Piding begins with an (obviously fake) news sequence which sets us up for the rest of the film. The rest of the film is a rumination on that particular topic, and for all its flaws, I found the finished product quite fascinating.
The title is the local name of a real bird, the Calayan Rail, which is confined to a particular part of the Philippines. It had been undiscovered until recently. The rest of the movie builds a fictional narrative around that fact, taking us into the life of a slightly loopy researcher dealing with the loss of a child, a mysterious man who may or may not be his son, and the account of a failed joint Chinese-Filipino moon mission.
Piding delves into the aspect of science in the context of life, with this flightless bird, a genetic aberration to the eyes of the researcher, strutting around, while his own son lies dead. To him its a sign of irrationality in an otherwise rational world, and it tears his mind and beliefs apart. He's searching for his own idealized bird, God's Wrist, a sort of avian messiah - but it proves elusive. It is completely possible that this idealization may not exist at all, and what is rational and irrational may actually be in reverse.
There's also the notion that we, the Filipino people, are also a sort of flightless bird, if we take the space narrative and the idea of the piding side by side. We're held back, flying only on the backs of others, ourselves unable to reach the sky. For all our potential brainpower and talent, we're babies in the scientific community, with a society either unwilling or unable to support us. For someone like myself with a background in science, it affected me personally.
Piding's flaws lie in the fact that that's all there is to it, and a lot of scenes may seem like padding. The whole movie is relatively short at 70 minutes but it could have been done in under an hour. The film's symbolism and themes does help carrying it to the end in this regard. The film's ending, tying together the bird, past, present and future, wraps it all up quite nicely.
p.s. guys, don't capitalize the species name. Binomial nomenclature 101
***
Cinema One Originals 2016 Overall Thoughts
First of all, congratulations to the winners of the fest.
This has been one of the strangest lineups in Cinema One Originals ever since I started going to the fest a few years ago. Cinema One has never been shy to explore more experimental stuff in the past compared to other festivals (like Cinemalaya, who hasn't done a lot of non-narrative entries) but this year was something special. The results so far have been mixed in my opinion, though the most adventurous entries ranked among my favorites.
Other than I, Daniel Blake, I have been able to watch some of the other entries in the international showcase, although at different venues. All in all it's a very solid international program.
So, some random thoughts.
1. Venues - although I was sad that Resorts World Manila wasn't included in the lineup of theaters for this year's festival, I was happy that Cinematheque Manila was included in this year's participants. The place is literally walking distance from where I live in Manila, so it's a definite plus with regards to accessibility. I hope more Manila cinemas follow in its stead, because other than Cinemalaya Manila doesn't seem to give a crap about these fests (I miss Cinemanila a bit already.)
2. Scheduling - the complete lineup of the festival is quite expansive - 47 entries - and watching them is a formidable challenge. Theoretically, if one sticks to just one location, he or she could watch all the festival films in no time. For the person on the go, students, or people with jobs (around 80% of the intended audience), catching a competition film during weekdays or weekends is a logistical nightmare. I can live with watching less films if it means I can watch all of them. The other alternative would be more venues.
3. The festival pass system - it's modeled after the QCinema pass system, which means you buy a pass, exchange that at the booths nearby, then exchange that for an actual ticket. the festival pass entitles you to more than a 60% discount compared to the regular ticket price. Personally I don't mind the price; the true premium with these passes should be accessibility. I've seen many screenings sold out in a blink (ever tried catching Baka Bukas or 2Cool 2 Be 4Gotten in the latter half of the fest?) so priority access to these screenings would be a definite plus. However, I'm not sure if this kind of system is feasible with mall cinemas, who have their own system for accounting ticket sales.
4. The Documentary category - I'd love to tell you about how, in the strictest definition of the word, the only true documentary in this lineup was Forbidden Memory, but to be honest there isn't any strict definition of documentary anywhere, so in this context 'documentary' could mean almost anything. These documentaries are unlike any I've ever seen in my life. But hey, films like Bodysong are technically documentaries, so what do I know.
Maybe make an 'experimental' category so that people know what they're getting into? I've personally seen a number of moviegoers go into these kinds of films and feel cheated or fooled because they have a certain concept of what a documentary is. Just a suggestion.
That's about it. Only one local filmfest is left, and that's the reformed MMFF. It looks promising, but we'll see what happens next month! Until then, see you at the movies.
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