The 10th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, also billed as Cinemalaya X was held from August 1–10 of 2014 in Metro Manila, Philippines. The achievements of Cinemalaya over the past ten years are summed up in the festival's theme: A Decade of Connecting Dimensions. The theme highlights Cinemalaya as a flourishing network of individuals, groups and institutions with a common goal of developing and promoting Filipino independent filmmaking.[1]
The festival was opened by Jose Antonio Vargas' Documented, a documentary film that chronicles his life living in America and his struggles as an undocumented immigrant. While the closing film was A Thief, a Kid and a Killer, a crime-drama film directed by American director Nathan Adolfson, starring Epi Quizon and Felix Roco.[2]
At the awards ceremony held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo on August 10; both Bwaya and Kasal won four awards each. Their awards included Best Film and Best Cinematography in their respective categories.[3]
The fifteen feature-film entries are divided into two separate competitions. The five feature-film entries will compete under the Directors Showcase which are presented by veteran film directors of the country. While the other ten feature-film entries will compete under the New Breed section which are presented by first-time or young filmmakers working today. The Short Film section has also ten competing entries. The winning film is highlighted with boldface and a dagger.
This year's Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival awards night was held Sunday night, August 10, at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.[4] Under the Director's Showcase category, Joselito Altarejos' Kasal, won the Best Film "for its deeply sensitive and moving depiction of the intricacies of relationships." While Francis Xavier Pasion's Bwaya won the Best Film of the New Breed selection "for its melding of documentary and fictional filmmaking, its effective depiction of a community's efforts to come to grips with the horrible death of a young girl from a crocodile attack, and its powerful evocation of the marshes of Agusan in Mindanao, a vast wilderness where man and beast seek to maintain an ecology of cohabitation."[5]
It is also the first time in Cinemalaya history to give the award of the Gawad Balanghai as a lifetime achievement award. Filipino filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik, dubbed as the "Father of Philippine Independent Cinema", was given the first Gawad Balanghai for he "gave the movement impetus through his pioneering efforts."[6]