3 Filipino short films win in Indie film festival in Vancouver

Vancouver, B.C.

Filipino-Canadian filmmaker believes ‘it can only get better from here’

By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez

A drama film with animation about the loss of a childhood friend won first place in the recently concluded SNG Indie Short Film Festival in Vancouver. 

“One More Game,” which as written and directed by Kevin Ang, bested all other entries that were all under five minutes in length and cost a maximum of $250, excluding food, gas, insurance and sound.

 “The budget is very small. So I shot it very early and then I did the animation work that came with it by myself though. So I really didn’t really expect much of anything. It’s just mostly for fun,” Ang told TFC News. 

“One More Game” is a drama with animation film by Filipino-Canadian filmmaker Kevin Ang and is the winner for the SNG Indie Short Film Festival.

The film is Ang’s tribute to the best friend he lost years ago.  

“I wanted to focus on just the loss, the loss of childhood, the loss of the friendship that you had and then him disappearing and then him dying. Although I never say what in the film, why he passed, but you know, the true story is cause he actually took his own life,” he also said. 

Meanwhile, the sci-fi film ‘Loop’ won third place in the same festival. 

Philip Planta, who wrote and directed the film, with his cousin Peter serving as director of photography, said aside from the budget limits, they had limited time and equipment to produce the film. 

“The four films had a $250 budget, and you had two months to make it. But you could only use the amount of gear that could fit in the trunk of your car. That’s it. You could not have big cameras, no big lights, just very minimal,” Planta described the experience. 

Aside “from Loop” and “One More Game,” Filipino-made films “Almost” and “Kuya were among the finalists at the film festival. 

According to the festival guidelines, this year’s contest theme was “Nostalgia” and the filmmakers must only use equipment that could fit into the back of Toyota Prius. 

“No renting giant gear vans, even if you own a giant gear van, you can’t fill it,” it reads.

Filmmakers Kevin Ang (center), Philip Planta (left) and Marc Yungco win in their respective categories.

Meanwhile, SNG’s sister company, Run N’ Gun, which launched the 48-hour film category, awarded the Best in Sound to the horror-comedy “White Lady.” 

The movie was directed by Marc Yungco and written by Paolo Valdes with theme “urban legends.” 

Yungco and Planta believe the future is bright for Filipino-made indie films.

“We’re not so limited and like relying on the gatekeepers to get us seen within  the world. We can do it on our own. So that’s what we’re doing here. And I think we’re doing a great job doing it,” Yungco also told TFC News. “It can only get better from here.”

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