Speakers at AIFFA 2019

Anne and I found ourselves on a flight to Malaysia, just several hours after DAGSIN's last commercial screening. We were on a plane to attend the ASEAN International Film Festival and Awards (AIFFA) in Kuching, Malaysia for the 2nd time after 2017, when DAGSIN was among the "official" films selected to compete.

This time around, Anne and I had been invited to give a "talk" (about our experiences in producing DAGSIN, our two year journey though the festival circuit, and finally releasing the movie commercially, just a week prior) in AIFFA BIZ, the professional media industry portion of the festival.

Atom and Anne with the welcoming party to Sarawak, dressed in their native costumes.

The Philippine Delegation to AIFFA 2019 at the Kuching Airport.

The Philippine Delegation this time around was smaller, despite the increase in the number of Filipino Films officially competing. We flew in with the Filipino contingent, but since we were booked in a separate hotel with the other ASEAN AIFFA BIZ participants, Anne and I still found ways to hang-out with our compatriots.

Atom and Anne with AIFFA heads - good friend Adelina Iskandar, Head of
AIFFA BIZ with husband Malaysian Actor Fish Fazil, Livan Tajang, AIFFA Festival Director and Filipino Filmmaker Joe Laban.

Atom and Anne with Filipino Direk Joe Laban and Direk Tikoy Aguiluz with the other Filipino Delegates.

Atom and Anne with writer Rody Vera, Cinematographer Rain Yamson and actress Elora Españo.

The Pinoys singing, drinking and hanging-out together in a Karaoke Bar.

Atom and Anne had their turn with the mic.

The Filipinos having lunch together almost every day.

The Filipino Delegation with AIFFA special guest Steven Seagal.

Anne with Philippine Director Tikoy Aguiluz and the other ASEAN filmmaker Jurors of AIFFA.

Our Talk was scheduled on the second day. After listening to the other "Talks" by various Media Professionals invited from all over the ASEAN, Anne and I began feel that maybe we were invited by mistake. Most, if not all, of the other Presenters are Commercial Production Houses and veterans of the industry, not only from Asia but also from Hollywood. So when the audience approached us one by one after our presentation, congratulating us both for DAGSIN and exclaiming how we inspired them to keep on making movies, Anne and I were both surprised and elated!

Atom discussing the intricacies of making DAGSIN. 

Anne summarising our three year long journey with DAGSIN,
from actual production, film festival runs and finally distribution.

The AIFFA awards night is a formal sit-down dinner affair that is televised nationwide in Malaysia and several other ASEAN countries. The Philippine Delegation came home with the most awards, including Best Film for Chito Roño's "Signal Rock and a post humous Best Actor trophy for Kristoffer King for his performance in Howard Yambao's "Kristo."

The AIFFA Awards Night inside the Ballroom of Kuching's most prestigious hotel. 

Atom and Anne seated with their fellow AIFFA Speakers,
who have since become business associates and friends.

Atom with Mell Navarro and AIFFA Lifetime Achievement Awardee,
Indonesian filmmaker Slamet Rahardjo.

The Philippine Delegation celebrating our sweep.

With actresses Teri Malvar and Mai Fanglayan and AIFFA hosts Rovilson Fernandez and Marc Nelson.

The Philippine Delegation celebrating the multiple win on the AIFFA stage.

Anne and I were scheduled to leave on April 28 so that I can celebrate my birthday in Manila, but  our good friend Adelina surprised us by extending our stay for an extra day and offered us our own driver and car so we can tour Sarawak. We had been to Kuching before, but we did not have any time to go around. Anne and I were just so grateful to be finally given the chance to see some of Sarawak.

As we were having breakfast in our hotel dinning-room in the morning of my birthday, the hotel staff surprised us with a birthday dessert. Adelina Iskandar, AIFFA BIZ head, who was directly responsible for our participation in AIFFA 2019 and our extra tour day, was also behind this special birthday treat for me. Thank you, thank you so so much Adelina! I hope one day we can return the favour and treat you and Fish to a wonderful holiday in the Philippines.

Atom and Anne at the AIFFA Awards Night with good friends, Malaysian Power
Couple Adelina Iskandar and Fish Fazil, and Philippine Press veterans Mell Navarro and Pilar Mateo.

Atom's special birthday dessert surprise from the staff of the Kuching Waterfront Hotel.

