Student films at 17th CINE U feel human in the age of AI

Before they can walk on stage to accept their diplomas, many of the graduating student filmmakers of Cebu Normal University (CNU) had one last hurrah on May 17 at Cebu City Hall as they took home trophies at the 17th CINE U Film Festival Awards.

- By JANUAR JUNIOR AGUJA

"This is going to be our last time participating in this festival," Mark Le Boncales told The FREEMAN. He won Best Director in two categories: Pelikola's UnBAKSing: A Queer Film Festival, and Green Screen: Gahi Ang Ugat, for the respective entries "Pin ni Ping" and "Trick or Trek", both produced by Dibuho Productions.

With 38 short entries from student filmmakers at CNU and other universities across the country, the films shared a common theme of telling sociopolitical stories, whether through fiction, real-life narratives, infomercials, or music videos.

This aligned with the year's theme, "Frames of Reality and Progressive Filmography," which encouraged timely storytelling while also helping to lay the foundation for the graduates' filmographies.

The organization's head, Nina Honeilien Lumbab, told The FREEMAN, "This event shows the effort and passion of these film students while juggling their academic responsibilities. They are making movies as early as now so that they can build a strong filmography that, throughout the years, people can see that they had the talent and potential since their student days."

"Pin ni Ping" focuses on the strained relationship between a gay student and his father, who once proudly displayed the child's achievements on the refrigerator door. A series of incidents opens up a path to reconciliation.

"The story was inspired by a real friend, and we interviewed him about his experience," Boncales said. "Kudos to our team because we made this in a month with so many revisions to the script and consultations with our professor, especially to LJ Biaño, who is our screenwriter."