News

Georgian drama film “April” took double honors on Saturday at the annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards, winning the best film prize and the best performance prize for Ia Sukhitashvili.

Directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, the film portrays the determination of an obstetrics and gynaecology provider in the face of accusations about the death of a newborn child. The film premiered at the Venice and Toronto festivals in September, earning a special jury prize in Venice and the best film prize in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera competition.

Sukhitashvili was present at the Apsa ceremony in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, to accept both awards.

Fellow Georgian filmmaker, Tato Kotetishvili was awarded the Apsa for best director for his debut feature, dark comedy “Holy Electricity,” which sees cousins selling neon crucifixes door to door in Tbilisi.

Women’s stories and films from India were also major themes among the awards winners.

Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,...

Dolly De Leon, who rocked the Cannes Film Festival two years ago in “Triangle of Sadness,” has joined the cast of “Severino: The First Serial Killer,” an upcoming series from Philippines outfit CreaZion Studios.

While “Severino” is the highest profile project, the producer is building a larger slate of feature films.

“Severino” De Leon is a large-scale period thriller series, chronicling the tale of Catholic priest Severino Mallari, who killed 57 people during the Spanish colonization era of the country. Producers Rj Agustin and Real Florido have tapped Yam Laranas known for his horror films “The Echo” and “The Road” as series director. The cast also includes Dennis Trillo as Severino and Chai Fonacier. Production is scheduled for August.

Florido is set as director and working with producer Kristine De Leon on development of “The Fantabulous Badingger-z,” a rotoscope animation movie adapted from the comic book “Badingger-z and the Accla Assassin.

Exclusive: Anima, the Filipino studio behind Venice winner On The Job 2: The Missing 8 and Sundance winner Leonor Will Never Die, is joining with Project 8 Projects to co-produce Antoinette Jadaone’s teenage pregnancy drama Sunshine.

Maris Racal stars in the film, marking her third collaboration with Jadaone. The story follows a young gymnast who discovers she is pregnant on the week of the national team tryouts. On her way to a seller of illegal abortion drugs, she meets a mysterious girl who eerily talks and thinks like her.

Currently in post-production, the film is a follow-up to Jadaone’s Fan Girl (2020), which played at Tokyo International Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival main competition.

Jadaone is known for both indie and mainstream films in the Philippines. She directed one of the highest-grossing indie films in Philippine cinema history, That Thing Called Tadhana (2014), which also played widely at...

Carl Joseph Papa is carrying a mighty weight on his shoulders. His film “The Missing” or “Iti Mapukpukaw” is the Philippines’ Academy Awards entry in the Best International Feature Film category. This is the first animated and LGBTQ+-themed film that the Philippines has submitted for Oscar considerations. So far, the Philippines has made 33 cumulative

The post Interview with Director of Philippines’ Oscar Entry “The Missing (Iti Mapukpukaw)” appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Carlo Aquino and Dolly de Leon.

Carl Joseph Papa's Oscar submission The Missing (original title: Iti Mapukpukaw)  centers on a mouthless young man whose life is rocked when a familiar alien returns to his life. In telling this deeply personal story using animation, Papa examines the long-term effects of childhood trauma on people and how far kindness could go in helping them in reclaiming their voice. The Missing is the Philippines' official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, becoming the country's first animated feature film to represent the country (out of 33 submissions). Out of the eight countries that submitted for the category's first competitive year in 1956, only the Philippines is yet to be nominated.

In this in-depth discussion, writer-director Carl Joseph Papa and actor Gio Gahol tackle the taboo topic of childhood sexual abuse in the country, pulling off the...

In a ceremony that took place on August 13, animated movie “Iti Mapukpukaw” by Carl Joseph E. Papa and “Rookie” by Samantha Lee and Natts Jadaone.

“Iti Mapukpukaw” focuses on Eric, an animator working in the Phillipines living a rather normal life. He has a nice but dirty apartment, a good paying job, and a guy he likes. One thing glaring about Eric though is he does not have a mouth, literally. One day, he receives a call from his mother Rosalinda, asking him to check up on his seemingly lost uncle. Only to find out that his uncle has been dead for days. While still in shock, a familiar alien arrives wanting to take Eric away from Earth. Iti Mapukpukaw is Filipino-Ilocano rotoscope animated film that follows Eric's life as it twists and turns after the arrival of the familiar alien, and the death of his uncle; both of which...