swordshines10: CINEMA ONE ORIGINALS 2018 OPENS OCT. 12

"ASUANG"

Original. The word, and all its permutations, has been a sinificant part of the festival name for the last 13 years. Originality has always been the one thing Cinema One Originals has championed and pushed for.

"I Am Original" is the tagline of the 14th Cinema One Originals. It is both a declaration, by the filmakers and the performers, and a promise, that this year's films will not be merely awesome but rather flawsome, a word coined to exemplify this year's festival. Originality is never about perfection. Perfection is boring. Originality is about freshness of voice, an unwavering sense of self and the uniqueness of being human, flawed but awesome.

One of this year's Cinema One Originals filmakers is making his third film for the festival. Two are returning to the festival asecond time. Two are stalwarts of the independent scene, one making his long-awaited second film, the other making his ninth. Another is making his second feature after a much-acclaimed debut. Three are making their first features.

Crime seems to be a common thread in most of this year's films but from very different vintage points and perspectives.

"A Short History of a Few Bad Things" by Keith Deligerio, maybe the most straight-forward, a noir procedural that has sociopolitical underpinnings.

Director Joseph Abello fancifully describes his second film "Double Twisting, Double Back" as 'what home feels like'. It's set in the world of gymnastics and a crime sports film.

In "Hospicio", Bobby Bonifacio's return to filmaking, is sort of a sequel to his "Numbalikdiwa", that begins with a botched crime and ends in the hospice of the title, which turns out to be haunted.

Carl Papa returns with this year's fest with another animated feature, "Paglisan", about a couple struggling to keep their marriage alive in the wake of one of them suffering from an early onset Dementia.

In Rod Singh's "Mamu And A Mother Too", a middle-aged transgender finds herself becoming a surrogate mother.

In John Lapus'"Pang MMK", a young man visits his estranged father's funeral with unexpected results.

And on the stranger end of the spectrum, Whammy Alcazaren's "Never Tear Us Apart", somehow manages to make sense combining Third World Espionage with old country folklore.

Even weirder is Rayn Brizuela's "Asuang", which comes on like an odd superhero inversion.

And in Charliebebs Gohetia's "Bagyong Bheverlyn", a heart-broken woman hears that a super typhoon with the same name is fast approaching and realizes it's a typhoon made of her own feelings.

Cinema One Originals is under festival partnership program of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). Catch the films on October 12 to 21 in trinoma, Glorietta, Gateway, Santolan Town Plaza, Powerplant: in Cinelokal theaters- SM North Edsa, SM Megamall, SM Manila, and SM Sta. Mesa, and in alternative cinemas- FDCP Cinematheque Manila, U.P. Cine Adarna, Cinema '76, Black Maria theater and Cinema Centenario.