World premiere of Fil-Am film ‘Death of Nintendo’ held at Berlinale 2020

A scene from coming-of-age dramedy “Death of Nintendo,” which premiered at Berlinale.

Among the 300 films across many categories sweeping the 70th Berlin International Film Festival or Berlinale is a Filipino American “standout” called “Death of Nintendo.”

The Berlinale is largest international film festival draws over half a million attendees, including film professionals from over 130 countries.

“Death of Nintendo” had its world premiere in Berlinale at Urania on February 22, and will continue to screen in various theaters up to February 28.

It is a coming-of-age dramedy, a pop homage to puberty and adolescence depicting four 13-year-old friends, back when video games were still a novelty in the Philippines.

Poster for “Death of Nintendo.”

Set in Manila in the early 1990s, when Nintendo was at its peak, “four teenage friends go on a journey of self-discovery together as they try to one-up each other’s high scores and face life’s obstacles,” wrote Gabriele Niola of Screen Daily.age. The film is in the section of Generation, described by Berlinale as a “convention-breaking young people’s cinema.”

The lives of Tomboy Mimaw and her friends Paolo, Kachi and Gilligan revolve around Nintendo. Challenging their enjoyment of the game is the climate-changing eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, which is causing a series of earthquakes and nationwide blackouts, keeping the friends from their favorite activity. Making things more complicate the friends begin to wrestle with new dilemmas – puppy love, circumcision and other teenage horror stories.

Tomboy Mimaw is one of the characters in “Death of Nindtendo.”

“Death of Nintendo” is a collaboration between two reconnected childhood friends Valerie Castillo-Martinez, a Filipino American writer and producer who wrote the screenplay, and acclaimed filmmaker Raya Martin, whose works include “Independencia” (2009), and “Smaller and Smaller Circles” (2017).

Black Sheep Film Productions, under ABS-CBN, produced “Death of Nintendo.” It stars Noel Comia, Jr., Kim Chloie Oquendo, Jiggerfelip Sementilla, John Vincent Servilla, Moi Bien, Nikki Valdez, Angelina Kanapi, Jude Matthew Servilla, Elijah Alejo, Cayden Williams, and Agot Isidro.

The film will be shown in the Philippines after it finishes its festival tour.