1 of 2
FOUR short films and one feature film, all of various genres, will be projected onto a wall (and later, the ceiling) for a screening organized by the film collective Kinoise.
The five independent films, representing drama, Western, sci-fi, experimental, and horror genres, were screened on April 5 at 1F Projects, a space in the La Fuerza Compound in Makati City that usually hosts live music events.
Both Kinoise and 1F Projects are set on making their mark as alternative outlets for film exhibition and live performance.
“For this screening, I wanted to put together different genre films that I think mix well, like a melting pot,” said Jetri Bolintiam, a curator for Kinoise, at the sidelines of the Backroom screening.
In the lineup were the dark drama Cross My Heart and Hope to Die (2023)by Sam Manacsa, the Pinoy Western Shotgun Tuding (2014) by Shireen Seno, the sci-fi action short Spid (2019) by Alejo Barbaza and Mervine Aquino, and the experimental film Buwal na Mga Imahe (2022) by Gerard Bernardo.
Rounding out the night was Dodo Dayao’s dystopian horror film, Midnight in a Perfect World (2020), billed as a “mystery film” in promotional materials. As all five films were shown, the backroom of 1F Projects was packed, around 30 people filling the seats and even standing in the last row.
Starting 10 p.m., the chairs in the makeshift screening area were cleared to make way for a dance floor, with DJ Pepi Dalmacion performing a set. The short films that had just been screened were projected on the ceiling to add a trippy vibe to the afterparty. Film and music lovers, with bottles of beer and cups of gin and tonic in hand, mingled at the 1F Projects bar until way past midnight.
Michael Benedicto, a co-owner of the space, said that the collaboration with Kinoise helped them create another unique option in Metro Manila’s nightlife.
“To be honest, there is no sort of masterplan for this place. We’ve been around the scene as musicians and have hosted several projects,” he told BusinessWorld. “You really have to look for new things that are happening, and it leads to stuff like this.”
CONVERGENCE OF SCENESThe performance venue launched the Backroom film screenings in February, but its bread and butter are actually music events. It was founded by Mr. Benedicto with his artist-architect sister Micaela and her partner, musician Mario Consunji, back in 2023.
“This started because my sister needed an architecture office space. We thought we could take the music studio and make something else out of it, like the makeshift bar. It started on a whim, us doing shows, inviting musicians, and screening movies that we like,” he said.
The space had previously hosted the Fifth Wall dance film festival, various album launches, live gigs, DJ sets, and a mini book fair.
Mr. Benedicto explained that, while film screenings are free, an entrance fee for the afterparties and music performances is needed to keep the place running. The minibar, while quaint, charges a fair amount for various alcoholic drinks to last the night.
The son of music producer Toti Dalmacion, DJ Pepi Dalmacion, who provided the beats and rhythms of the night, is a product of the 1F Projects trio’s network as musicians.
“While we do have our own scene, we’re definitely meeting new people, like Madge [Reyes] for Fifth Wall, and the Kinoise kids for this film screening. We just want to keep going and see where it leads,” Mr. Benedicto said.
Backroom screenings will be taking a break after the recent one, with 1F Projects going back to music events for a bit. Next up for them is a live show with three bands, scheduled for the end of April.
For Cross My Heart director Sam Manacsa and Spid co-director Mervine Aquino, who were in attendance to see how their short films fit into the night’s events, small screenings like this help keep alternative cinema alive.
“If nobody screens them, people won’t remember or learn about it. There are so many short films that kind of die out like that,” said Mr. Aquino. “Especially ones that aren’t aligned with the tastes of festival fare in QCinema and Cinemalaya, so they’re rarely programmed.”
Ms. Manacsa added that independent short films can have “an extended life” if they’re shared with many people. “It’s a way to address the issue of people just not knowing where to watch them,” she said.
One of her next undertakings is to screen student thesis films that haven’t been exhibited in any venue since completion.
WOMEN’S FILMSThough Mr. Bolintiam said that he programmed Kinoise x Backroom to showcase a blend of genres, BusinessWorld found that the four short films also worked as a belated Women’s Month experience.
Cross My Heart and Hope to Die centers on Mila (played by Jorrybell Agoto), an overworked and underpaid employee whose anonymous love interest is a source of comfort amid unfair working conditions. Shotgun Tuding, playfully described as a “pancit western,” is the 1940s-set tale of Tuding (Chantel Garcia), who travels to a distant town to find the man that got her sister pregnant. Then, there’s Spid, a more low-definition joint which has its female assassin lead (Genevieve Reyes) fight against the ills of a sense-impaired society.
Without spoiling anything, all three tell stories of female characters who are boxed in by the toxic masculine-led structures around them. Both Tuding and the female assassin are even singled out by male characters in their respective films, for being able to dispense violence “despite being women.” Then there’s Mila, an employee who witnesses violence and undergoes a journey that pushes her to the brink of her frustration. Her fate diverges from expectation to collide with a man (in a way that mirrors Tuding’s defiance against men).
The fourth film, Buwal na Mga Imahe (Dead Images), doesn’t fit into this women-centered interpretation of the lineup easily, due to its experimental nature. But its barrage of images explores rotting distortions in modern Philippine culture, akin to the violence of rape, the trigger warning for the overwhelming clash of visuals and sound quite apt as it brings a myriad of societal issues to the forefront.
Finally, there was Midnight in a Perfect World. Though studio-produced and garnering multiple Gawad Urian awards back in 2021, the film doesn’t have a rating from the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). The Backroom x Kinoise screening hence billed it as a “mystery Dodo Dayao film,” one of the many techniques used by indie curators to get unrated films to the public.
Its representation of the drug war, with stars Jasmine Curtis-Smith and Glaiza de Castro at its center, is as frenetic and horrific as Spid’s. Both films have singular ways of depicting women who must navigate the disorienting darkness of a monstrous systemic death machine.
“I think [the women-centric themes] subconsciously seeped into the rationale of the whole thing,” Mr. Bolintiam said, when asked about our interpretation of the night’s lineup of films. Notably, prior to Backroom, Kinoise and fellow film collective Timog Pelikula led a screening and talk with women filmmakers at the end of March in Las Piñas City.
He concluded that these events represent a “grassroots approach to spreading the love for cinema.” He said, “Our goal is really to see a crowd of people. Some were standing at the back earlier, which was great. We’re just happy to do this.”
What’s next for Kinoise? Mr. Bolintiam revealed that there may be a screening of basketball-related films, given that many filmmakers — and Filipinos in general — love the sport.
For more information on Kinoise or 1F Projects, visit their Facebook and Instagram pages. 1F Projects is located on the second floor of the La Fuerza Compound along Chino Roces Ave. in Makati City. — Brontë H. Lacsamana
