Tingin Kay Pedro

RP short film wins in China 

MANILA, Philippines—After being featured in the non-competition Short Film Corner of the Cannes International Film Festival, actor-director Pedro “Joaqui” Valdes’ 30-minute film “Bulong” won the Golden Duck award for Best Short Narrative at the 2nd New Beijing International Movie Week on June 7.

The news was confirmed by Valdes in a phone interview with Inquirer Entertainment on Wednesday, a day after his return from China.

According to Valdes, the original list of 150 entries was later trimmed down to the 25 short and feature-length films that were screened at the film fest.

He recalled that at least nine other short films competed in his category.

“Screenings for my movie were held in clubs and bars, as well as in the Beijing Film Academy (BFA) and the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA),” he related.

Valdes said the awards were announced at a dinner held in the home of a film professor from BFA.

Response to his film was “overwhelming,” he said.

“In spite of the language barrier, the Chinese students who watched the movie at the CAFA got it,” he recounted. “The students were shocked to learn that my budget was only US$4,000 (about P200,000).”

He explained that he is dedicating his film to today’s youth. “I want to address the issue of apathy among Filipino youth. We cannot just watch from the sidelines. We should all be catalysts for change.”

He also met the festival’s guest speaker Rick Stevenson, the US filmmaker behind “Expiration Date.”

“Rick said that if I were a Chinese director, my film would’ve been considered controversial because it questioned the system,” he recalled. “The festival definitely opened doors to me.”

Valdes is now working on two movies: “Hamog,” an indie horror flick set in the Mountain Province; and “Hakaw,” a celebration of food and family as experienced by three generations of Chinese-Filipinos.