Atom and Anne delighted by the surprise birthday dessert.

Atom and Anne on tour on our extra day in Sarawak.

I fell in love with the Sapek, the Bornea Guitar. I will definitely buy one someday.

-- All photos are the exclusive property of Atom & Anne Mediaworks, Corp.

DAGSIN'S 2019 Theatrical Trailer is Out

DAGSIN's new 2019 Theatrical Trailer can be seen in theaters nationwide by next week!

Please support our humble little film as it finally makes its debut in theaters nationwide. Anne and I, as Co-Writers and the Producer, and Director respectively, treat this movie like it was our child. After years of conceptualizing/planning, giving birth (shooting and editing), then bringing it to school and winning awards (going to Film Festivals), DAGSIN is now finally ready to graduate by being shown in regular theaters!

 

Please help us to keep DAGSIN in theaters long enough for people to be able to watch it, by telling your friends and family all about it! PLEASE SHARE THIS POST  for support. Small Filipino Indie Films like DAGSIN will not succeed without your help and support!

 

--You can view or download this Trailer directly from YouTube.

Dagsin in Theaters April 20 Nationwide

Dagsin will finally be shown in theaters NATIONWIDE starting APRIL 20, Black Saturday!!!! Many of you asked for it, so we have done are best to make it happen. Our UNIQUE HOLY WEEK inspired LOVE STORY will be available all over the PHILIPPINES at last!

 

Please support quality Pinoy Indie movies. PASS THIS NEWS to all your friends and family, and PERSUADE THEM TO WATCH to keep Dagsin in theaters-- still the best way to see movies that were intended to be shown on a theater screen! This might be your last chance to see our internationally multi-awarded movie on the big screen locally, so don't miss this chance!

We will announce the list of theaters as soon as it becomes available...

 

The Story Behind DAGSIN's Awards

As of 2018, DAGSIN has garnered an amazing total of eighteen (18) awards worldwide, despite participating in only a handful (8) of film festivals. The movie's modest budget for both production, distribution and marketing limited our ability to maximise its potential worldwide. But inspite of this, DAGSIN gained traction on its own and attracted a sizeable fan base here and abroad. Here are DAGSIN's laurels...

18 Awards worldwide (the larger laurels), from only 8 film festivals (small laurels on the bottom).

DAGSIN's first award is from Cinemalaya for Tommy Abuel's Performance. It was a historic win, in more ways than one.

Despite his long and illustrious career, in both Stage and Screen working with legendary film directors like Lino Brocka, Mike De Leon, Ishmael Bernal, etc.--he has so far only received Best Supporting Actor trophies. His "Balanghai" for DAGSIN is in fact Tommy Abuel's first BEST ACTOR award.

Atom with Tommy Abuel after winning Best Actor in Cinemalaya 2016.

After Cinemalaya, Anne and I had to regroup, since DAGSIN had no budget left for any type of distribution, nor did it have funds for the sizeable application fees needed to enter the film "In-competition" to other film festivals. Fees were costly, since the application alone cost several hundred dollars (and do not guarantee acceptance), let alone the travel costs we have to incur in order to attend them. It is true that some festivals invite filmmakers to attend and wave fees. Even rarer, some actually provide travel and accommodation for free, but these are only available to established filmmakers that are wooed by the organisers to add cache to the event.

DAGSIN, being our first film, we resigned ourselves to the normal procedures and fees, so Anne and I dug into our own personal funds to begin applying to various festivals around the world around the end of 2016. We thought that the film could benefit from being an "Official Selection" from at least one or two festivals abroad. God answered our prayers and gave us a miracle! Out of the blue, DAGSIN got invited and afforded Anne and I an all expense paid (ticket and accommodation) trip to Kuching Malaysia for the ASEAN International Film Festival and Awards (AIFFA). DAGSIN's first international film festival was truly heaven sent.

Atom and Anne with the Philippine Delegation to AIFFA 2017

Anne and I were a part of a huge Philippine delegation that included local film industry icons, Nora Aunor, Jacklyn Jose, Cherie Gil and Bernardo Bernardo, as well as a contingent of Press and entertainment veterans. Although DAGSIN did not win an award in the festival, we got to bond with these fellow filmmakers and have formed friendships that hopefully will last a lifetime. While we were in Kuching, Anne got an email confirmation of DAGSIN's acceptance to our second international film festival, this time in Madrid.

