ngilngig film festival experience part 1

this is now my SECOND film festival experience, but my first to write about! this was a very fun time to spend an afternoon with, and i wish i couldve stayed longer! (will return on tuesday), joined by two cool people with me!! (shoutouts to kai and hisana)

(left) kai, (middle) me, (right) hisana

we attended the day 2 slot, with the sets of fims from 12:00pm to 3:00pm. i was really stupid and misread the starting period for 12:30, so we only unfortunately managed to catch the last 2 short films in the first set (named ILOVEU_VIRUS). which was a shame!! because i was really was so interested in seeing all the films in that set. ESPECIALLY In the Name of Love I Will Punish You (2024) - dir. Exsell Rabbani, just from the poster and synopsis i was so interested in its editing and tone, because i love films that LOOK like these.

i was also interested in Durian Durian (2025)- dir. Nelson Yeo, but we only arrived at the credits of said film. which was really disappointing since even from the credits, i was hooked by the style.

our first real short film we watched was Sleepiness (2024) dir. Hemkiry Song

film one

Sleepiness (2024)- dir. Hemkiry Song

our first taste of the film festival, is this very cool cambodian film on dreams and love. its very simple, and its comedy is very simple as well. i really love the editing here as some sequences transition from one another very well and very smoothly. it was quick, sharp, and witty. i also like the sequence at the end of the main character strolling around the city. its very simple! very lighthearted, and really cool to just watch.

film two

Moonlighters (2025)- dir. Coby Mercado

this is a cool short, and i really enjoyed it so much!! the concept in the movie is so well-done for both leads and every plot point was at least well explained and introduced without any confusion. thats really something to admire!! as one person in the talk after the movie called it (we'll get to this later), this film is very liminal. its again, a very simple movie with a simple concept, and its executed really well. the themes of using the time you have left, and spending that time with a person you want to be with is so nice, and the romance on this is well done in my opinion. i also love the effects and motifs when the characters start to stop time willingly. the audio distortion, the little bell that *dings!*, and the shots of the eyes everytime works so well! i really admire the editing on this, and as i soon found out while researching about the director, he also edited the witty blooming! (2025) - dir. Ronnie Ramos as part of SineKabataan 2025. i forgot to mention, but the score works so well here. Mercado really captures the stress really well on the first half, then the swelling callback of In the Hall of the Mountain King as the music sweeps into a crescendo was sooo cool!! and the second half being edited in such a relaxed, freeing way to take a *breather*.

after the movie, they got the director Coby Mercado and producer Raia Miranda to talk about the ins and outs, and overall answering questions and delving into the themes of the film. to which it was revealed from director Mercado that a few people they knew in the same year got unfortunately diagnosed with cancer, and that was the backbone that brought the theme of spending the most time with someone you love to life. Mercado also talked about the editing process on the second half. saying that he based the pacing on it through his breaths. cutting from one shot to another when breathing in his own accord while editing. thats a very cool way to emphasize the relaxed and melancholic style of editing of the second half of this short, and also a massive shoutout to producer Miranda for her same efforts in bringing this short to life!! this is apparently the thesis film of director Mercado and the budget was 100,000 PHP. backed by crowdfunding and family and friends, which was really cool to hear. overall, this was a great experience to watch and have a session with both the producer and director, and is always a treat when attending film fests like these.

after the first set, we had the opportunity to have a conversation/session on the rise of artificial intelligence and technology in filmmaking with an invited professor from UP. and how much i can say that this was possibly the strangest professor ever , and i'm writing this in FULL compliment.

he started the session by saying theres a few.. maybe.. a couple hundred slides in the presentation, and he would be treating the session like a conversation rather than an interview. he also requested us to sit closer to the front in the theater so it was a pretty close-knit moment throughout the whole thing. he also joked multiple times that the entire audience should get Red Horse in order to have deeper conversations with him, and admitted to being hooked on acid a few decades back, to which i really admire and found him engaging throughout the whole thing.

to start and summarize already, his stance on AI is pro-AI, to which i disagree with BUT this entire lecture was a very insightful session either way. hearing him out on his stance was still engaging and intriguing to hear, and to which he reveals that he was part of the few professors that launched the highly controversial Introduction to AI course in UP. again, i disagree with his overall stance but the way he defended AI, and citing many philsophers and texts on the matter, and linking it down to southeast asian culture and ultimately filipino culture, you cant help but still nod to every point he makes even if you were in the opposing side of the fence.

