Last weekend, two films, both nominated Best Film in the upcoming Eddys, were screened to participants of the FDCP workshops at the Cinematheque Centre Manila.
On Saturday, Mikhail Red’s Birdshot was shown at 6:00 p.m. to a very enthusiastic young crowd who asked the director questions during the open forum after the screening. Red was generous enough to share his experiences while filming Birdshot.
The following night, also at the same time, TRex’s Deadma Walking (dir. Julius Alfonso) was screened and the response from the crowd was very encouraging. They laughed at scenes where they should really laugh and cheered the actors when they did some unexpected tour de force performance.
Eric Cabahug, who wrote the Palanca-winning screenplay upon the film was based, was also there to share his thoughts with the audience some of whom really asked very pointed questions.
The Society of Philippine Entertainment Editors (SPEED) thanks the Film Development Council of the Philippines and Globe Studios for the opportunity for the two Best Picture nominees to be screened at the Cinematheque. As Founding President of the organization, I’d like to extend the group’s heartfelt gratitude to Liza Diño-Seguerra, chair of FDCP, and Yolly Crisanto, VP of Globe, for this wonderful partnership in bringing timely, relevant, and outstanding films to an audience not only for entertainment, but for the audience to dissect the nature and elements that make films worthy of award nominations.
This is the first in the award-giving bodies to allow the audience to take a look, see the difference, and find out why films are being cited by an award-giving body. And I am proud to say, SPEED is the first to initiate this kind of movement.
Next year, SPEED hopes to screen all five nominees whichever they will in this year’s crop of commercially released full-length features.
Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects stars Amy Adams as reporter Camille Preaker, who returns to her small hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. Trying to put together a psychological puzzle from her past, she finds herself identifying with the young victims a bit too closely.
Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina, Eliza Scanlen, Elizabeth Perkins and Matt Craven also star, as well as Henry Czerny, Taylor John Smith, Sophia Lillis and Madison Davenport.
Jean-Marc Vallée directs all episodes and co-edits the series. Marti Noxon serves as the showrunner and writes several episodes, as does Gillian Flynn. The executive producers are Jason Blum, Charles Layton, and Jessica Rhoades, as well as Amy Adams, Gillian Flynn, Marti Noxon, Jean-Marc Vallée, Nathan Ross and Gregg Fienberg.
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Filipino movie editor John Anthony Wong won Best Editing for Bhoy Intsik in the Foreign Language Film category of the 2018 NICE International Film Festival of World Cinema held in France from May 5 to 12.
Bhoy Intsik, a film about two small-time felons who crossed paths and forged an uncanny friendship, stars Raymond “RS” Francisco in the title role and Ronwaldo Martin as Marlon. Directed by Joel Lamangan, it previously won the Special Jury Prize in the Orient Express section of the 38th Oporto International Film Festival and two acting trophies for RS Francisco at Sinag Maynila Film Festival 2017, in a tie with Kristoffer King (Kristo), and Star Awards for Movies 2018. It also competed at the London East Asia Film Festival 2017.
Wong, who has been editing movies since 2000, considers the film a very interesting project to edit. “The challenge was to create a world where these interwoven lives would interact and counteract with each other without losing the audience in the story’s narrative. My team had to work with material that was both visually compelling and dialogue-driven.”
The managing director of EDGE Manila Creatives Corporation (EMC2) added that it helped that he was also the film’s VFX supervisor.
“During editing, when I felt that a sequence needed a little Visual Effects assistance to enhance the mood and tone of a scene, I just ask EDGE Manila’s VFX team to add details here and there like ‘stormy/gloomy’ clouds during a break up scene or digital prosthetics to make a pivotal scene more realistic,” he explained.
Apart from Lamangan, Wong has also worked with the late, Gil Portes, Mel Chionglo, Jun Lana, Quark Henares, Albert Martinez and Gino Santos, among others. His work on the 2010 Metro Manila Film Festival entry Rosario gave him a Best Festival Editor prize and a similar award from Gawad PASADO (Pampelikulang Samahan ng mga Dalubguro). He has also received a Best Editing trophy from the 2012 Cinemalaya entry The Animals and was nominated several times for his editing work by FAMAS, Golden Screen, and Star Awards.
Wong dedicated the win to his family, to all the hard-working Filipino film editors, and to the Philippine movie industry.
“I’m thankful to have once again been able to work with Direk Joel on one of his most important projects. It was also a pleasure to have been able to work with screenwriter Ronald Carballo, cinematographer Rain Yamson II, musical scorer Emerzon Texon and actor-producer Raymond Francisco. All of them were very hands-on in the creative process. The success of the film is truly a collaborative process,” he stressed.
Aside from his professional work as a movie editor, he also shares his vast post-production knowledge by teaching at the film department of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) School of Design and Arts. He also shoots and directs short films, music videos and corporate videos. He is a graduate of Ricky Lee’s 14th scriptwriting workshop.