Film by Cordilleran director receives grants from Singapore International Film Festival

Photo Courtesy || SGIFF

Cordillera - Firm by Cordilleran director Raphael Eblaham is among the selected documentaries and short films from Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore to receives grants from the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) Film Fund. 

The SGIFF Film Fund consists of the Tan Ean Kiam Foundation-SGIFF Southeast Asian Documentary Grant (SEA-DOC) and the SGIFF Southeast Asian Short Film Grant (SEA-SHORTS).

The grants is given to support filmmakers who has compelling stories to tell and contribute to the development of Southeast Asian cinema.

In 2023, the committee responsible for selection has designated three projects in the production stage, each being granted S$30,000 in monetary support. 

Additionally, a post-production project will be bestowed with a grant totaling S$20,000. Through the provision of the SEA-DOC grant, the Tan Ean Kiam Foundation aspires to offer backing to documentary filmmakers from Southeast Asia, enabling them to persist in capturing narratives that hold distinct significance within the region.

Here is the list of films who will received grants from SGIFF:

VOX HUMANA by Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (Philippines)

TERMITE LIFE by Chonchanok Thanatteepwong (Thailand)

CHILDREN'S DAY by by Giselle Lin (Singapore)

THE STORYTELLERS by Taufiqurrahman Kifu (Indonesia)

The selection committee cited for the film Vox Humana, “The emotional weight of Indigenous presence on the Philippine Islands is meticulously composed in Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan’s latest imagination, where visual styles rarely used in framing Indigenous bodies are employed as an expression of resistance. Complex themes of modernity, authority, and ecological collapse, lodged within the story dynamics of a jaded zoologist and a Feral Man accused of murders, unravels patiently in the hands of an ingenious filmmaker brimming with compassion.”

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Cordilleran Film "The Headhunter's Daughter" wins first Short Film Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival

Photo Courtesy || Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan

Cordillera - A film by Cordilleran-Visayan filmmaker/director Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan "The Headhunter's Daughter" has won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the recently held 38th Sundance Film Festival in the United States of America.

The film was the only second Filipino short film to have ever compete in the Sundance Film Festival.

Eblahan's historic win at the Shorts Program 4 completes the country's successful participation in the festival as Martika Escobar's "Leonor Will Never Die" claims the 'Special Jury Award for Innovative Spirit' which is also country's first-ever win in the festival's World Cinema Dramatic Section.

Don Josephus Raphael is an independent filmmaker born of Ifugao and Visayan descent.

Eblahan works explore themes of trauma, and nature told through the cosmic lens of post colonial spaces and indigenous identities. 

In 2021, one of Eblahan films entitled "Hilum won the Student prize and received special mention from the international jury at Clemont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in the United States that brought wider recognition for iconic films such as “Saw,” “The Blair Witch Project,” “500 Days of Summer,” and “Boyhood.” 

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Cordilleran film "The Headhunter's Daughter" to screen in U.S. largest film festival Sundance

Photo Courtesy || Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan

Cordillera - A film by Cordilleran-Visayan filmmaker/director Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan "The Headhunter's Daughter: Short Film is among the official selection of the 38th Sundance Film Festival happening from January 20 to 30, 2022 in the United States.

Don Josephus Raphael is an independent filmmaker born of Ifugao and Visayan descent.

Eblahan works explore themes of trauma, and nature told through the cosmic lens of post colonial spaces and indigenous identities. 

In 2021, one of Eblahan films entitled "Hilum won the Student prize and received special mention from the international jury at Clemont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

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Launched in 1978, Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in the United States that brought wider recognition for iconic films such as “Saw,” “The Blair Witch Project,” “500 Days of Summer,” and “Boyhood.” 

This year, The Headhunter’s Daughter will be one of the two Filipino films that will be participating at the festival, the other one being Martika Escobar’s feature film, "Ang Pagbabalik ng Kwago" which was selected to compete under the World Dramatic Competition.

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Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan's film made it to the shortlist of an International Short Film Festival in France.

Photo Courtesy || Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan & FDCP

Cordillera - A film by Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan "Hilum" has made it to the International Competition Shortlist of the 43rd Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France. 

Eblahan who traces his roots to Ifugao (father side) and Cebu (mother side) is the director of the film "Hilum" or "Remedy" about a dispassionate young woman who work as a professional 'mourner for hire' at funerals and wakes to earn a living.

Eblahan graduated Magna Cum Laude from DePaul University in Chicago, USA, where he took up Bachelor of Fine Arts in Movie and Television major in Directing. 

At the age of 22, Eblahan directed his very first film "Umbilical Cord to Heaven" or "Taling Pusod patungo sa Paraiso" which  had won the short film competition in the USA.

READ ALSO: How a high school graduate with no degree in film-making produces one of the top Igorot movies

The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival is the biggest international film festival dedicated to short films and it is the second largest film festival held annually in France after Cannes.

RELATED:  Film by Igorot director Julius Lumiqued makes it to the final in CineMarya 2020

The festival is attended by professional film makers and directors from around the world. It is estimated that the festival has an attendance of over 160,000 attendees and 3,500 professionals. 

The festival will begin on January 29, 2021 and will end on February 6. 

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