BAKUNAWA FEST X
JURIED AWARD WINNERS I BAKUNAWA FEST X
Here are the winners of Bakunawa Fest X as decided by the Board of Jury for this edition composed of Film Director Jeffrey Jeturian (Philippines), Film Director Le Binh Giang (Vietnam) and Film Critic Tito Genova Valiente (Philippines). The only requirement from Bakunawa Fest is for the Jury to name Grand Bakunawa for Best Short Film and Grand Jury Prize. The rest of the awards are all decisions of the Jury and each award carries a citation based on the deliberations.
GRAND BAKUNAWA
FOR BEST SHORT FILM
DEMON BOX
Sean Wainsteim I Canada
A retelling of the Holocaust is at the core of this short film, where the history of violence by humans against other humans is told through the narrative of an almost-folk tale, where grandfathers leave legacies in the form of magical boxes from which spring not only demons and other spirits of vengeance and righteousness but also the truth about wars cutting across generations and generations left forever wounded or scarred. For this bravery and poetry, the Grand Bakunawa is given to Demon Box.
GRAND JURY PRIZE
THE SCRIPT
Aleksandra Kardalevska I Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia
A short film reminds us no space is limited when acute literary imagination takes over and brings together certain recognizable icons of literature; they meet and entangle as they recognize themselves as having come from the pages of books rather than from life and proceed to chart their own destinies. In the end, for this international festival of the Fantastic, literatures from different cultures and traditions remain the most fascinating work writers can conjure and manufacture. For this, the Jury Prize is duly given to The Script.
BEST DIRECTOR
KATHLEEN BU, YOU WILL SEE
Singapore
In a film, the camera is an intruder and the photographer turns into an invader who is caught between respecting another human and violating his own space - all for the sake of art and documentation. For an astute commentary about how we become our own monstrosity in our desire to capture the truths, Kathleen Bu is declared the Best Director for her short film You Will See.
SPECIAL MENTION
THE OLD YOUNG CROW
Liam LoPinto I Japan, USA
A superior narrative that seamlessly weaves in and out of two languages (Japanese and Persian), creating in the process a story about love and caring across universes of the living and those whose deaths refuse to put an end to their kinship with others, Special Mention is given to The Old Young Crow, a visual feast of memories amidst erasures by imperfect social histories.
SPECIAL MENTION
EL PADRASTO (THE SKIN)
José Casas I Spain
As the skin peels off a man’s once perfect body, we begin to contemplate how male (even female) allure is nothing but skin-deep. In a bravura art, violence and beauty work to create a commentary about identity and the assertion of the self. For this, Special Mention is given to EL Padrasto
PREMYO PINOY FANTASTICA
(Best Filipino Film of the Fest)
SA BURUTLAKAN (WHERE THE SUN RISES)
Kyle Fredrick Jabian & Aaron Dave Escobido I Philippines
A gallant, if not almost naive and simple story about hope amidst faithlessness using old tales of valor against stronger foes, Sa Burutlakan is able to find lessons from tales our ancestors told us about the beginning of communities and the triumph of fate. Sa Burutlakan rises above the other films to win the Premyo Pinoy Fantastica (Best Filipino Film of the Festival).