Earlier before deciding to go on a long commute from cavite to u.p, i decided to skim through reviews of Wesley Wang’s popular short film that made him get a deal for a full length feature. The reviews were mixed to negative. The representative of gen z student filmmaking is his short film, which i am yet to see, yet it received backlash for “having nothing to say”. Even though I was only able to catch 4 Black Beret shorts this year, I could say that this is not the case for Filipino student filmmakers. Standing in the middle, I could see everybody’s silhouettes as they laughed and connected with the 4 gay science high school students. This is a comedy with intent to make its particularly cinephile audience laugh, with some jokes referencing cinephile lingo, and it works. I have never been to such an intimate screening where the people who made the films, the people who are friends with the filmmakers, and someone from the south all sit together in the pitch darkness of UPFI film studio, enjoying our time with LGBT. Indeed this film felt like the friends in High School whom we were allowed ourselves to be and watching it in a room that housed the many of “variants” of our High School tropa, even if its sounds and projector occasionally falter, felt extra special. If ever someone says again that Gen Z filmmakers have nothing to say besides pretty visuals, then I’ll show them independent Filipino short films, full of voices that feel enraged, comforting, thoughtful, and memorable. And there is just something extraordinary about comedies set in places where we ourselves grew up in that bring not only laughter but also substance. Indeed if I were to take film, i’d want to make comedies as someone who felt seen and comforted by the several sitcoms I watched. After enduring the tiring commute from u.p back to cavite, I could safely say that my trip was worth it even if I only watched Leslie, Germie, Benjie, Trixie, and their lives as they prepare for a capstone defense at an institution that prioritizes academic excellence over human beings.
Earlier before deciding to go on a long commute from cavite to u.p, i decided to skim through reviews of Wesley Wang’s popular short film that made him get a deal for a full length feature. The reviews were mixed to negative. The representative of gen z student filmmaking is his short film, which i am yet to see, yet it received backlash for “having nothing to say”. Even though I was only able to catch 4 Black Beret shorts this year, I could say that this is not the case for Filipino student filmmakers. Standing in the middle, I could see everybody’s silhouettes as they laughed and connected with the 4 gay science high school students. This is a comedy with intent to make its particularly cinephile audience laugh, with some jokes referencing cinephile lingo, and it works. I have never been to such an intimate screening where the people who made the films, the people who are friends with the filmmakers, and someone from the south all sit together in the pitch darkness of UPFI film studio, enjoying our time with LGBT. Indeed this film felt like the friends in High School whom we were allowed ourselves to be and watching it in a room that housed the many of “variants” of our High School tropa, even if its sounds and projector occasionally falter, felt extra special. If ever someone says again that Gen Z filmmakers have nothing to say besides pretty visuals, then I’ll show them independent Filipino short films, full of voices that feel enraged, comforting, thoughtful, and memorable. And there is just something extraordinary about comedies set in places where we ourselves grew up in that bring not only laughter but also substance. Indeed if I were to take film, i’d want to make comedies as someone who felt seen and comforted by the several sitcoms I watched. After enduring the tiring commute from u.p back to cavite, I could safely say that my trip was worth it even if I only watched Leslie, Germie, Benjie, Trixie, and their lives as they prepare for a capstone defense at an institution that prioritizes academic excellence over human beings.
