The University of Santo Tomas is starting to get noticed in terms of filmmaking with three of the school’s recent student works being officially selected and winning in different film festivals in Metro Manila.
The short films “Heist School” from Last Minute Films and “Gáring” from 1PM Films, and the documentary “Beyond the Mats: The UST Salinggawi Journey” from the Tiger Media Network, have been selected to the first Cinestudyante Film Festival recently held at Santolan Town Plaza.
Motley Crew
Last year, “Heist School” bagged Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Trailer and Best Sound at the annual Sine Reel competition organized by the UST Communication Art Students’ Association, featuring short films created by senior members of the organization. It was also officially selected to the One La Salle Film Festival, De La Salle University’s Indie Un-Film Festival and the first Maginhawa Film Festival.
The short film, which tells the story of a ragtag group of students trying to steal their teacher’s answer key to their examination from the faculty room, as they try to save their grades and friendship, joined the ranks of winning student films when it recently got the Audience Choice award at Cinemalaya.
Director Julius Renomeron Jr., a recent UST AB Communication Arts graduate, worked with his classmates Johmar Damiles, Klaire Ellise Dulay, John Paolo Barrameda, Alvin Jamora, Keanu Managuas, Ezren Caneda, Pauline Carlos and Zhino Koe to realize his vision. He was an irregular student in class “but luckily most of the members of our team were also my orgmates in TomasinoWeb in UST.”
Dulay recalled that their team was formed last year for a film production class. “We’re a group of nine members who were part of different groups in our class but our interest to produce quality content brought us together.”
Jemuel Cedrick Satumba and Bryan Bacalso star as friends Joedel and Omar, respectively. Providing them support in the comedy film is Ella Mae Libre as Reymarie, Son De Vera as Jerique, Teri Lacayanga as their teacher Ms. Suzy, Brylle Parzuelo as Jacob, and Kevin Ramos as Edward.
“We wanted a film that reflects the society’s pressure on adolescents. Our film depicts the situations that shape the youth and how their harsh experiences in school contribute to their life decisions,” Renomeron shared. “It was also a critique of the educational system in the country and how students’ moral uprightness is shaped early by their environment especially in school,” he added.
“I was a fan of heist films ever since I was a kid and I was always fascinated by the idea of having a small-time heist in a small town or a public school in the Philippines. We’ve had other film ideas for our film production class, but Heist School stood out for us. Throughout the development of the script we molded the story from our experiences and struggles in college of passing the exams with my co-writers Johmar Damiles and John Paolo Barrameda,” Renomeron recounted.
The director also shared that the members of his production team have been friends who have created short films long before their film production class in UST. When the opportunity came to create a short film with a modest amount of budget, the team took advantage of it and made the most out of it.
“Our production team were a passionate bunch and we enjoyed the whole process. I guess that’s the advantage of creating with individuals who share the same passions as you,” Renomeron explained.
Mother’s Love
Meanwhile, “Gáring,” directed by Dan Pablo, won Second Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Actress for Chin Jongko and Best Trailer in this year’s Sine Reel. After its victories at Sine Reel, it officially made it as a finalist to DLSU IUF last July, before it eventually got selected at Cinestudyante.
The short film tells the story of a mother who loves her child so great that she loses her judgment to do what is right. It shows the struggles of being powerless while holding on to something as trivial as faith.
Apart from directing, Pablo also took charge of lighting and editing the film. He got ample support from production manager Katarina Mendoza, screenwriter Georgie Cerbolles, associate producer Ynna Dizon, assistant director and casting director Charlaine Mutia, fellow A.D. Emery Principe, production designer Shaira Calleja, casting director and location manager Alex Garcia and art director Barbara San Diego.
Pablo revealed what enticed him to shoot the film. “Our initial story came from our assistant director Charlaine Mutia. She spent a lot of time and effort to complete that story and our team decided to go with it. I was excited with the story as it had supernatural elements.”
