Brutus, the full length film directed by Tara Illenberger (my sister) and executive produced by Ronel Baylon (my husband) reaped 4 awards at the 2008 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. I feel myself puffing up with pride.  My gosh! My mother will be strutting like a peacock again. Yeheeeyy!  Yeheeey!

Here’s the list of awards: Jury Prize , Brutus by Tara Illenberger; Best Musical Score , Joey Ayala for Brutus; Best Supporting Actor , Yul Servo for Brutus; Best Cinematography ,  Jay Abello for Brutus.

For a film that almost never made it to its gala screening, getting four awards is not that bad. Not that bad at all. Just weeks before the film fest, a certain Non-Government Organization, upon the urging of a former American Peace Corps(who has no business meddling in Philippine affairs), threatened CCP with a Temporary Restraining Order. They didn’t want the film to be shown because of certain legal reasons that I cannot fully comprehend.  So my sister had to hire a lawyer to settle things  just a week before the opening of the festival. She said that she felt so tired and was ready to give up.  She told the Mangyans, whom she worked with and whose story she was telling, that she didn’t care about the festival anymore but if they wanted her to fight for the film then she would.  

I told my sister that her movie has a story that is worth telling. It is an honor that the Mangyan people have trusted her enough to allow her to tell the world of their plight. That thought should be enough to give her the  strength to fight for her film. It seemed that things got ironed out somehow and she was able to present her work to the public.

I haven’t seen it myself. I wish I could.   Still waiting to get a copy. In the meantime I just go to their website to find out what’s new.  If you’re curious you can click on this link: http://brutusthemovie.com/blog/?page_id=6

Dear friends,

Finally, the official schedule for the 2008 Cinemalaya Film screenings is out!

I am inviting you all to watch my film “Brutus”.

It will be shown on these dates at the Cultural Center of the Philippines:

June 13/Sun    9:00pm   MKP Hall

July 15/Tues   9:00pm   Huseng Batute

July 16/Wed    3:30pm  Main Theatre

July 18/Fri       9:00pm  MKP Hall

July 19/Sat      6:15pm   Main Theatre

July 20/Sun     3:30pm Little Theatre

The GALA SCREENING of “Brutus” will be on July 19, Saturday at the CCP Main Theatre.  Please come early for the cockltails 

My short film “Durog” will also be shown at the CCP Silangan Hall on July 20, Sunday 3:30 pm.

Hope to see you there! Bring your kids.

Tara 

P.S.  Tickets are regularly at 100 pesos each. Contact me two days beforehand to avail of discounted bulk purchases