MANILA, Philippines - Ari: My Life with a King, a Kapampangan indie film by Carlo Enciso (photo), won Best World Film at the 11th Harlem International Film Festival held recently in New York City. The film is about Jaypee (played by newcomer Ronwaldo Martin, younger brother of Coco Martin), ‘a Kapampangan youth who doesn’t know how to speak in Kapampangan and doesn’t want to, until he runs into a compelling but weird character known as the King of Kapampangan poets, Conrado Guinto.’
Ari is the country’s official entry in the Dragons & Tigers Section of the 34th Vancouver International Film Festival which ends on Oct. 9.