“However, due to budget and running time constraints, we eventually altered the original story. We were lucky enough to have people who were willing to help us in having a story we can all agree with. Of course, we were excited to see how it turned out. But at the same time, we were nervous because we had no idea how the audience would react after seeing the film,” he explained.
Winningest Cheering Squad
“Beyond the Mats” is a documentary directed, photographed and edited by Dan Angelo Eligado, which is focused on the inspiring story and journey of the UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe. Eligado teamed up with executive producer Gwen Segarra, supervising producers Pauline Linsangan and Jomari Hernandez, writer Oscar David Poblete, co-editor Ma. Lynette Pamintuan, and production assistants Mivel Ambas, Charlene Jaranilla and Clarissa Sulit.
“Our production team is composed of student media volunteers from Tiger Media Network. Most of the members of this production are from my sports unit team since our department spearheaded this project and some were outsourced from the operations division,” Hernandez disclosed.
TMN is tasked to produce not just entertaining, but also educational and meaningful content for the Thomasians. Faye Martel, the team’s adviser who is also their TV Production and Theater Arts professor, tasked them to form a team and produce a documentary series focused on Salinggawi, in time for the UAAP Cheerdance 2018 competition.
“So technically, it wasn’t a class requirement or a commissioned work. It was all volunteerism. We were moved by the idea that we can share the untold and never before seen people, hardships, and experiences behind the glitz and glamour of a Salinggawi team member,” Linsangan recalled.
Hernandez agreed with his fellow supervising producer. “Salinggawi has a rich history and so many things have happened and changed in the past 50 years. They went in and out the podium, showcased one-of-a-kind routines and produced outstanding individuals.”
Linsangan disclosed that it was hard and tiring for the team to produce the documentary. However, she realized that they “were more than inspired and willing to push through with the project. It feels surreal being with them from the preparation up until the competition day. We were so touched by their stories and experiences that we thought that the Thomasian crowd, as well as the audiences from other universities, should know their labor and hard work.”
“Even though Salinggawi didn’t make it to the podium finish last year, we decided to push through with the project because their stories have to be heard. An ending doesn’t always have to be perfect or happy. But a very touching ending for a film or a story is when someone was moved from your story, someone or somebody was inspired by your story. And we want exactly that feeling to happen to our audience. As much as we, the production team, saw all their hard work from their trainings everyday, we want others to see Salinggawi as students, as humans who have lives and stories to share,” she said.
Hernandez explained their decision to continue the documentary despite the loss. “We talked about the new treatment of this documentary and I came up with an idea why not highlight their passion to serve for the university, their resiliency even though they were crowned as the cheering squad with the most number of championships in CDC, and merely telling the people that they are not only cheerleaders. Salinggawi trained them beyond the mats to become better individuals and future leaders.”
Search for More Thomasian Filmmakers
Apart from Sine Reel, UST also holds two other student film festivals in the campus, with the hope of discovering fresh, new talents in the field of filmmaking among Thomasians.
The annual Sine Abierto, formerly Sine Tomasino, is a student short film festival founded in 2015 and organized by the Thomasian Film Society. It started as an event restricted to Thomasians, but after a year, a category was opened to non-Thomasians. Sine Abierto aims to strengthen the participation and involvement of students in filmmaking and to promote it to the UST community.
On the other hand, Sining Sine is a film competition of the UST College of Fine Arts and Design as a partial requirement of students enrolled in an elective. “Sine Abierto is a film competition that is open to all senior high school and college students around the country. Sine Reel is exclusive to Communication Arts students of UST taking up a film course during that semester. Meanwhile, Sining Sine is exclusive to Advertising Arts students of UST taking up film elective,” former TFS head Angelica Bautista clarified.
TFS President Kathleen Doblado, who succeeded Bautista, is proud of the achievements of Renomeron and Damiles, two former members of their organization. “I hope it will also encourage Thomasian students and fresh graduates to submit entries in bigger festivals.”