Filmmakers contribute to Cebu City Public Library's film archive

CEBU, Philippines - A budding director and a screenwriter answered the call of the Cebu City Public Library to share their materials for a mounting film archive that can be viewed by city residents in the library’s audio-visual room.

Screenwriter Diem Judilla and Cinema One Originals 2011 Special Citation awardee Victor Villanueva organized CinePhilia Cebu at the Cebu City Public Library last February 4, where they presented digital DVD copies and bound copies of the shooting script for their short film titled Saranghae My Tutor. Chief librarian Rosario Chua was on-hand to formally receive the items, which were signed on the spot by both Villanueva and Judilla. They hoped these will become helpful sources of reference for interested parties, such as students and aspiring writers of Cebu.

Saranghae My Tutor is a 25-minute short film in Cebuano and South Korean dialogue, with English subtitles. It recently earned a Special Mention Award from the Cinemanila International Film Festival 2011. Directed by Villanueva, with a screenplay by Judilla, the film revolves around a Cebuano ESL (English as a Second Language) academy teacher named Benjamin Fructuso Pilapil, who considers himself the loneliest person in Cebu. But his fate changes when he falls head over heels with his new student, the beautiful Korean Mi-Ok North Park.

Produced by Dreamline Productions with Downboy Studio and award-winning Cebuano director Remton Zuasola, the cast of Saranghae My Tutor is composed of Ozzie Ouano, Serena Kim, Jacob Choi, Eden Villarba, with a special appearance of Publio Briones III. The film was screened after the turn-over ceremonies last Saturday at the library.

For several months since its reopening last year, the library has been inviting Cebu filmmakers for materials, like short films with positive cultural and social values. In response, a few Cebuano filmmakers decided to set up an activity such as the CinePhilia Cebu, since they recognize and appreciate the library as a prime civic institution for learning, literacy, culture and heritage. “It has been said that a room without books is like a body without a soul. Perhaps the same can be said for a city without a library for its residents,” said Judilla, organizer of CinePhilia Cebu and a proud volunteer member of Friends of Cebu City Public Library.

The program also included a special ten-minute preview of Villanueva’s first full-length film My Paranormal Romance, a Cinema One Original 2011 entry, which will have its theatrical run in SM City Cebu this February 11-16 along with other diverse cinematic offerings. The original draft of the movie’s screenplay was donated to the library.

Its screenplay also written by Judilla, My Paranormal Romance tells the story of Merry (played by MagTV Na! host and TV Patrol Central Visayas Star Patroller Phoebe Kaye Fernandez) who just wants to focus on her studies to secure her future, discarding romances and relationships as nonsensical distractions. She wants to get in the toughest university in the country. But life throws her a curveball in the form of a mystical object that makes Merry a magnet for everything paranormal.

This indie flick also features in the cast Publio Briones III, Paul Jake Castillo and Van Roxas.

My Paranormal Romance was nominated in the Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival last November 2011 for the following categories: Best Actor for Publio Briones III, Best Actress for Fernandez, Best Editing for RJ Aquino, Best Music for Jay Chiongbian Young and Best Production Design for Kaloy Uypaunco. Among these nominations, it won Best Editing, Best Production Design and earned a Special Citation Award for Villanueva by the Cinema One jury panel for “creating an outstanding debut film that delights and impresses with its imaginative innovation and enrichment of the genre of comedy and its deft orchestration of the different elements of cinema.”

After Judilla and Villanueva’s contribution, the library is hoping for more filmmakers to share their body of work for the growth of its film archive.