PAN DE SALAWAL (2018) by Che Espiritu
If you’re finding something a bit magical or out of the ordinary at this year’s Cinemalaya Film Festival, Che Espiritu’s Pan de Salawal is the movie for you. It’s for the whole family because of its ability to be wholesome and delightful visually and emotionally.
The film, gracefully led by Bodjie Pascua and Miel Espinosa is a beacon of light in these troubled times. A great story that is both heartwarming and full of hope which is hard to find in Philippine cinema today. Even though the film is light on story, it’s still entertaining, timely and captivating. Pan de Salawal is a message to those who have lost all hope, that believing in something impossible is the start to make things possible.
KUNG PAANO HINIHINTAY ANG DAPITHAPON (2018) by Carlo Enciso Catu
Is there still love between ex-partners in their twilight years? Can sickness be a way to rekindle something that’s been gone for more than two decades? Carlo Catu’s Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon shows how love is for old people, how jealousy works for old people and how life can take us to surprising twists and turns.
The film starts lightly but ends heartbreakingly. We learn that love will never fade to people who have become huge parts of our lives, it just transforms into something else, something less romantic and more of how humanity works. Perla Bautista, Menggie Cobarrubias and Dante Rivero delivered performances from charming to heartbreaking. But that film’s best feat is that it’s a story that not usually told and it was told beautifully.
The 14th edition of the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival runs until August 12 at CCP Theaters, Ayala Malls Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 1, TriNoma, UP Town Center and Legazpi.