The QCinema 2021 winners for the QCShorts competition have been awarded last December 4 at Novotel Quezon City. This year’s QCShorts Best Picture is Trishtan Perez’i get so sad sometimes, a film about a high school teenager who secretly spends his time on the internet with an older man who refuses to reveal his face.
The film is cited for its keen observation of a generation’s ethos expressed through an intimate and contemporary visual language, arranged in an editing style that eschews melodramatic sentimentality focusing on the immediacy of online interaction and the instant gratification or discontent that can be derived —a warning of the dangers of the internet and social media as surrogate to real life bonds.
The regional short, which was shot in Pagadian City and Cagayan de Oro, stars JC Santiago, Louie Caminade, Jhon Mark Tumimpad, Bensuccor Encong, and Janice Suganob.
QCinema 2021 Winners: QCShorts Competition
Aside from the Perez’ film, other competition entries that won awards include Chuck Escasa’s Skylab, which gets the NETPAC Jury Prize for presenting through striking images a significant and poetic story told from the perspective of schoolboys in the ‘70s, who fear the end of the world, but soon realize that the dark forces that can change their lives are much closer to home.
Set during the Martial Law era, it portrays two troubled schoolboys waiting for the fall of the Skylab, only to realize that darker forces are threatening their fragile world.
Dylan Talon, Alexis Negrite, and Jonathan Tadion lead the cast of the film.
The Gender Sensitivity Award goes to Ampangabagat Nin Talakba Ha Hikol or It’s Raining Frogs Outside by Maria Estela Paiso.
The Sambal short is cited for its artistic and strong sense of individuality and its bold and stunning visuals that encapsulates the struggles of isolation.
Getting the Audience Choice award is the “mockumentary” about a government agency tasked to fight giant monsters entitled Mighty Robo V .
The film, which stars GB Labrador, Aryn Cristobal, Rachel Coates, James Caraan, Red Olero, Nami Onuma, and Macoy Averilla, is by Miko Livelo and Mihk Vergara.
Other films which competed in the #QCShorts competition are Henry by Kaj Palanca and City of Flowersby Xeph Suarez.Each short film received a grant of 350,000.00 pesos from QCinema, with ownership of film rights. All shorts were screened both online via KTX and in-person at Gateway Cineplex 10.