Episode 156 - QCinema 2024 Director's Factory Philippines (with the QCinema Critics Lab)

It's time for QCinema 2024, and this time the festival is opening with an omnibus film: Director's Factory Philippines, a collection of four films that are codirected by a Filipino and Asian director. The four films making up this omnibus are: Cold Cut - dir. Don Eblahan (Philippines) and Tan Siyou (Singapore) Silig - dir. Arvin Belarmino (Philippines) and Lomorpich Rithy (aka YoKi, Cambodia) Nightbirds - dir. Maria Estela Paiso (Philippines) and Ashok Vish (India) Walay Balay - dir. Eve Baswel (Philippines) and Gogularaajan Rajendran (Malaysia) In this special episode of Third World Cinema Club, the members of the 2nd edition of the QCinema Critics Lab will be talking about the four short films making up this omnibus. This year's Critics Lab participants are Acer Batislaong, Brontë Lacsamana, Joaquin Singson, Ligaya Villablanca, Maverick Alviar, and Mac John Bautista. From the official QCinema Press Release: Acer Batislaong is a Caloocan-based writer who covers government contracting daily and independent Filipino cinema by night. He’s a contributor for IONCINEMA.com and has written features for Nylon Manila, covering youth culture and entertainment. In his downtime, you might find Acer listening to a voice memo from Lav Diaz urging him to keep chasing his filmmaking dreams. Brontë Lacsamana is a multimedia reporter who covers arts, culture, and entertainment for the Philippine business newspaper BusinessWorld. She writes about visual arts, performing arts, music, literature, and cultural heritage, and reviews films in her free time. She has written online content and viewed audiovisual materials for archiving purposes. Joaquin Singson is a writer and cultural worker from Quezon City. In 2018, he was shortlisted for the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for Art Criticism and has been published in Heights Ateneo and NANG Magazine. His research and writing is focused on music and art criticism, Cold War and Third World histories, and anti-imperial movements in the Global South. Ligaya Villablanca is a dreamer from Visayas. They have programmed short films for micro-cinemas across Visayan islands, Australia, and the US. It has a hobby of bringing up conversations about regional cinema and how its existence plays a role in the national and worldwide stage. Mac John Bautista is a Mechanical Engineering student at DLSU-Manila. He actively seeks out and frequently attends film events in and out of Metro Manila. He is currently a contributing writer for the Society of Filipino Film Reviewers and the managing director of Kinoise. Maverick "Mavs" Alviar is pursuing his BA in Art Studies with a Minor in Theater and Performance Praxes at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He has interned previously at the UP Vargas Museum, Likhaan Fair, and currently at the Bulwagan ng Dangal University Heritage Museum and Yuchengco Museum.