Atom and Anne at the Madrid International Film Festival 2017 .

DAGSIN was nominated for four categories in the Madrid International Film Festival-- Best International Feature, Best Actress (for Lotlot De Leon), Best Editing and Best Costume. We WON BEST COSTUME!

Around the time we were still traveling in Europe, we again received great news-- DAGSIN received two nominations for the Gawad Urian (the Philippine counterpart of the Golden Globes) and three nominations for the PMPC Star Awards for Movies (Media Press awards). Anne and I arrived on the same night we attended our first Gawad Urian.

Atom and Anne with kids, Ari and Aria, at the 40th Gawad Urian Awards 2017.

Atom with kids, Ari and Aria, beside the Xian Lim (actor) at the PMPC Star Awards for Movies 2017.

Within a few weeks, confirmations of DAGSIN's acceptances to The World's Independent Film Festival (TWIFF) in San Francisco and the Guam International Film Festival (GIFF) arrived. Anne and I again booked tickets using our own funds to go to the U.S., with a stop-over in Guam on the way home. To save money, we stayed with my brother in Las Vegas, then drove to San Francisco with them. To our surprise, DAGSIN won BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE in THE WORLD'S INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL giving us our third trophy!

Benjamin Alves who was nominated for his acting in Dagsin, met us in Guam. Being a native son,  he stayed in his house with his family during the duration of the festival. Although Ben did not win for his performance, DAGSIN was honoured to be named CENTERPIECE FILM OF THE FESTIVAL!

Atom and Anne with the trophy for Best Picture at The World's Independent Film Festival in San Francisco.

Atom and Anne with Actor Benjamin Alves at the Guam International Film Festival 2017.

While Anne and I were still in the U.S., we received an unexpected news from Ms. Lotlot De Leon, who played Mercy in DAGSIN. She ecstatically relayed to our Daughter that DAGSIN had won  FIVE AWARDS from the URDUJA HERITAGE AWARDS, increasing DAGSIN's award tally at this point to nine.

The same day we arrived from Guam, Anne and I drove all the way to Pangasinan to receive our trophies with the other winners in Lingayen. DAGSIN had the largest haul of awards that day! Considering the fact that all the movies from 2016 both features and documentaries were nominated, the Urduja was DAGSIN's greatest triumph. It won BEST HERITAGE FILM, Atom won BEST DIRECTOR, Janine Gutierrez won BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (her first acting award), Marita Zobel won BEST ACTRESS IN A CAMEO ROLE (her first acting award) and Alex Diaz won BEST ACTOR IN A CAMEO ROLE (his first acting award).

Atom and Anne posing with DAGSIN's trophies from the Urduja Heritage Awards.

Within one year DAGSIN's film festival aspirations were more than fulfilled, so we decided to stop applying to other festivals. But our awards story did not end there. While we were in the U.S. we met with Filipino American actor Abe Pagtama and his son Gabe. They are the founders of a filipino film festival in Los Angeles called the Los Angeles Philippine International Film Festival (LAPIFF) and they invited DAGSIN to join. We wanted to attend, but their festival dates required us to go back to L.A. from Guam and we did not have the budget to do that on short notice. Surprisingly, within a few weeks after Urduja, we found out that Tommy Abuel won the BEST ACTOR AWARD in LAPIFF, his second acting award for DAGSIN!

Atom receives DAGSIN's awards from Abe Pagtama since we could not attend LAPIFF.

2017 had one more surprise before the year ended. The Philippine Daily Inquirer held its yearly Indie Bravo Awards, lauding the films that reaped honours for the country internationally, and DAGSIN was the recipient of TWO INDIE BRAVO AWARDS (plus the plush toy Guyito, the Inquirer mascot).

Atom and Anne with all the other awardees of the 2017 Philippine Daily Inquirer Indie Bravo Awards.

At the end of 2017, after garnering a total of twelve awards for DAGSIN, Anne and I decided to shift our attention to getting the movie distributed and shown locally and abroad. As a matter of fact, DAGSIN was originally scheduled to be shown in FDCP's Cine Local program in December 2017, but when SM Cinemas reneged on their contract we decided to retract the movie from their theatres.

