipulative? Manifestly so, but Tornatore displays such skill in the way he excites our emotions that we don't care. This film is sometimes funny, sometimes joyful, and sometimes poignant, but it's always warm, wonderful, and satisfying. Cinema Paradiso affects us on many levels, but its strongest connection is with our memories. We relate to Salvatore's story not just because he's a likable character, but because we relive our own childhood movie experiences through him. Who doesn't remember the first time they sat in a theater, eagerly awaiting the lights to dim? There has always been a certain magic associated with the simple act of projecting a movie on a screen. Tornatore taps into this mystique, and that, more than anything else, is why Cinema Paradiso is a great motion picture.

© 1996 James Berardinelli

Cast: Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin, Antonella Attili, Pupella Maggio, Agnese Nano, Leopoldo Trieste Director: Giuseppe Tornatore Producers: Franco Cristaldi, Giovanna Romagnoli Screenplay: Giuseppe Tornatore Cinematography: Blasco Giurato Music: Ennio Morricone Duration: 2:03

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Film Viewing Schedule


Take note of recent Film Viewing schedule:


1. Departures 2008 (June 13) - 130 mins
Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of "Nokanshi," acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living. 


2. The Road Home 1999 (June 20) - 89 mins



City businessman Luo Yusheng returns to his home village in North China for the funeral of his father, the village teacher. He finds his elderly mother insisting that all the traditional burial customs be observed, despite the fact that times have changed so much, and that it involves many people carrying his father's body back to the village - the road home.

As Yusheng debates the complications involved in organising such a big feat, he remembers the magical story of how his father and mother first met and got together.









3. The Piano 1993 (June 27) - 121 mins
It is the mid-nineteenth century. Ada is a mute who has a young daughter, Flora. In an arranged marriage she leaves her native Scotland accompanied by her daughter and her beloved piano. Life in the rugged forests of New Zealand's North Island is not all she may have imagined and nor is her relationship with her new husband Stewart.

 She suffers torment and loss when Stewart sells her piano to a neighbour, George. Ada learns from George that she may earn back her piano by giving him piano lessons, but only with certain other conditions attached. At first Ada despises George but slowly their relationship is transformed and this propels them into a dire situation.


4. Malena 2000 (July 4) - 109 mins
On the day in 1940 that Italy enters the war, two things happen to the 12-year-old Renato: he gets his first bike, and he gets his first look at Malèna. She is a beautiful, silent outsider who's moved to this Sicilian town to be with her husband, Nino. 

He promptly goes off to war, leaving her to the lustful eyes of the men and the sharp tongues of the women. During the next few years, as Renato grows toward manhood, he watches Malèna suffer and prove her mettle. He sees her loneliness, then grief when Nino is reported dead, the effects of slander on her relationship with her father, her poverty and search for work, and final humiliations. Will Renato learn courage from Malèna and stand up for her?



5. Juana La Loca 2001 (July 11) - 115 mins

Juana is married off by her pious parents, the Catholic kings Ferndinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, to ally Spain, united by their marriage, to the Burgundian and other Habsburg heritage of archduke Maximilian's son Philip. 

When they meet, it's love at first sight, for her all-consuming, for him one of many happy bed partnerships as she later discovers. Deaths in her family soon make Juana Isabella's heir, but Ferdinand suggests she inherited her grandmother's madness and supports Philip's ambition to rule instead, which becomes the stakes of political maneuvering in the Cortes (nobility-dominated parliament). Combined with Philip's incurable infidelity, which includes a Moorish whore-princess, multiple drama is inevitable, and worse follows.







6. La Vita e Bella 1997 (July 18) - 116 mins [Prelim Examinations]

In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish book keeper named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman from a nearby city. 

Guido and his wife have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank.










7. Cinema Paradio 1988 (July 25) - 155 mins
A famous film director remembers his childhood at the Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo, the projectionist, first brought about his love of films. He returns home to his Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years and is reminded of his first love, Elena, who disappeared from his life before he left for Rome. Written by Graeme Roy















8. Schindler's List 1993 (August 1) - 195 mins



Oskar Schindler is a vainglorious and greedy German businessman who becomes an unlikely humanitarian amid the barbaric Nazi reign when he feels compelled to turn his factory into a refuge for Jews.

Based on the true story of Oskar Schindler who managed to save about 1100 Jews from being gassed at the Auschwitz concentration camp, it is a testament for the good in all of us. Written by Harald Mayr

9.  Hotel Rwanda 2004 (August 8) - 121 mins
During the 1990s, some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.Written by Sujit R. Varma


10. (August 15) - Feast of our Lady of Assumption (Holiday)

11. (August 22) - Free Day (Kadayawan Festival)

12. (August 29) - Midterm Examinations - Swimming Pool (2003) - 102 mins
Sarah Morton is a famous British mystery author. Tired of London and seeking inspiration for her new novel, she accepts an offer from her publisher John Bosload to stay at his home in Luberon, in the South of France. It is the off-season, and Sarah finds that the beautiful country locale and unhurried pace is just the tonic for her--until late one night, when John's indolent and insouciant French daughter Julie unexpectedly arrives. Sarah's prim and steely English reserve is jarred by Julie's reckless, sexually charged lifestyle. Their interactions set off an increasingly unsettling series of events, as Sarah's creative process and a possible real-life murder begin to blend dangerously together. Written by Sujit R. Varma

13. (September 5) - Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) - 106 mins
The film combines straightforward storytelling with periodic interruptions of the soundtrack, during which the action continues, but a narrator provides additional out-of-context information about the characters, events, or setting depicted. In addition to expanding on the narrative, these "footnotes" sometimes draw attention to economic/political issues in Mexico, especially the situation of the poor in rural areas of the country.

