TEN YEARS OF CINEMAGIS (Editor's note: This editorial was released in January 2018 during the 10th Cinemagis Northern Mindanao Digital Short Film Festival. Download the newsletter here.)
In Northern Mindanao, the Cinemagis Digital Short Film Festival has had its humble beginnings in 2009 and quickly carved its own name as a springboard for budding and professional filmmakers and an outlet to showcase talents, perseverance, and grit. Cinemagis, after all, derived its name from the amalgamation of “cinema,” which pertains to film and “magis,” a Latin word which relates to striving for excellence.
Over its colorful years, Cinemagis continues to uphold the stories — the overlooked, the odd, the unheard of, and the new perspectives — in its selection of films to be screened from the annual pool of entries. Cinemagis films not only showed people’s plight, wickedness, or indifference, but also explored happiness, fantasy, and heroism, mostly in the context of Mindanaoan narratives and influences. Peace and order in Mindanao has been a recurring subject in film discussions and reviews, which makes the festival an opportunity for advocacy storytelling, “truths that need to be told.” Other Cinemagis films also tackled issues from the personal to a more collective experience where social issues could either be clearly seen or implied. The festival is celebrated for discovering new talents and for bringing the films from various parts of the archipelago to Cagayan de Oro City.
The master behind the Cinemagis Film Festival is Hobart Savior, the dynamic leader-director of Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts (XCCA) of Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan. He is the author of Cinemagis, laying its fundamental purposes, and he has managed to bring Cinemagis to where it is now, of course with the support and generosity of public and private organizations. Industry experts, veteran filmmakers, and multi-awarded actors, both from commercial and independent markets, were invited annually to help nurture the local creative community and to encourage an inclusive dialogue on art and culture.
As Savior well said: “In a film, we have to ‘problematize’ the mundane and dissect it as a form of determination, identity, emancipation, tradition, life, death, or love. … Looking at the future of Cinemagis, we hope that there would be more reflections of our voices and aspirations. Northern Mindanao filmmakers have created these films because there is so much to show and share.”
The festival is proud of its achievements. A number of Cinemagis films have already gone to national independent film festivals (Cinema Rehiyon, Cinemalaya, and the like) and to international screenings in the United States and Germany. Those Cinemagis films included a subtle call-to-action, inspiring and encouraging the viewer to empathize or act. Scholarships, special citations, and awards were also bestowed to exemplary filmmakers from student and professional categories.
Cinemagis, just like any other film festival, has its own fair share of challenges, intrigues, and shortcomings. Throughout its decade-long existence, the festival has withered storms, within and outside of its domain, from logistical nightmares to backroom politics. But it persists. Cinemagis survives and remains true to its very promise of screening homegrown films, honing the talents and skills of our people, harvesting stories reflecting our lives, particularly the cultures of Mindanao, and encouraging the audience to think critically over the themes and nuances of a film. This year, Cinemagis celebrates its 10th year of filmic undertakings and looks forward to the future where the competition gets tougher, the discussions become deeper, and the support gets even warmer.∎
Festival Writers: Angelo Lorenzo and Stephen Pedroza
Layout Artist and Illustrator: Rico Magallona
Festival Director: Hobart Savior
Producer: Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts