HAU movie wins in India filmfest

• Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/dar-dti-partners-for-farmers/
• Sunday, November 22, 2015

(PR)

ANGELES CITY -- Ari: My Life With A King, the movie produced by Holy Angel University (HAU), bagged the top prize in the Debut Directors section of the first-ever All Lights India International Film Festival held November 17 to 20, 2015 in Kochi, India.

The film's director, Carlo Enciso Catu, won the Best Debut Director Award, which is the highest award in the festival’s section for international films by first-time directors. Catu, who only last week graduated from the HAU College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, beat six other directors from Spain, Malaysia, India, Afghanistan and Turkey.

The award came on the heels of the Best World Film Award that the HAU film received at the Harlem International Film Festival in New York City. The film also recently qualified as official selection in the Vancouver International Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival (both non-competitive festivals) and will compete in the Dhaka International Film Festival early next year.

Next month, it will compete in the Metro-Manila Film Festival (MMFF) as one of five finalists in the New Wave section.

Ari: My Life With A King is the story of a high school student who is tasked with locating one of his school’s outstanding alumni. He finds him living in a remote village where ash fall from Pinatubo’s 1991 eruption still blankets roads and farm lands and where a group of old poets try mightily to preserve Kapampangan literary traditions.

The film was produced as part of the cultural advocacy of the University’s Center for Kapampangan Studies.

The film stars real-life poets led by Francisco Guinto and Coco-Martin’s brother Ronwaldo Martin in his first starring role. The rest of the cast and crew are volunteers from the University’s faculty, employees, students and alumni, including Cecile Yumul (actress), Alex Castro (production designer), Robby Tantingco (screenwriter), Myra Lopez (line producer), Engr. Geromin Nepomuceno, Jr. and Jocelyn Aniceto (executive producers).

Ferdinand Lapuz, recent recipient of an HAU outstanding alumnus award, produced the film for HAU. Lapuz, who is the producer of award-winning films such as Bwakaw, Ekstra, Dementia and Baber’s Tales, also recently donated proceeds from some of his films to the University’s scholarship program.

Lapuz solicited help from his friends in the film industry to assist the neophytes in his alma mater’s maiden film offering, including award-winning cinematographer Carlo Mendoza, editor Carlo Francisco Manatad, and sound engineer Gilbert Obispo.