The story itself focuses on two boys at the threshold of adulthood: Julio (Gael García Bernal), from a leftist middle-class family, and Tenoch (Diego Luna), whose father is a high-ranking political official. The film opens with scenes of each boy having sex with his girlfriend one last time before the girls leave on a trip to Italy. Without their girlfriends around, the boys quickly become bored.

At a wedding, they meet Luisa (Maribel Verdú), the Spanish wife of Tenoch's cousin Jano, and attempt to impress the older woman with talk of an invented secluded beach called la Boca del Cielo ("Heaven's Mouth"). She initially declines their invitation to go there with them, but changes her mind following a phone call in which Jano tearfully confesses cheating on her.

Although Julio and Tenoch have little idea where to find the promised beach, the three set off for it, driving through poor, rural Mexico. They pass the time by talking about their relationships and sexual experiences, with the boys largely boasting about their modest exploits, and Luisa speaking in more measured terms about Jano and wistfully of her first teenage love, who died in an accident.

On an overnight stop she telephones Jano, leaving a "goodbye note" on his answering machine. Tenoch goes to her motel room looking for shampoo, but finds her crying. She seduces him, and he awkwardly but enthusiastically has sex with her. Julio sees this from the open doorway, and angrily tells Tenoch that he's had sex with his girlfriend. The next day Luisa tries to even the score by having (equally awkward) sex with Julio; Tenoch then reveals he had sex with Julio's girlfriend. The boys begin to fight, until Luisa threatens to leave them.

By chance they find an isolated beach which coincidentally is called Boca del Cielo. They gradually relax and enjoy the beach and the company of a local family. In the nearby village, Luisa makes a final phone call to Jano, bidding him an affectionate but final farewell.

That evening, the three drink excessively and joke recklessly about their sexual transgressions, revealing that the two boys have frequently had sex with the same women (their girlfriends, as well as Luisa). "Y tu mamá también," Julio jests to Tenoch. The three dance together sensually, then retire to their room. They begin to undress and grope drunkenly, both boys focusing their attentions on Luisa. As she kneels and stimulates them both, they gasp and kiss each other passionately.

The next morning, Luisa rises early, leaving the boys to wake up together, naked. They immediately turn away from each other, and are eager to return home. The narrator explains that they did so quietly and uneventfully, but Luisa stayed behind to explore the beaches. He further relates that the boys' girlfriends broke up with them, they started dating other girls, and they stopped seeing each other.

The final scene follows a chance encounter a year later, in 2000, the year that the Institutional Revolutionary Party lost the first election in 71 years. They are having a perfunctory cup of coffee together, catching up on each other's lives and news of their friends. Tenoch informs Julio that Luisa died of cancer a month after their trip, and that she knew she was ill the whole time that the three were together. Tenoch excuses himself, and they never see each other again.

14. (September 12) - Lucia Y Sexo (2001) - 128 mins
Lucía is a young waitress in a restaurant in the centre of Madrid. After the loss of her long-time boyfriend, a writer, she seeks refuge on a quiet, secluded Mediterranean island. There, bathed in an atmosphere of fresh air and dazzling sun, Lucía begins to discover the dark corners of her past relationship, as if they were forbidden passages of a novel which the author now, from afar, allows her to read. Written by Julio Medem

Lucia, a young waitress in Madrid, falls completely in love with a writer. After a period of blissful togetherness, something from his past pulls him in two directions. We are caught up in his moral dilemma, of not wanting to lose the wonderful gift he has found and yet not wanting to be untrue to himself. The semi-autobiographical novel he is writing pulls together the story and the emotions and hopes of the characters and introduces ideas that enable them to heal some of their hurt. A central idea is that of finding a hole (symbolically on the sandy beach) where, after reaching the end of the story, you can jump back into the middle. That way you can try an make things turn out better ("If you give me time", says Lorenzo, Lucia's boyfriend.) A more mature and rounded work than the Director's earlier "Lovers of the Arctic Circle", Sex and Lucia combines wonderful acting, a great story, innovative cinema and spine-tingly beautiful photography. (Chris Docker)

15. (September 19) - Heneral Luna (2015) -
Joven (Arron Villaflor), a young journalist interviews General Antonio Luna (John Arcilla) as he prepares for battle. The newly formed cabinet of President Emilio Aguinaldo (Mon Confiado) is divided on the issue of American presence in Manila. Felipe Buencamino (Nonie Buencamino) and Pedro Paterno (Leo Martinez) harbor pro-American sentiments while Apolinario Mabini (Epy Quizon) and General Luna take a militant stand and advocate nothing less than independence. General Luna urges the cabinet to authorize a pre-emptive strike on the Americans while their land forces have not yet arrived. President Aguinaldo tells the cabinet that there is nothing to worry about because the Americans promised him that their sole purpose in going to the Philippines is to help the revolutionaries win freedom from their Spanish overlords. As politics divide the Filipino leaders, the Americans take Intramuros after a mock battle with the Spaniards.

