Saturday 17 December 2016

Mga Bitoon sa Siyudad - Metro Manila Film Festival 2016 Short Film Offcial Entry





Synopsis

An hour before the bomb explosion at Roxas Night Market, Davao City, two young brothers, Oliver (12) and Mac-Mac (9) went from one table to another to serenade the market goers. The money they earn is used for their day to day school allowances and also their means of helping their father who work as a masseur at the night market. Few minutes later, Mac-Mac discovered that he lost some amount of money. The two brothers immediately traced their steps back hoping to find it. Oliver reassures Mac-Mac that he will help him look for the missing money and told him not to go anywhere until he comes back. Oliver went his way, while Mac-Mac patiently waits. Minutes ticked by and a loud explosion happened. Roxas Market turned into chaos but Mac-Mac was still waiting for his brother to return.

Mga Bitoon sa Siyudad is part of the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016. This short film will be shown together with the full length feauture Oro. Mga Bitoon sa Siyudad (Stars in the City) is Jarell Serencio’s second short film. It was shot entirely in Davao City, particularly at the now infamous Roxas Avenue, the site of a recent bombing which killed 15 people.  It stars non-actors and 95% of the staff and crew are based in Davao City.

Filmmaker's Profile

Jarell M. Serencio is a homegrown Davaoeno. He finished the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication at Holy Cross of Davao College.  He joined the 1st batch of ABS-CBN & Ricky Lee’s TV scriptwriting workshop in 2003. He started as a contributing writer for the soap opera “Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas” then later he became the head researcher/writer of ABS-CBN’s drama anthology show, “Maalaala Mo Kaya”. In 2008, Jarell went to the US to work as a Photographer in Carnival Cruise Line which is based in Miami Florida. He travels to the Caribbean Islands and around US as a Wedding Photographer. After 2 years he advanced his career into Video Editor/Broadcast Technician in the same company. While working in the cruise ship he did not forget his passion in filmmaking.


He continues to hone his craft in writing by attending the workshop of Armando “Bing” Lao in 2011. A year after, he wrote, directed and produced his first film entitled “VICTOR”  for which won Best Short Feature in the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival 2012 and was also screened at the Bahamas International Film Festival, Cinema Rehiyon and San Francisco Film Festival.
Jarell was also a recipient of the Pandayang Lino Brocka Film Production workshop that promotes the effective social relevant storytelling of the late National Artist, Director Lino Brocka.


His second short film, Mga Bitoon sa Siyudad (Stars in the City), is an official entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016. He is currently working on another film project about mining in Compostela Valley which received a film grant from National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).


Official FB Page of the short film is here: https://www.facebook.com/StarsintheCity


Watch Mga Bitoon sa Siyudad together with the film Oro starting Dec 25 in cinemas.





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