This Year, Film Buffs Can Stream Cinemalaya 2020 on Vimeo

It looks like film buffs will have to wait until next year to hear this iconic melody at the start of a film in the theaters of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This year, we’d have to play it for ourselves at home.

Now in its 16^th year, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival will be screening on Vimeo from August 7 to 16, 2020. There will be no feature-length films this year; instead, the focus will be on Short Films in Competition. A total of 10 are selected as finalists and will be vying for the Best Film award. Aside from the main competition, there will also be 20 short films featured for the specially-curated Short Films in Exhibition.

Viewers can get access to these films in bundles for as low as Php 75 for 5 short films while the whole experience including full-length features and webinars will be at Php 350. Full online screening prices are yet to be confirmed but you can follow Cinemalaya on Facebook for updates.

Check out the trailers for the Short Films in Competition finalists:

Excuse Me Miss, Miss, Miss (dir. Sonny Calvento)

“Vangie, a miserable contractual sales lady, is about to lose her job. But in her desperate attempt to convince her boss not to sack her, Vangie uncovers the ultimate jaw-dropping secret to regularization. Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss is a social satire about the plight of contractual workers in the Philippines.”

Fatigued (dir. James Mayo)

“Fatigued is an interactive short film where audience participation is important. It’s about an employee (the viewer) who overslept and must wake-up from his/her nightmare.”

Ang Gasgas na Plaka ni Lolo Bert (dir. Janina Gacosta & Cheska Marfori)

“A closeted gay man in his 60s has been living with HIV for 10 years. His monotonous life takes a sudden turn when he receives an old vinyl record from his dead ex-lover.”

Utwas (dir. Richard Salvadico & Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay)

“Toto discovers more of the ocean as he tries to learn how to dive and fish.”

The Slums (dir. Jan Andrei Cobey)

“A documentary team progressively intervenes and trespasses into the lives of a poor family living in the slums as they try to cope with the loss of their TV.”

Ang Pagpakalma sa Unos (dir. Joanna Vasquez Arong)

“Ang Pagpakalma Sa Unos (To Calm the Pig Inside) is a contemplation on the effects a typhoon leaves on a seaside city. Myths are woven in to try to understand how people cope with the devastation and trauma. A girl’s voice divulges bits and pieces of her own memory of her grandmother and mother to tie in the experiences she felt visiting this ravaged port city.”

Pabasa Kan Pasyon (dir. Hubert Tibi)

“Religion and economy take center stage in a Bicolano family’s story, set during the Lenten season. To make ends meet, one of them turns to religion and pushes his mother to make a living off her faith.”

Quing Lalam Ning Aldo (dir. Reeden Fajardo)

“A transgender sampaguita farmer decided to renovate their neglected kitchen as soon as she heard that her son is going home.”

Living Things (dir. Martika Ramirez Escobar)

“Kints wakes up and discovers that her decade-long lover Charles has turned into a cardboard standee of himself.”

Tokwifi (dir. Carla Pulido Ocampo)

“A 1950s mestiza star, trapped inside a television that fell from the sky – dreams up a romantic romp with a Bontok Igorot man who does not know how to kiss.”