Posted by Kiri Dalena at the ABC5-Dokyu yahoogroup:

THIS WEEK ON CINEKATIPUNAN
September 24 – 29, 2007

• ASIALunes: Taiwan • Water Shorts • Conrado's
Cabinet • Mariami Tanangco • RIGHTS • Doing Time
Doing Vipassana

ASIALunes' this week continues its feature on
Taiwan-produced works. Tuesday, September 25, will be
a screening of three short works on the theme of water
for the people, produced by independent think tank
IBON Foundation. Featured on Conrado's Cabinet on
Wednesday, September 26, is a work on the life of
American architect Philip Johnson. On Thursday,
September 27, award-winning filmmaker Mariami Tanangco
features two of her short works.

Up on Friday, September 28, will be a screening of
RIGHTS, an omnibus human rights film work by 13
artists from the independent film movement. RIGHTS was
recently rated "X" by the MTRCB. Cinekatipunan closes
this week's program on Saturday, September 29, with a
screening of Doing Time Doing Vipassana.

Held Mondays to Saturdays at Mag:net Café Katipunan,
Cinekatipunan screenings start at 5:00 PM. While the
film screenings are free, viewers are encouraged to
make voluntary contributions for the honoraria of the
featured filmmakers. For questions or comments about
Cinekatipunan write to sinag_haraya@yahoo.com.

Cinekatipunan programs precede Mag:net Café's nightly
holding of Live Performaces by well-known and emerging
bands and musicians. Mag:net Café is located along
Katipunan Avenue (fronting Miriam and Ateneo) in
Quezon City. For more inquiries please call 9293191 or
visit www.magnet.com.ph.

September 24 (Monday)
ASIAN FILM PROGRAM: TAIWAN

ASIALunes is Cinekatipunan's weekly Asian film
program, curated by Mervin Espina. Today's program
features works from Taiwan.

September 25 (Tuesday)
IBON Foundation: WATER SHORTS
Nilista sa Tubig (Written on Water),
Ang Pasahol na Dam (Dams Make It Worse), and
Tubig: Buhay o Tubo? (Water: Life or Profit?)

Nilista sa Tubig (Written on Water)
A presentation on the privatization of water services
Water services directly impact on the majority of the
people, particularly the poor, because they are the
most fundamental use of water - domestic use. Thus,
its privatization and commercialization seriously
undermines the people's access.

Ang Pasahol na Dam (Dams Make It Worse)
A presentation on the
corporatization of water resource management
The development of water infrastructure must ensure
the provision and supply of water to the people. Water
infrastructure development in the Philippines only
benefits private and foreign corporations who control
the country's river systems through the construction
and privatization of large dams.

Tubig: Buhay o Tubo? (Water: Life or Profit?)
A presentation on the discrimination in the use of
water for livelihood
The right to water is the right to life. Water should
be used for meeting people's needs - for their
livelihood and for their daily use. But government
denies farmers and fisherfold on water for livelihood
in favor of the interests of big private and foreign
investors' use of the nation's water resources.

Directors: Miles Quero-Asa, Philomel Buena, EJ Mijares
Running Time: 12 Mins. 40 Secs.; 12 Mins.; 14 Mins.
respectively

September 26 (Wednesday)
Conrado's Cabinet: PHILIP JOHNSON

Today's pick is a film on the life of reknowned
American architect Philip Johnson (July 8, 1906 –
January 25, 2005). Johnson is known for balancing
designs between two dominant yet dichotomized trends
in post-war American art: Minimalism and Pop art.

Conrado's Cabinet is a special program of
Ireland-based Filipino visual artist Conrado Velasco,
featuring films on artists from around the globe who
have made their mark in their chosen persuasions.

Conrado Velasco is a freelance photographer and art
director. He also works in other disciplines such as
product design, retail design, and branding
strategies. ( From www.studioconrado.com).

