This afternoon at 5PM, the Taiwanese entry, "The End of Love", will be shown. Directed by Li Da Hsu, it follows the love stories of four pairs of lovers: a social activist couple, a middle class couple coping with infertility, an old man who finds a former sweetheart in a home for the aged, and a young man who falls for his former high school teacher.
Tonight at 7:30, it's the premiere of the Russian entry, "Territory". Directed by Aleksandr Melnik, this is a big budgeted film set in the Arctic Ocean where a legendary geologist believes that there is gold in the frozen tundra called 'the territory'. While searching for gold, they fight not only the forces of nature but also their conflicted selves in a stirring story of survival.
On Friday, three films will premiere: "Son of Mine" at 2 PM, "Filosofi Kopi" at 5 PM, and "Crimean" at 7:30 PM. "Son of Mine" is from Dutch director Remy Van Heughten and is set in the province of Limburg about the oppressive relationship of a father and a son.
"Filosofi Kopi" is from Indonesia, directed by Angga Sasongko and is about finding the best tasting coffee in Indonesia. when a businessman challenges Ben and Jody to find the perfect cup of coffee, it becomes a journey for them to visit their troubled past.
"Crimean" is a Turkish entry from Director Burak Cem Arliel. Distributed by Warner Bros, it's set in world war II about the fight of the Soviet Red Army against the Nazis. This is based on the novel of Crimean Tartar Cengiz Dagci, "Horrible Years".
On Saturday, two Spanish entries will be shown: "Three Lies" and "Sonata for Cello". "Three Lies" is from Director Anna Murugarren and is about a tattoo artist, Violeta, who is searching for her mom after she was sold as a baby during the Franco dictatorship in 1970s Spain. "Sonata for Cello" is directed by Anna Bofarull and is about a top and famous cellist who is diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic disease with no known cause or cure that turns her body and life into hell.
The Main Competition Films are eligible to win any of the following awards: Grand Festival Prize, Grand Jury Prize, best actor, best actress, best ensemble performance and technical grand prize.The filmfest also has other sections, like the Cine Verde section that shows contemporary films with environmental themes like climate change and depletion of natural resources. There are five entries that can vie for the Cine Verde Prize for Best Environmental film: "The Gull Theorem from Estonia, "Emery Tales" from Greece, "Nopoki I Come" from Peru/Spain, "Since the World was World" from Austria/Spain and "Fish" from Turkey.
Two films to be shown out of competition are "Victoria" from Germany and "Spring/Dawn" from Taiwan. All entries will be shown later along with the other movies in the festival on regular ticket prices at SM North Edsa, SM Manila, SM Megamall, SM MOA and SM Southmall. We really want to thank SM for their support as it makes the venues very accessible to all, unlike in previous film festivals when the venue was just Market Market in Taguig. For the full screening schedules, you can check out the World Premieres Film Festival website or email them at infor@wpff.ph.
