“Si Oddie,” a film written and directed by UP Visayas’ BA Communication and Media Studies student Ma. Kydylee Torato qualified in the 2022 Cinemalaya Festival Short Film Category.
Out of the 199 submissions, there were only 12 short films that were selected as official entries to the Cinemalaya Short Film program this year. The short film category will recognize and give the Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and NETPAC awards.
NETPAC, or the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, is a worldwide organization of 29 member countries that involves critics, filmmakers, festival organizers, curators, distributors and exhibitors, as well as film educators. The NETPAC Award is given to select international film festivals to promote Asian cinema by spotlighting exceptional films and discovering new talents.
The film’s synopsis states that it is about “a delivery rider who struggles to search for his oddly unlocatable customer while racing against time in a life and death situation. With the pandemic as its backdrop, the story is about a day in the life of a delivery rider named Oddie, whose mother is in the hospital needing an oxygen tank. After asking for an additional delivery to pay for his mother’s medical needs, Oddie ends up looking for an oddly unlocatable customer named Trisha Lopez. Along his way, Oddie encounters several people related to her. He is passed on from one person to the next until he crosses paths with someone who will change his day-to-day life as a delivery rider.”
“Si Oddie” is part of the nine short films on the subject CMS 174 (Screenwriting) and CMS 177 (Directing the Narrative) of the UPV College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Division under Arden Rod Condez. Condez is the writer and director of the 2019 Cinemalaya Best Film, “John Denver Trending.” The film was supported by the Creative Grants Window of the UPV Office of the Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development.
The producer of the film Mary Andrea Palmares also debuted her short film entitled “Gutab” last year. It had its world premiere at the SEAShorts Film Festival. This Malaysia-based film festival is internationally recognized as one of the most reputable short film festivals in the world.
This year, Cinemalaya celebrates its 18th year and will have theatrical screenings again for the first time after two years of the pandemic. Films, including “Si Oddie,” will have their world premiere at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Torato and Palmares, along with their Roxas City crew, are currently crowdfunding for their trip to Manila to experience the red carpet at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. They will be joined by the actor and the production staff from Roxas City.
They are expected to attend the gala premiere as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of Cinemalaya.
According to its website, Cinemalaya Foundation is a non-stock, not-for-profit, non-government foundation committed to the development and promotion of Philippine independent film. The Cinemalaya Foundation was established for the following purposes: to help develop and support the production of cinematic works of Filipino independent filmmakers that boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity, to discover, encourage, support, train and recognize gifted Filipino independent filmmakers, promote Filipino independent films locally and internationally, inspire Asian filmmakers by showcasing the Philippines as the cinematic center of creativity and free artistic expression, and establish a network for exchange, communication, and cooperation among members of the independent film sector as we commit ourselves to the professionalization of film practitioners in the various aspects of film production through the Cinemalaya Institute.
The core project of the Cinemalaya is the annual Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Competition. It provides financial grants for the production of, at most, ten full-length feature films, which will then compete for the Best Full-Length Film Award. The Cinemalaya competition also recognizes the work of filmmakers in the short film format. (With sources from the Cinemalaya website)