September 27 (Thursday)
Mariami Tanangco: Gee Gee at Waterina & Binyag

BINYAG (Baptism)
2003 | 15 mins
BINYAG is the story of a rookie policeman, whose key
to his colleagues' secret fraternity is to execute
someone through salvaging. It is the story of a
mother, waiting for her son to come home. Anxiety
gnawing inside her, made worse by her horrible dream.
It is the story of two conflicting ideals, the rights
and wrongs our society has taught us when we were
little and the rights and wrongs our society would
teach us when we grow up. Innocence is lost, in a
system that justifies brutality and
corruption.[Excerpt from film review by Arianne
Blanche M. Ramirez, "The baptism of Mariami Tanangco",
on
]

Director/Producer/Writer: Mariami Tanangco |
Cinematographer: Eli Balce | Production Designer:
|Chrisel Galeno | Editor: Lissa Banaag | Musical
Scorer: Matilda | Sound Design: Arnel Labayo

University of the Philippines Thesis Film, 2002 | 2003
Sylvie Auzas Prize, Brussels International Independent
Film Festival | 2003 Ishmael Bernal Award, Cinemanila
International Film Festival |
2002 Best Short Film, Gawad Urian | 2002 1st Prize
Best Narrative Film, Gawad CCP | 2002 Best Student
Short Film, Catholic Mass Media Awards | 2002
University of the Philippines In-yor-ai Digital Film
Festival | 2004 In Competition, Clermont-Ferrand
International Short Film Festival | 2003 Official
Selection for San Francisco International Asian
American Film Festival, Georgetown International
Independent Film Festival | 2004 Official Selection
for the Circuito-Off Venice International Independent
Film Festival, Women In Film French Film Festival,
Slovenia International Film Festival,

GEE-GEE AT WATERINA
2006 | Digital | 25 mins 4 secs | Color with English
subtitles
with J. Dennis C. Teodosio

On the rooftop of a seven-storey building, Waterina
eagerly waits for his gay politician friend, Gee-Gee.
He soon arrives, bearing with him a check - the
payment for the film rights to the life story of
Waterina, the soon-to-be-famous "comfort gay".

As the two mull over the prospects of their newly
acquired wealth, they launch into a comfortable tirade
of each other's flaws and frailties. In the midst of
the teasing, mockery and harangue, they are faced with
a question: how does one measure his worth? Waterina
distresses, "Would the people cry or laugh when they
watch my movie? Would they feel pity or admiration?
Would they think the movie is worth their money? Who
would I be to them? An aging homosexual? Just that?"
In the final assessment of his life's worth, he swears
that he is what he is: no more, no less. He again
contemplates on the check, only to be distracted by
the sight of a beautiful young man with a radiant
smile.

MARIAMI TANANGCO is a writer, segment producer and
director. Her short film "Binyag" (UP Student Thesis,
2002) was shown in local and international film
Festivals and won Best Student Short Film in the
Catholic Mass Media Awards, Best Narrative Video in
the Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula, the
Ishmael Bernal Award in the CineManila International
Film Festival, Best Short Film in the Gawad Urian and
the Sylvie Auzas Prize in the Brussels International
Independent Film Festival.
Synopsis from
>

September 28 (Friday)
RIGHTS

"Scenes in the film are presented unfairly, one-sided
and undermines the faith and confidence of the
government and duly constituted authorities, thus, not
for public exhibition."-- MTRCB Review of RIGHTS

RIGHTS is a collection of 30 seconds to 2 minutes
advertisements showing and condemning the widespread
extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances,
torture and other forms of human rights violations.

The RIGHTS project was initiated last June by the Free
Jonas Burgos Movement and Southern Tagalog Exposure as
a response to the call of the victims and various
sectors to defend human rights. As of September 21,
RIGHTS is composed of 16 films contributed by 13
artists from the independent film movement. These are
Sunshine Matutina, Pam Miras, Kiri Dalena, King Catoy,
Paolo Villaluna, Jon Red, Nino Tagaro, JL Burgos, John
Torres, Sigrid Andrea Bernardo, Mike Dagnalan, RJ
Mabilin and Sigfreid Barros Sanchez.

The MTRCB's X rating on RIGHTS, a series of public
service advertisements on human rights , is a form of
violation of freedom of expression and validates the
filmmakers' opinion on the human rights situation in
the Philippines. The X rating on RIGHTS is not only an
X mark for artist to express freely their views and
sentiments, sadly, the MTRCB's action is an X mark for
the thousands of victims of human rights violations
cry for justice.

September 29 (Saturday)
Vipassana Meditation Society Program
Doing Time, Doing Vipassana

Winner of the Golden Spire Award at the 1998 San
Francisco International Film Festival, this
extraordinary documentary takes viewers into India 's
largest prison - known as one of the toughest in the
world - and shows the dramatic change brought about by
the introduction of Vipassana meditation.

In giving Doing Time, Doing Vipassana its top honour,
the jury stated that:

"it was moved by this insightful and poignant
exposition on Vipassana. The teaching of this
meditation as a transformation device has many
implications for people everywhere, providing the
cultural, social and political institutions can
embrace and support its liberating possibility. "