PH film ‘Primetime Mother’ is included in the lineup of this Toronto film fest
After the Toronto International Film Festival, “Primetime Mother” by Filipino Sonny Calvento is screening in another film fest in Canada | Photos from Southern Lantern Studios and Reel Asian Film Festival/YouTube
It’s been an eventful year for Philippine cinema, and it looks like things are far from stopping even if we’re already down to the last quarter of 2023. Case in point: The current path of Filipino film “Primetime Mother.”
The satirical short film, starring Meryll Soriano, delves into an exploitative game show’s audition which becomes the strength test of a mother who’s long been suffering. It recently made waves at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), marking its world premiere, and AFI Fest film festival, its US premiere. Now, the Sonny Calvento-directed tale is plotting more stops globally, including another event in Canada.
As announced by its production house Southern Lantern Studios, “Primetime Mother” is included in the roster of Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, which spotlights contemporary Asian cinema, plus Asian and Asian diaspora representation. Its 27th edition is happening on Nov. 8 to 19, 2023.
As stated in their website, the roster includes “films and videos by Asian-identifying artists in Canada, the U.S., Asia and all over the world. As Canada’s largest Asian film festival, Reel Asian® provides a public forum for Asian media artists and their work, and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada.”
The short is included under the “The Strange, The Odd, and the Familiar,” program which lets the audience “sit with the discomforting feelings that arise when we begin to confront the unknown in what we believe to know.”
In the trailer, you can already sense its eerie and sardonic atmosphere.
Apart from it, the lineup includes “Time Trip Time” (UK), “Death Mask” (Canada), “Chomp It!” (Malaysia), “Acid Green” (USA, Singapore), and “Apoy” (Canada), which is directed by Filipino-Indian student Nushi Sharma.
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Pogledajte ovu objavu na Instagramu.
According to Southern Lantern Studios, the film’s co-producer Weijie Lai will be present at the festival. Aside from Reel Asian, the project will be part of the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur’s “International Competition: Game of Dreams” in Switzerland (Nov. 7 to 12) and the Singapore International Film Festival’s “Southest Asian Short Film Competition” (Nov. 30 to Dec. 10), where you can catch the director.