Fortunately, 2018 added a few more awards to DAGSIN's laurels. The NCCA recognised our Costume Designer's work in the movie with an ANI NG DANGAL trophy, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines honoured DAGSIN with THREE FILM AMBASSADOR citations-- trophies for DAGSIN the Movie, for Tommy Abuel and for our Costume Designer (Jona Ballaran).

At the FDCP Film Ambassador's Awards night with team DAGSIN.

By chance, DAGSIN got a last minute invitation from the co-founder of the European Philippine International Film Festival (EPIFF), Ruben Soriquez (actor/director). He was so impressed with the movie after watching it in Los Angeles at the LAPIFF, that he strongly encouraged us to submit it for free. We were not able to attend the festival, but enthusiastically sent a copy of our film through the Italian Embassy by diplomatic pouch. DAGSIN won BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY and BEST ACTOR for Tommy Abuel (his third for DAGSIN), rounding our awards to eighteen in total.

Atom and Anne receiving DAGSIN's awards from Ruben Soriquez, co-founder of EPIFF.

--photos are the exclusive property of Atom & Anne Mediaworks.

Dagsin Write-up by Cinemalaya

The Cinemalaya Film Festival posted this write-up on their fan page...

 

--Image courtesy of Cinemalaya Foundation, Inc.

Veteran Actor Cast in Dagsin

...with veteran stage and screen actor Tommy Abuel

(reprinted from http://dagsin.blogspot.com)

The Dagsin family is very proud and happy to welcome multi-award winning veteran stage and screen actor Tommy Abuel in the lead role of Justino.

 

An actor with a long and illustrious career in both Theater and Cinema, Mr. Abuel is known as an "actor's actor," a consummate artist who internalizes his characters and brings them to life in the most creative way. He has been nominated for his work consistently since he began working in 1973 (has won for both stage and screen), and has worked with some of the country's most singularly artistic Film Directors including Lino Brocka, Ismael Bernal and Mike De Leon.

--Photo by Anne Prado-Magadia

My Feature Film Project Gets Into Cinemalaya

Last Saturday, August 15, 2015, the Cinemalaya Foundation finally announced the 10 lucky finalist for its 2016 Main Competition on Full-length Features, during the 2015 Festival Awards Night at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Cinemalaya is considered to be the most prestigious Independent Film Festival in the Philippines, so film fans from all over the country as well as the Press enthusiastically welcomed the 10 projects that were chosen from an original pool of more than 150 submissions. I am ecstatic to announce that "Dagsin" (Gravity), my first Full-length Feature project, is among the lucky ten.

 

The finalist with Foundation Pres. Laurice Guillen and Festival Head Mel Chionglo

  

With its goal to promote and develop the Independent Film Industry of the Philippines,  the Cinemalaya Film Festival is arguably the most anticipated yearly independent film competition (our version of Sundance or Cannes) in the Philippines. In the last ten years of its existence, the festival has given birth to most of the country's up-and-coming filmmakers, ushering forth the digital age of Philippine Cinema widely known as "The Philippine New Wave." The festival aims to encourage "works that boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity," and Cinemalaya has consistently delivered on this promise by having 5 films, from its ten year roster, be nominated by the Film Academy of the Philippines to represent the country for the annual Academy Awards' (Oscars) Best Foreign-Language film category.

 

The directors (and some writers) of the 10 Feature Films for 2016

My 2015 Oscar Predictions

 

Over the past several years, I have sporadically posted my pre-Oscar picks particularly when I believe that the year had a good selection of films in competition.

 

This year was an exceptional year for the movies, maybe because only the best non-blockbuster scripts gets funding beyond the slew of franchised animation, remakes, sequels, prequels, bestseller and comic book adaptations that come out from Hollywood these days.

 

Anyway, here are my picks for each of the major categories for the Academy Awards. I usually get 50% of them right. Let's see how I do tomorrow night:)

 

Postscript: The winners are out (my guess in red, actual winner in yellow). I got 8 out of the 14 categories I included here in this blog-- a 57% hit! I am getting better every year...

