PRESS RELEASE

CINEMANILA 2006: Synopses of Films in Competition

From more than fifty (50) films coming from no less than forty (40)
countries Cinemanila proudly presents nine (9) films chosen to compete
for the prestigious Grand Prize Lino Brocka Award:

2006 Cinemanila International Competition:

1) 9th Company
Director: Fyodor Bondarchuk (Finland-Russia-Ukraine)

The film follows a band of young recruits from a farewell ceremony
with friends and family back home, through their often brutal training
in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley, up to a bloody battle on a mountain
top in Afghanistan against the mujahideen.

Best Foreign Language Film Nominee (Russia)- Oscar Awards
Golden Eagle- Russian Academy of Cinema Arts

2) Climates
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey-France)

A dowdy university instructor Isa is an inattentive husband to his
younger TV-business wife Bahar. Self-absorbed and selfish, Isa only
communicates in the most rudimentary way while she, similarly,
detaches into crying jags and juvenile behavior.

FIPRESCI Prize
Palm D'Or Nominee- Cannes Film Festival 2006

3) Citizen Dog
Director: Wisit Sasanatieng (Thailand)

A colorfully surrealistic story set in contemporary Bangkok, where a
boy (Pod) without a goal in life falls in love with a girl (Jin) who
lives for her dreams. The movie is frequently compared with the
French film Amelie. One of the main themes of the movie is that
people will only find something from the moment when they stopped
looking for it.

Luc Besson's Eurocorp picked the film for international release.

Critics Prize- Deauville Asian Film Festival
6th on the Top Ten Best Films of 2005- Time magazine

4) Everlasting Regret
Director: Stanley Kwan (Hong Kong)

Based on Wang Anyi's Changhen Ge, the multi-awarded winning novel that
was voted the most influential work of the 90's in China.
Everlasting Regret follows a legendary Shanghai beauty from her
glamorous days to her simpler life as she struggles to preserve the
dignity of her past while surviving the constant betrayal of her men.
She stands tall and proud as she bears witness to the waves of
changes to her city from 1947 to 1981 until one wave finally
overwhelms her.
Open Prize- Berlin Film Festival

5) Heremias
Director: Lav Diaz (Philippines)

The story of a gentle human being whose quiet and simple life is
changed by circumstances that plunge him into disillusionment,
shattering his view of the world and faith in man, and, ultimately,
lead him to question the justice, and the existence of God.

Special Jury Prize- 20th Fribourg International Film Festival

6) It's Only Talk
Yuko is a 35 yr-old woman-unemployed, single and being treated for
manic depression. Single though she may be, she divides her time
among a variety of men: Homma, her university classmate, who suffers
from impotence; "K" a guy she met on the web, who is a self-confessed
pervert; Noburu, a depressed gang member, and her cousin Soichi,
separated from his wife and child and just dumped by his lover.

Director: Ryuichi Hiroki (Japan)
FIPRESCI Prize- Singapore International Film Festival 2006

7) Kubrador
Director: Jeffrey Jeturian (Philippines)

Amy is an aging jueteng kubrador (bet collector) as she goes about her
daily business collecting bets, avoiding the police and paying her
handler, all the while dealing with events in her personal life,
including the recent death of her son. An ordinary meaningless
existence can suddenly be changed by the perplexing game of life,
luck and death.

FIPRESCI- 28th Moscow International Film Festival
FIPRESCI- 2006 Osian Cinefan Film Festival
Best Asian Film- 2006 Osian Cinefan Film Festival
Best Asian Actress- 2006 Osian Cinefan Film Festival

8) Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Director: Park Chan-wook (South Korea)

Lee Geum-Ja, at the age of 19, goes to prison for the murder and
abduction of a child on behalf of her accomplice Mr. Baek, only to
find out that she is betrayed. While is prison, she carefully
prepares for her revenge by winning the hearts of her fellow inmates
with her kindness, thus earning herself the nickname `kind Ms.
Geum-Ja.' Upon her release from prison after 13 years, she finally
sets out to seek revenge on Baek, with the help of her former prison
mates.

Golden Lion Nominee- 62nd Venice International Film Festival
Best Director Winner- Bangkok Festival 2006
Best Actress (Lee Young-ae)- Spain Film Festival 2005

9) TAKING FATHER HOME
Director- YING LIANG (China)

When Xu Yu leaves his village in search of his father, it marks a
point of no return for the adolescent. Living a life of hardship in
rural China, the news of his father having an affair, making it big
and with a car to boot incensed the young adult. His mother's pleas
fail to stop him from leaving. We next see Xu Yun with the 1,000
yuan given by his father and two ducks in a basket setting off for the
city to look for his father.

More than a youth's journey into adulthood, Yi Liang's feature debut
is a hard hit on present-day China, with deep moral and spiritual
questioning by the director. Right from the word 'go', the film
echoes the dilemma that is facing the country as it marches towards
development and economic change. The father in the film symbolises
the leadership of the country, the son the masses in search of its
destiny.

Throughout his search he faces challenges that would transform him
further. There are constant references urging him to become a man.
Circumstances show taht there are no guarantees in life. The
director seems to ask: Is it necessary to kill the 'father' in order
that the 'son' may find this true self? Winner of the Special Jury
Prize at the the Tokyo Filmex.

10) The Wind that Shakes the Barley
Director: Ken Loach (UK-Germany-Italy-France-Spain-Ireland)

Ireland, 1920. Damien and Teddy are brothers fighting side by side
until a truce is signed. Peace is achieved but is short-lived and
when England imposes a treaty regarded unfair by a part of the
population, war resumes, this time pitting Irishmen against Irishmen,
brothers against brothers, Teddy against Damien.

Palm D'Or Winner- 2006 Cannes Film Festival

The 8th Cinemanila International Film Festival opens from Nov. 03-15 @
the Greenbelt Cinemas (International films) SM Digital Cinemas
(Digital Lokal) and the NCCA Auditorium Intramuros Manila.

The 8th Cinemanila International Film Festival is brought to us by the
Film Development Council of the Philippines, the National Commission
for Culture and the Arts and the Independent Cinema Association of the
Philippines in cooperation with SM Cinema, Greenbelt Cinema, Cinema
One, NU 107, Yehey.com, Click the City, Nissan Motor Phils., Asus,
International Academy for Film and Television-Bigfoot Entertainment
and TBWA