apologies i couldnt take a picture of sir ed, you were really cool! promise!! i was really engaged throughout the whole thing

he advocates for us people to embrace technology, as technology can only go nowhere BUT forward. and its only best we find its goods, and work on there to create art with. and while moving slides in the presentation at the speed of light (it didnt bother me, the pacing was engaging and great, i just thought it was a funny observation throughout), he also expresses deep love for cinema, and showing the audience his favorite "what the fuck moments" in cinema. to sidestep a bit, you could tell his love in cinema goes deep, you can just hear in his passion when speaking about film how much he loves the medium, mentioning filmmakers like tarkovsky, david lynch, and shouting out films like in the realm of the senses (1979) in the previously mentioned "what the fuck moments" in cinema.

fast forward, i grabbed hold of the microphone to ask his thoughts on people my age wanting to regress in technology, as we all seem scared on whats to come in the future, alluding to me collecting physical media, using old cameras, and having an interest on old trinkets of any kind and reverting back to this style of writing posts instead of embracing modern ways of communication like social media, to which he proclaimed that behavior like that is fascistic. honestly, im honored that a UP professor, especially sir ed indirectly called my hobbies fascistic. saying that _{(this is based off memory, please take this point with a grain of salt as its definitely glossing over a main point he was probably making)} fascism is wanting to be "perfect" in the world, making a permanent mark, tying it to monuments and connecting that to people who collect physical media. its a genuine honor to have that said about it and i dont take any offense to it, i find it genuinely hilarious.

overall, it was an amazing, intriguing, and very funny experience even if i didnt side with his stance on artifical intellgience and generative AI. but what do i know, hes 72 years old and has more wisdom than i could ever have in my age, and he has experienced many things in life to which i cant even comprehend. i personally will add him to my dream blunt rotation.

film lineup

i forgot to mention that in the film fest, there are some cool vendors selling prints, pins, and trinkets of the like outside the theater. unfortunately i couldnt mention all the sellers here due to me not remembering them, and as of writing the ngilngig site is currently unavailable for whatever reason and i cant seem to find any vendor shoutouts in any of the social media pages (soz), but huge shoutouts to auteur for the amazing and funny prints and i bought one of them myself

pictured: a masterpiece of a print

now, after a quick break from the experience that was sir ed's conversation, we were back for another set of films that last until 3:00pm. to which we managed to watch all of!

film three

Kinakausap ni Celso ng Diyos (2024)- dir. Gilb Baldoza

really great father representation. reminds me a bit of Coding si Papa (2025) - dir. Michael Pogoy in SineKabataan, which equally made me emotional. i really just am a sucker for movies that are about relationships. romantic, familial, all these dynamics are all things im interested on and this short is something special to me. extremely well shot, and the ending was really good. made me clap more when the credits rolled than any of the other shorts, actually this might be a close second to my actual favorite experience in watching a short.

film four

The Grocery List (2024)- dir. Taqwa Ali Nasser

this is now probably one of my favorite experiences in watching movies, like ever. cause first off, i did NOT know what the fuck was happening throughout the entire movie but from what i saw, it was all fantastic in my eyes. it was so absurd to the point it was making me giggle nervously, like genuinely what the fuck was this short. this was probably one of the situations sir ed would call a "what the fuck moment". this was a genuine treat to just see, like at all. i was just smiling dimple to dimple not believing my eyes can just watch stuff like this, its genuinely incredible to me. this is my kind of short and i fucked with it so heavy. i think i was the loudest person that clapped in the theater when the credits rolled. an amazing experience to say the least.

film five

Ang Pagbabalik ni Max Buwaya (2025)- dir. John Luke Miraflor

very intriguing concept! seeing this bum flop around and be delusional in one space was a really fun way to show how much of a loser this character was, but it kind of flopped in the end. again, its a great concept! first half was very funny and you could just imagine someone you know and hate being related to this character, but the execution in the end fell flat for me. it was kind of confusing realizing that he wasnt this washed wrestler, but a FAN of a washed up wrestler. its fun though, and the editing on this is great.

film six

A Cleaning Service (2024)- dir. Nguyen Duy Anh

one of the more interesting shorts i've seen. its a hybrid documentary merging the real life practices of cleaners across vietnam to this weird, trippy, and hypnotic style of filmmaking i havent really seen before. its great!

overall this experience is really fun! and this is just part one as i will be returning in later days and i want to experience more films. YES!