CINEMALAYA’S VISIONS OF ASIA MAKES ITS MOST AWAITED COMEBACK

July 29, 2023 Opinion

The Visions of Asia, one of the main components of Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, finally returns with the screenings of five awardwinning Asian indie films from Azerbaijan, Iran, India, Tajikistan, and Bangladesh. Curated by Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema
(NETPAC), make a comeback in the 19th edition of Cinemalaya, slated on August 4 to 13, at the
Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) and Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (CCP Black Box Theatre). Featured films are: Cold as Marble by Asif Rustamov, Bone Marrow by Hamid Reza
Ghorbani, Declaration by Mahesh Narayanan, Fortune by Muhiddin Muzaffar, and The Instinct by Juboraj Shamim.

The second film by director Rustamov, Cold as Marble tackles a father’s unexpected release from prison. His son’s monotonous life soon turns into a dangerously complicated affair when the hateful and bully of a father, who is convicted for murder, returns home. The 88-minute film has
won several awards from international film festivals, including Best Director at the 2022 Eurasia International Film Festival in Almaty; Best Actor at the 2022 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
In Bone Marrow, a woman named Bahar finds out that there would be a very small chance to save her terminally-ill son’s life using the cord blood.

Understanding that she has got a little time to proceed with this, she must make a vital decision: either to stay with her beloved second husband and say farewell to her son or get a divorce, remarry her first husband and give birth to a child only for the sake of the cord blood. Everything seems more complicated when she learns that her first husband is out of the mental hospital, but sentenced to death for first degree murder. Narayanan’s Declaration centers on South Indian
immigrant couple Hareesh and Reshmi who are working in a medical gloves manufacturing factory near Delhi.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns, when an old video resurfaces among the workers of that factory, it opens up a Pandora’s Box that threatens Hareesh and Reshmi’s jobs and their marriage. Finally, as
desperation and hostility keep mounting, the two are forced to confront their own needs and desires while choosing between a life of conscience, or a life of compromise. Declaration won the NETPAC award for the Best Malayalam Film at the 27th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Fortune is a drama film that takes place during the eve of the Declaration of Independence in Tajikistan.

The story revolves around two old friends, Kahhor and Mannon, who are tested when one of them gets the lucky lottery ticket as his salary. Muzaffar’s films were screened in national and international film festivals in Dushanbe, London, Stockholm, Kazan, and Nur-Sultan. The Instinct tells the story of a crippled man, named Langra, whose floating life involves new relationships
wherever he goes. Langra gets involved in a nameless relationship with slum drug dealer Kala’s wife Sohagi. If Kala discovers it, the relationship would become complicated. Even though Langra understands this complication, he unknowingly creates many more complications, which make his
life a fairy tale or a curse.

“The Instinct” had its world premiere at the 44th Moscow International Film Festival and bagged two awards, the Silver Saint George Award (Special Jury Award) and the NETPAC Jury Award. The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) is a worldwide, voluntary organization of 29 member countries. Founded in 1990 by Aruna Vasudev, it is managed entirely by cinephiles
who have worked tirelessly and selflessly without remuneration over a period of 25 years to promote Asian cinema. The NETPAC Award is given at select international film festivals, like the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, to promote Asian cinema by spotlighting exceptional films and discovering new talents.