The Philippines accounts for four out of five projects selected for the spring 2024 selection of Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures, comprising $140,000 in production grants.
The four projects from the Philippines are from directors Mario Cornejo, Arvin Belarmino, Joanne Cesario and Joseph Mangat, with the fifth by Riar Rizaldi from Indonesia.
My Neighbour The Gangster by Cornejo is described as a funny and moving recollection of the filmmaker’s own childhood living next door to the most famous gangster in the Philippines; Ria, by rising director Belarmino, explores the world of Filipino punk; and Invisible Labour, by activist Cesario, addresses the pressing issue of preserving truth against the rewriting of history.
South Sea is by previous Purin grantee Riar, whose Monisme premiered at FIDMarseille in 2023. His new project continues his style of examining past incidents through the creative use of docufiction.
Mangat’s Pony Boys is the only project to receive the post-production grant from Purin in this session. It follows the young cowboys of Baguio, whose century-old culture and traditions can be traced back to the US occupation of the Philippines.
The Philippines also dominated the autumn 2023 selection, accounting for four of the five projects.
Purin Pictures is a non-profit film fund that supports independent Southeast Asian cinema. The fund is managed by co-director Aditya Assarat along with fellow filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong.
“This session we received the highest number of applications since starting the fund in 2017,” said Aditya. “It was a very difficult process for the reading committee to choose the grantees and reinforces the need for the different funds in the Southeast Asia region to support our own artists.”
Purin Pictures spring 2024 grant recipients
Production grants ($30,000 for fiction films, $15,000 for documentary films)
My Neighbour The Gangster (Phil)
Dir Mario Cornejo
Prod Monster Jimenez
Prodco This Side Up
In 1981, a young boy’s life is changed when the Philippines’ most notorious gangster moves in next door to his peaceful seaside residence.
Ria (Phil)
Dir Arvin Belarmino
Prods Kristine De Leon, Alemberg Ang
Prodco WAF Studios
A young punk woman and her friends fight to defend their punk commune, the only home they have left in a land-grabbed neighbourhood’s ruins.
Invisible Labour (Phil)
Dir Joanne Cesario
Prod Alyssa Suico
Prodco Mayday Multimedia
As the Marcoses return to power in the Philippines, labour rights activists preserve their movement’s history through an archive and a documentary.
South Sea (Indo)
Dir Riar Rizaldi
Prods B.M. Anggana, Sam Hewison
Prodco New Pessimism Studio
An investigation of a 2022 tragedy, in which ten Indonesians died after a tidal wave swept away a group of people performing rituals on Payangan Beach.
Post-production grants ($50,000 for fiction films, $35,000 for documentary films)
Pony Boys (Phil)
Dir Joseph Mangat
Prod Alemberg Ang
Prodco Daluyong Studios
A documentary tracking teenage Filipino cowboys contending with adolescence while their livelihood and culture are slowly dying.
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