Tingin 6

 Celebrating Southeast Asians in love

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte

An annual project of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Tingin Southeast Asian Film Festival resumes its physical screenings after a virtual migration due to the global pandemic. Tingin is the country's longest-running and only film festival.dedicated to Southeast Asian cinemas. It aims to strengthen the ties of Filipinos and their neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region through the medium of film.

"NCCA's Culture and Diplomacy Program remains committed to projects which familiarize the cultures and cinemas of Southeast Asia to Filipino audiences. We hope to enrich the cultural.vocabulary of Pinoy moviegoers, especially film students and the youth, one Southeast Asian film at a time. This year, we are beyond thrilled that Tingin will have three media platforms - cinema, online, and television - on which to showcase the region's best films," said Mariel Nini, officer-in-charge of the Sentro Rizal International Cultural Affairs Office of the NCCA.

Simply dubbed "Swipe Right: Southeast Asia in Love," the sixth edition of Tingin returns to the Red Carpet of Shangri-La Plaza. Short film selections will be aired for free on Vimeo from Sept 29 to Oct 1, as well as on SolarFlix from Oct 7 to 8.

"This year's Tingin pries open the region's conventions and modern reinvention of relationships. While some believe that romantic love merely reinforces oppressive relations and reactionary values, it has the potential to be a liberating force. The festival this year gathers films that explore the complex experience of love and which ultimately celebrate its redemptive power," enthused festival director Maya Quirino.

The filmfest opened to the BL-themed movie "Gameboys" from the Idea First Company. Translated to a motion picture from a series of the same title, the film version still topbill Kokoy de Santos and Elijah Canlas.

"It was difficult to shoot during the pandemic. All of us had to undergo the required RT-PCR testings before any shoot was done. We also had a medical officer with us on set to make sure we followed the protocols. The movie was shot a year after the series aired. We were together for two weeks, but shot the movie in 9-10 days. We have one language of love, no matter the gender. This is the first BL produced movie for mainstream cinema," shared film director Ivan Payawal during the talkback after the film screening.

Aside from Gameboys, this year's movie lineup include Yuni (Kamila Andini, Indonesia), Touch (Pham Linh, Vietnam), Bangkok Department (Thailand), Sunrise in My Mind (Danech San, Cambodia), Perhaps That Elephant is Still Asleep (Yoeng Kuok Hong, Malaysia), Evening Clouds (Myanmar), Atrophy (Brunei Darussalam) and Tuktuk of the Fifth Kind (Lao PDR).

On the other hand, Nelson Yeo of Singapore leads the lineup of short film selections with his entry, "Here is Not There. Yeo recently bagged top prizes at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland for his film "Dreaming and Dying."

The 6th edition of the Tingin Southeast Asia film festival runs until Sunday, September 24, at the Shangri-La Plaza Red Carpet cineplex during mall hours. Admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis.