Filipino film about effects of typhoon Haiyan wins award in Bangkok
‘To Calm the Pig Inside’, a short film about the effects of typhoon Haiyan on the people of Tacloban, earned critical acclaim at the 6th Bangkok ASEAN Film Festival, the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok announced on Friday.
The embassy broke the news in a Facebook post that said the film was given the Special Mention Award by the jury of the festival which was held on September 3-6, 2020 at the SF Cinema, Central World in Bangkok.
The 19-minute film is a personal essay of the filmmaker, Joanna Vasquez Arong. She incorporated her own experience with the stories she gathered from the locals who recounted to her their reflections, disappointments, dreams and even the jokes they shared with each other in order to cope with the trauma of the typhoon.
Super typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest cyclones to ever make landfall, and left the Philippines with an official death count of around 6,000 in 2013.
The Bangkok ASEAN Film Festival 2020, which is organized by Thailand’s Ministry of Culture, aims to forge cooperation among ASEAN members in an effort to revive and drive forward the film industry of the region.
This year, in addition to film screenings, they have launched two activities which invited filmmakers to submit their short films and feature-length projects: ASEAN Short Film Competition and SEAPITCH (Southeast Asian Project Pitch).
The complete list of the festival winners include:
Best ASEAN Short Film: Here is Not There by Nelson Yeo – Singapore
Jury Prize: The Unseen River by Pham Ngoc Lan – Vietnam
Special Mention: To Calm the Pig Inside by Joanna Vasquez Arong – Philippines
SEAPITCH Award: Causeway, Director: Aw See Wee (Producer, Lim Shu Jia) – Malaysia
Runner-up Prize: A Useful Ghost, Director: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Producer, Cattleya Paosrijaroen)- Thailand
Special Mention: Skin, Director: Tongpong Chantarangkul (Producer: Maenum Chagasik) – Thailand
Here’s the Official Trailer of ‘To Calm the Pig Inside’:
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