CINEMARTYRS

CINEMARTYRS
by Sari Dalena

104 MINUTES | Drama

CAST
Nour Hooshmand, Paul Cedric Juan, Raquel Villavicencio, Angel Aquino, Lav Diaz, Kidlat Tahimik, Ligaya Amilbangsa, Soliman Cruz, Bong Cabrera, Laila Ulao, Giancarlo Abrahan, Iana Bernardez, Nor Domingo, Danny Palisa, Andre Miguel, Victor Medina, Yian Gabriel, Kobe Sanchez, Shane Bernabe, Roven Alejandro, Nelson Dino, Rob Rownd, Dax Alejandro, Air Salazar, Dexter Macaraeg, Emmanuel Dela Cruz, Rolando Inocencio

PRODUCTION
DIRECTOR/SCREENPLAY/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – Sari Dalena
SCREENPLAY/EDITOR/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – Keith Sicat
CINEMATOGRAPHER – Neil Daza
PRODUCTION DESIGN – Toym Imao
ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE – Teresa Barrozo
SOUND DESIGN – Emilio Bien Sparks
CO-PRODUCERS – Carl Papa, Treb Monteras
LINE PRODUCER – Endi “Hai” Balbuena
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER – Kristine Kintana

LOGLINE
Recreating forgotten massacres from Philippine history, a young filmmaker begins shooting at a site where 1,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered. But the angry spirits are awakened and the lives of her team and the local villagers are put in peril.

SYNOPSIS
A young filmmaker sets out to recreate forgotten massacres from Philippine history. But when she is challenged by the committee that is belittling her skills, she agrees to go to the present-day war-torn locations where the atrocities occurred. Overcoming one obstacle after another with her small crew, they begin shooting at a site where a thousand men, women and children were slaughtered. But as soon as the camera starts rolling, the angry spirits are awakened, and the lives of her team and the villagers are put in peril. The brutal traumas of history echoing to the present day.

FILMMAKER’S PROFILE

SARI DALENA is an independent filmmaker from the Philippines and holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Film Production from New York University. She has been the recipient of the Fulbright-Hayes Scholarship, New York Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, NYU Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Fellowship, and the 13 Artists Award of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Dalena is a professor and former director at the University of the Philippines Film Institute. Dalena’s short films are major exponents of 16mm Philippine Experimental cinema, including dance film White Funeral (1998), Gawad Urian-award winning film Asong Simbahan (1994) and Mumunting Krus (1995). Dalena’s first feature film, the post-9/11 immigrant film Rigodon, won Best Feature at the International Panorama of Independent Filmmakers. Her first full-length documentary on the atrocities during the Philippine-American War, Memories of a Forgotten War (2001), screened at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Documentary Fortnight in New York City and the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2012, her first solo directorial feature film on Martial Law, Ka Oryang, won Best Picture and Best Director at the Cinema One Originals Film Festival. Dalena’s other notable works include experimental, historical documentary films, The Guerrilla is a Poet (2013), The Women of Malolos (2013), Dahling Nick (2015), and History of the Underground (2017). Dalena’s latest film is Cinemartyrs.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“Cinemartyrs” is set during the period of decline in alternative filmmaking in the Philippines during the 1990s to early 2000, where experimental shorts and documentary films were still being shot on 16mm format. It is also loosely based on the guerrilla filmmaking styles employed during the filming of Philippine-American War documentary “Memories of a Forgotten War” which was shot on a shoe-string budget. Selected scenes from “Memories of a Forgotten War” and other archives will be intercut into the film to give it a layered context. Many of the challenges came from trying to bridge cultural barriers during the filming in Mindanao (which the late National Artist for Film Eddie Romero pushed for in NCCA Committee that gave a grant). In addition to the cultural issues that had to be addressed, there was a peace-and-order situation that the crew had to contend with and entrust the locals as this was during the height of the Abu-Sayyaf kidnappings and news blackouts were the norm. Lastly – the most unexpected of them all – was the production had to overcome supernatural elements that affected the cast and crew during filming, particularly the possession of numerous cast members who lost consciousness, spoke in tongues, recalled memories from past lives, and would even physically suffer in pain. These were signs of the gravity of our responsibility in depicting a traumatic part of our nation’s past. The horrors of history continue to reverberate to the present.