 

For some reason, I seem to be always in the money for Best Director and Best Cinematographer. I guess it just shows that I am really familiar with my chosen crafts ;)

 

BEST PICTURE

American Sniper

Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Boyhood - winner

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

 

BEST DIRECTOR

Alejandro G. Inarritu - winner *

Richard Linklater

Bennett Miller

Wes Anderson

Morten Tyldum

 

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carell

Bradley Cooper

Benedict Cumberbatch

Micheal Keaton - winner

Eddie Redmayne

 

BEST ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard

Felicity Jones

Julianne Moore - winner *

Rosamund Pike

Reese Witherspoon

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert Duvall

Ethan Hawke

Edward Norton

Mark Ruffalo

J.K. Simmons - winner *

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette

Laura Dern

Keira Knightley - winner

Emma Stone

Meryl Streep

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Emmanuel Lubezki - winner *

Robert Yeoman

Lukasz Zai/Ryszard Lenczewski

Dick Pope

Roger Deakins

My 2014 Oscar Predictions

I have to apologize for my sporadic blogs these days, I have been uncharacteristically busy these last couple of months, that I actually had to work through the Holidays (during a family trip abroad). But we all have to make a living somehow, right? Anyway, I actually had a few hours of free time this Saturday morning, and I thought that it would be a great time to catch up on my Blogging.

 

What better subject to start 2014 than the Oscars right? I know more than a few people out there who hate this iconic Hollywood tradition with a passion.  But even the Academy's most stauch critics cannot deny that it is a global phenomena and that it is still the most anticipated award event for Cinema in the whole world.

 

As a filmmaker, I still celebrate the Oscars and look forward to the ceremony as an annual global tradition to celebrate the filmmaking skills at the most biggest and most financially successful "dream factory" in the world (at least in this era)-- Hollywood.  Like a forbbiden fruit, Hollywood still beckons  to filmmakers from all over the world, as the ultimate arena where they can test their skills against the world's best.  Hey, the Oscars is actually the oldest "Reality" program on TV.

 

So let the battle... I mean contest begin!

 

Here are my personal picks for 2014: 

 

BEST PICTURE

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers club

Gravity - winner

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

12 Years a Slave

The Wolf of Wall Street

 

DIRECTING

David O. Russell

Alfonso Cuarón - winner

Alexander Payne

Steve McQueen

Martin Scorsese

"Metro-Manila" - Movie Review

British writer/director Sean Ellis at Sundance 2013

 

This film had won the Audience award for best World Dramatic Competition film at Sundance this year, and has been chosen as the British nominee for Best Foreign Language film at the 2014 Oscars.  I find all this slightly ironic, since it is a British made movie that dramatizes a very authentic Filipino story (film) at its core.  I guess, like most good dramas (and good art) that succesfully encapsulates a universal existential human dilema, it does not really matter who made it in the end.

The family's migration from idyllic countryside to the urban slums

 

British Writer/Director Sean Ellis' story was inspired by a scene he witnessed serveral years ago when he visited Philippines -- Two armoured truck personel wearing bullet-proof jackets and helmets carrying M-16s, arguing and screaming at each other on the street.  He could not forget the scene, wondering what they were arguing about and how it might have eventually ended.  It led him to develop a 20 page synopsis, which eventually became a full-length feature.

The story is simple, and quite typical for most Manila (and most Southeast Asia) slum dwellers.  A farming family driven by the hardship of life in the province decides to seek their fortune in the big city.  Jaded and naive, they soon fall prey to petty criminals who rob them of their meager savings and take advantage of their desperation.  A number of them end up becoming criminals themselves or get caught up in the seedy sex trade.

Oscar and Mai soon get employment at a huge personal cost

Sean decided to use both criminality and the sex trade in his story to magnify the direness of the couple's plight.  Despite their desperation, a lot of Manila's urban poor successfully navigate away from these illegal occupations.  Inspite of being reputed to be one of the worst cities when it comes to crime, corruption and the sex trade in Asia, a lot of Filipinos do manage to find decent work within Metro-Manila in the midst of rampant economic hardship and poverty.  So despite the characters' desperation in this movie, they do have choices beyond the ones they decided to take.  Sean Ellis was able to tell his story well enough, that it seems as if Oscar and Mai were locked-in to their fate.

Oscar caught in the web of (his mentor) Ong's machinations

But despite that sleek 'slight of hand' from a very capable director, I think the movie successfully delivers a gripping tale of human desperation pushed to the extreme.  The casting was perfect.  Jake Macapagal's portrayal of "Oscar's" innocence and decency was realistic; John Arcilla's "Ong" was on the money; and Althea Vega's "Mai" looks convincing.  The supporting cast also looked authentic in their parts, most of whom were not professional actors.