thoughts on moonrise....and thank you!

ok, i have to leave in a few min for church but i just need to post this quick. wil post a more comprehensive blog maybe tomorrow or tuesday.

last night's Awards Night was a great experience for me...not because there were hundreds of people, not because it was a red-carpet event (which it wasn't), and not because there were celebrities there (i see more celebs at church! haha).

thank you Manny for going to the screening even tho you were weak and really sick that day...and even picking me up at home because i was stranded because of the rain! (and thanks for the Mongkok treat to celebrate!) thank you Gayette for watching the film even tho you had work, and staying with me during the awards night and being my "official photographer"! haha. dami kong photo requests noh? i owe you! thank you pastor paolo and ate jenn, pastor carlos and belle, and all you guys who texted me about watching it! i feel the love. (haha. is that how you say it?) and of course my mom and sisters, mike and mic... mwah. love you guys. oh, and terrence, kenneth and hans...kahit na-late kayo and didn't reach my screening, i really appreciate parin the effort noh, haha...so thank you!!! *HUGZ* you guys are the best, hahaha :) thanks zel and yuklid for going with me sa first screening, to the whole team (rizz, ej, mund!) for the support.

it was my first time to ever attend an awards night where i was actually a part of the "nominees". i felt like a winner already! ganun pala feeling. even if you don't win (which i didn't, but thanks to all who texted!), you're really just glad to be there :) galing. and if you've noticed, i've stopped promoting na my film to everyone and just really urging all to watch the film fest...ANY film. it's really an eye-opener...like one volunteer said, it's impossible to go in and watch and not learn anything. if you didn't, then you're not human. (wow.)

fyi, the top films that were nominated (and awarded) for ALL award categories were Lawa ng Bae (winner of the Grand Charlie..congrats jameel! jamel? argh..sowee can't remember) Syokoy, Sa Ngalan ng Mina and Caubian: Island under siege, so if you can't catch my film in the time slots, do try to watch any of these. short films lang naman sila, 20min or so (syokoy is an hour long)

the winners were truly deserving, the films were excellent! it must've been really hard to judge. :P

i wanted to quote jameel(jamel, jamil) on his speech when he got his award, but i can't remember the exact words. but anyway, what he said really struck me...after saying all the usual stuff about doing our part in helping the environment, making a difference in our own way etc etc...he talked about visiting schools, promoting the festival...even being rejected in some when he tried to sell tickets (wow..), but in the end he'd make a survey...he'd ask who's watched Harry Potter, or Transformers, or any of the latest films...and almost all would raise their hands. but when asked if they've seen a documentary about the philippines and our environment or culture, at any time, only a few did. and it saddened him daw...how we're all willing to spend so much for box-office hits, but not much to educate ourselves about our country. tsk. (i'm guilty of this too...sometimes i even watch a movie twice or thrice... :( )

i didn't want to sound preachy, and i'm not pointing fingers either. like i said, i'm guilty of that too. but this recent filmfest was an eye-opener for me. watching "Syokoy" the first time made me furious at what was happening in Guimaras...and i wasn't aware of it! and the most amazing thing about all of this is that film festivals like these hardly have the budget! like our church, they thrive on volunteerism, and donations and sponsors. each year, indie fests barely survive the financial burn of organizing a film festival and yet they're still at it... even those making the films have little or no budget at all, risk so much just to make it, and it's not fiction...these things are real and happening to our country.

anyway i'll stop here, haha. for just a hundred bucks, and a little of your time, you can learn so much more than you thought you could watching the news or reading the paper. and i'm not talking about boring talkies here...cinematography, art direction and musical scoring are excellent. we are artists after all :) 2 more days... catch the Moonrise Film Festival, if you can...Be moved, be educated. go! :)

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last words. support our indie artists...! whether in music, film, art... :) ok, ba-bye, late na ko...