General Luna and his trusted comrades – General Jose Alejandrino (Alvin Anson), Colonel Francisco “Paco” Roman (Joem Bascon), Captain Eduardo Rusca (Archie Alemania), Captain Jose Bernal (Alex Medina), and Colonel Manuel Bernal (Art Acuña) embark on an arduous campaign against the wellequipped, well-trained and more experienced American troops that are terrorizing the local population.

Despite the disadvantages, General Luna rallies his troops to fight in the trenches in defense of freedom. American military officials recognize General Luna as a most worthy adversary. In the middle of an intense battle, General Luna asks for reinforcements from the Kawit Brigade but Captain Pedro Janolino (Ketchup Eusebio) refuses to obey because the order did not come from President Aguinaldo. Angered by the stubbornness of the Kawit soldiers, General Luna reprimands Captain Janolino and humiliates him in front of them. Luna declares his infamous Article One, which states that all men who refuse to follow orders shall be shot without the benefit of a trial in a military court. Captain Pedro Janolino and General Tomas Mascardo (Lorenz Martinez) approaches President Aguinaldo to complain about General Luna’s brusqueness. This complaint notwithstanding, Apolinario Mabini counsels President Aguinaldo to support General Luna’s war plan that involves digging trenches in strategic locations and drawing the American forces to the North.

In the midst of war, the cabinet members continue to argue on the official stand of the government. General Luna flares up as Felipe Buencamino discusses the autonomy proposal of the Americans. He orders the arrest of pro-autonomy cabinet members. President Aguinaldo is torn: he is aware that politicians and businessmen want to get rid of the fiery general but the execution of the Bonifacio brothers still bothers him. General Luna’s campaign is undermined by cabinet members who are willing to strike a deal with the Americans, officials who receive orders only from President Aguinaldo, and the general lack of discipline of soldiers. General Mascardo blatantly opposes General Luna’s order for reinforcements. While the two generals clash, the American forces continue to advance steadily as the other Filipino generals like Gregorio del Pilar (Paulo Avelino) lose strength.

General Luna is advised by the women in his life to take care. Isabel (Mylene Dizon) loves him but knows that their responsibilities in the war are more important than their feelings. Doña Laureana Luna y Novicio (Bing Pimentel), his mother, remind him of better days and warns her son about the alleged plot on his life. General Luna is summoned by telegram to the President’s headquarters in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. He discovers upon arrival that President Aguinaldo had already left. Only Felipe Buencamino is in the office and they exchange heated words. When General Luna investigates a single shot fired outside, he encounters soldiers from the Kawit Brigade who attack him. General Luna suffered more than thirty wounds and was valiant until his bloody end (http://henerallunathemovie.com/).


16. (September 26) - The Dreamers (2003) - 115 mins
Paris, spring 1968. While most students take the lead in the May 'revolution', a French poet's twin son Theo and daughter Isabelle enjoy the good life in his grand Paris home. As film buffs they meet and 'adopt' modest, conservatively educated Californian student Matthew. With their parents away for a month, they drag him into an orgy of indulgence of all senses, losing all of his and the last of their innocence. A sexual threesome shakes their rapport, yet only the outside reality will break it up. Written by KGF Vissers




17. (October 3) - What Dreams May Come (1998) - 113 minutes

Based on a metaphysical 1978 novel by science fiction and horror author Richard Matheson, this romantic fantasy-drama won an Oscar for its expensive and impressive visual vistas depicting an imaginative afterlife. Robin Williams stars as Chris Nielsen, a doctor who has suffered with his artist wife Annie (Annabella Sciorra) through the devastating loss of their children, Marie and Ian, who were killed in a car accident. Although Annie's all-consuming depression nearly destroyed their marriage, the couple rebuilt their relationship and are now living out a comfortable middle age. Stopping one night to help a motorist in a wreck, Chris is struck by a car and killed. At first confused about where he is, Chris meets Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a spiritual guide who helps him to realize he's passed away and that he must move on to the next world. After trying with only limited success to communicate with the devastated Annie, Chris moves on and discovers an afterlife that can become whatever one envisions, where even his pet dog awaits him. What Chris envisions as paradise are the paintings of his wife, and he happily takes up residence there, awaiting the far-off day when Annie will eventually join him. He also meets his children, although they have chosen different appearances than the ones they had in life. Then tragedy strikes when Annie, inconsolable, commits suicide and goes to Hell. Although it is rarely done, Chris insists on traveling there, risking his eternal soul to save the woman he loves. Accompanied part of the way by Albert and a wizened guide called The Tracker (Max von Sydow), Chris finally reaches Annie in Hell, and must convince her of the truth in order to release her from her dark prison. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi