by Ms. Honeylet Dumoran
Kiss the Rain, a short film made by IV-Quasar students, originally for their IT class, was chosen as an official entry to the Fourth Mindanao Film Festival (MFF), held in Davao City this December. The MFF started with the theatrical screening of the twenty-two films in Gaisano Cinema on December 14, where all the films were shown on the big screen for one week. The Film Festival culminated with the awards night on December 21, 2008. With the aim of developing a truly Mindanao cinema, the MFF is recognized as one of the legitimate award-giving bodies in the country that recognize artistry in film-making.
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| Kiss the rain film makers |
This year’s film festival is the most prestigious yet that the MFF has had, what with twenty-two entries from both the professional (Guerilla) and the student categories. Kiss the Rain holds the proud seat of being the only entry made by high school students. Not in spite of this fact, Kiss the Rain contended for Best Student Film, an award won by Eklipse, a short film on love and witchcraft made by MassCom students from the University of Mindanao.
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| Alyson Ting and Jezreel Orbe |
There was only a single set of awards for both professional and student film categories. Among the major awards given were Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Screenplay and Best Picture. Kiss the Rain championed above all the other entries, professional and student alike, in the Best Poster category. Previously, this same award was won by the same poster in the IDS Digital Film Festival, DiscArte, which was organized by Mr. Ronald Jay P. Hupa, as an avenue for the showcasing of the fourth year students’ projects in his IT classes.
In its use of dichromatic black and white, and one contrasting image in red (the umbrella), Kiss the Rain’s poster captured the synthesis of the film. It elicited curiosity and appealed to both the creative and the critical eyes, rather than to the literal level alone.
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| Poster at Gaisano mall of Davao |
Under the direction of Tsaddi Esguerra, Kiss the Rain stars Alyson Ting as an independent girl who, as a child (played by Janna Kirsten Macaosip), lost her parents in a car accident during a rainy night. She has grown up reliving this horrible memory every time it rains. As a long-term result, perhaps, she has unconsciously shunned her chances of being happy by allowing the rain to steal her happiness in otherwise cheerful moments. This changes when she meets a mysterious earth-bound spirit, who creates a difference in her life. Played by Jezreel Orbe, this spirit makes her realize that life, although fragile and fleeting, is still beautiful. Ultimately, he helps her discover that, rain or no rain, there exists a chance for her to live and to love.
This story of loss and redemption is given a fresh voice by the story writers, Muhammad Murshid Marsangca and Razaleigh Kate Jumawan. Translated to film, the main characters are brought to life by appropriate costumes as required by the story. This job is overseen by Hanaeza Boransing. The tedious job of post-production was done by a team of three: Marc Jezreel Orbe for video editing, Marc Orlando Redoble for sound editing and Tsaddai Esguerra for cinematography.
Highlighted in the film convention the group attended in the Ateneo de Davao University is the relief of seeing young film-makers so knowledgeable in the technical areas of filming. The participants of the convention were pleased to see the Kiss the Rain group in person, as they thought they have shown so much promise in their film, both in artistic and technical areas. They had indeed an amusing time reconciling the film and the sixteen-year old film-makers. Kudos, Kiss the Rain-ers!
| “Kiss the Rain” film screenshots | |
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What they did not know, was that back in IDS, we have more than a hundred and twenty sixteen-year old film-makers worthy of the same tip of the hat. Congratulations, everybody.
Topics : contest mindanao film festival arts & culture film ids