At Polaris’ restaurant, I sounded off Bradley who came ahead of Kenneth who was wearing his trademark hat.
As Dagatan walked past my table I called out his name and he looked back. He smiled and acknowledged. We shook hands and congratulated him for being one of the selections of the prestigious and competitive “It Project” of NAFF.
“Molder,” according to Kenneth, is about an Italian couple who admitted a Filipino guest, and from that time on, their lives were never the same again as they were experiencing horrific encounters in their lives.
That morning, Kenneth and Bradley were on their way to business meetings and pitching. I wished them good luck.
You see, the selected projects from all over the world for NAFF were given the opportunity to meet international producers, investors, marketers, distributors, press, and other stakeholders to support them in their stages of production like script development, principal photography, post-production, etc.
Genre Films
While BIFAN is unique, it focuses, promotes, and encourages the production of genre movies like horror, fantasy, sci-fi, supernatural, thriller, and the like.
“Molder” enjoyed those privileges.
The next time I saw Bradley and Kenneth was after the Made in Asia Forum held at the Webtoon Convergence Center in Bucheon in the afternoon.
No, they weren’t part of the conference but they just got down from pitching to attend a separate event.
That was one day before the awarding of the grants and cash prizes for outstanding projects on their pitching and presentation.
I again wished them the best.
Tuesday Morn
Oh! On the morning of Tuesday, I was on the way up to my hotel room, and guess who just came out from the elevator on the ground floor?—Bradley.
This time he was alone but he was rushing out.
I asked him what happened to his and Bianca’s talk with the National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts, Ricky. Liew denied it was a project for Nora Aunor. “It was about Ricky’s scriptwriting workshop,” she clarified.
Whenever I saw Kenneth and Bradley together, I congratulated them and wished them good luck.
Awards Night
On the awarding night, the first winner proclaimed was our man from Cebu in the Blood Window Partnership Grant.
Blood Window is a section in Ventana Sur Blood Window Festival, a genre fest as well in Argentina, and “Molder” was pronounced by an Argentinian film artist as the Winner.
But the most memorable moment for our Cebuano artist is the Bucheon Award for the same film because it is the highest.
He could only say “thank you” repeatedly.
“Thank you to BIFAN for supporting emerging genre filmmakers,” said Liew.
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