These are the winners of the 34th Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibo Pelikula at Video (Commonly known as Gawad Alternatibo) which took place from August 6 – 14, 2022 at the Tanghalang Manuel Conde (CCP Arthouse Cinema).

Films are now available to watch online until October 31st, 2022 at https://www.gawadalternatibo.org

Short Feature Category

Special Citation for LGBTQIA+ Narrative Film

Under the roof of a masculine household, Chris mistakenly reveals his sexuality to his father. As all goes down to his vulnerability, Chris faces his biggest threat that ultimately embodies the opposite of his belittled confidence.

Special Citation for Screenplay

It is a semestral break, Leanna and Shaine are left in their ancestral house for vacation by their parents, wherein their superstitious grandmother, Lola Helena lives. As the kids try to rest themselves during noon, an unexpected visitor comes and tries to call the attention of Shaine, who eventually hears it and wakes up. Shaine sees another kid wearing a clean white shirt sneaking and pointing at something as she opens her eyes. Shaine approaches the kid. However, the mysterious kid quickly runs away to the forest as soon as Shaine gets close to him but Shaine decides to run after him. That is where Leanna notices that her little sister is nowhere to be found and decides to wake Carlos to help him find her sister but without the knowledge of their Lola Helena.

Special Citation for Regional Comedy

When Adam, a 17 year old boy, finds out he is pregnant, he confronts his longtime girlfriend Lily about the situation as this pregnancy threatens his life. They argue about what must be done. After an explosive argument, Adam finally makes a choice for himself.

Special Citation for Regional Drama

9 year-old Gingging, is upset when she wakes up realizing that her older brother has already left without waking her up and bringing her to work. When Manong arrives home later that afternoon, Gingging shares her intention to quit school and work at the sugarcane plantation like her brother. Manong disapproves leaving Nanay to explain their poor financial condition. The next day after school, Gingging comes home and finds Nanay and Manong talking to her brother’s school teacher, Ms. Cruz. The teacher is begging Manong to go back to school, but the boy refuses and leave.

Gingging runs after her brother and tries to convince him to change his mind by insisting that she should handle the work in the field. Unable to contain his frustration, Manong shuts her up and mocks her lack of understanding.Gingging unleashes her frustration on a pile of sugarcane she spotted on her way back home. Eager to prove her strength, she bundles some sugarcane and try to carry them up with her young fragile body. There, she realizes, she is not ready for the job.

Jury Special Citation

Black Sheep by Jay Ruiz

Special Citation for Cinematography

Haunted by an eerie image of a young girl, Angela struggles as she deals with her visions alone. Clairvoyant revolves around the story of Angela’s family as they navigate life through the pandemic, poverty, and the unexplained elements haunting their family.

Honorable Mentions – Short Feature

Dino moved into his new apartment–a safe space to embrace his sexuality. After an unexpected visit from his parents, he meets Vince, and a friendly relationship starts to emerge.

Don’t Touch the Bay-ags by Allyssa Marielle S. Garcia – 15 minutes

After finding out that his wife has shown symptoms of the COVID-19 Omicron variant on New Year’s Day, Pepe takes his wife’s role in doing the household chores for a day. He then takes precautious actions when his son also shows symptoms of the variant later that night. His hysteria grows stronger when he panicked because he could not taste the flavors of his dinner. The next day, the results came back negative for the family Bay-ags.

3rd Place – Short Feature

A timid young boy who grew up with misfits deals with confusion and tragedy on the night of his 12th birthday.

2nd Place – Short Feature

Game turns into reality when a group of friends meet up and celebrate their annual Christmas tradition.

1st Place – Short Feature

While their lives are about to change, Historia and Criselda both defy the most critical day of their lives in the most mundane way, tantamount to doing nothing in the day when the holy image of the Virgin finally returns to the City and a fertility ritual is performed by natives now considered pagans by the religious majority.

Animation Category

Special Citation – Experimental Animation

Black and White Road, is a digital animation by Jericho Cedric Maravilla which contains a sensitive topic such as self-harm and suicide. It is a story that tells about the artist’s personal journey of how he walks on the “black and white” road for him to escape reality just to find his ‘perfect place’. Through a creative visual representation which inspired from his artworks, it is parallel to the real events and situations of his life that shows how he fell out of love for himself that causes him to have suicidal thoughts and to do these self-harm actions. A perfect place can be anything, it could be someone or something that makes an person feel happy. But in this animation, for the artist to find his perfect place by hurting himself which also becomes his addiction until it gets worse until he ended up stuck in his desired place.

Hazmat by Noli Agbayani Manaig – 5 minutes

Life in the Philippines can be a test in resiliency. Earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions strike with cyclical regularity. In the time of pandemic, threat to survival has been no more pronounced for the nurses, the frontliners trapped in dire circumstances and suspended dreams.

Special Citation – Works for/by/on Children – Animation

In a small village lives an albino girl. Feeling like an outcast and unwanted by peers, she spends her days alone by the sea; until one day, she chanced upon an unlikely friend that filled her days with warmth, adventure, and mystery. A tale of love so steadfast, it weathers the storm.

A boy made of paper named Carta has been traveling alone in a cardboard box he calls home. Gusts of wind constantly sweep it from place to place but the repetition of a solo routine bores him.

One day, the box is separated from Carta in the middle of a cramped city. He then meets a strange, ragtag group of friends who offer to help him get back to his home. As they venture up an alley to reach Carta’s box, they explore acts of friendship which fascinates Carta who – never having experienced a life among others – begins to enjoy their company.

As the group reaches Carta’s box, the wind turns violent as it knocks obstacles between him and his home – threatening to be blown away by the force. Adrenaline-fueled chaos ensues, causing one of Carta’s new friends to accidentally rip his paper arm off in an effort to pull him into safety. Carta feels wronged, he retreats to his home.

He is alone again. It takes him a moment in the stillness of his solitude. He decides to leave the box. Before the wind sweeps the box away, he leaps off to rejoin his newfound friends.

Aponibonilayen is a lovely maiden who went into an unplanned trip to the heavens and met the man of her life, Ini-init. An enchanted adventure mixed with culture and traditions of the Tinguian Tribe.

Best Music Score – Animaton

The Pilgrim finds himself faceless in the crowd. The city is noisy, the world is chaotic… he wanders.

His wandering brings him to a labyrinth. Labyrinths are an ancient spiritual exercise used for meditation, prayer, and contemplation; but unlike a maze, it has only one path that leads towards the center. Reaching the center of the labyrinth is a journey around the labyrinth itself.

Inside he will face challenges, distractions on his path to the center. He will confront stifling Normalcy, resist the need to please Others, and struggle against Perfection and his sense of Self.

I, Labyrinth is not just about The Pilgrim’s journey to find himself. It is also the story of finding ourselves.

Best Regional Entries – Animation

Pagkatapos ng isang taong paghihiwalay ng paaralang pinapasukan, nagdesisyong maglakad pauwi ng bahay si Luigi kasama si Mario, ang kanyang “pre-school best friend”, sa pilapil sa gitna ng taniman ng mga palay. Nagpaguusapan nila ang kanilang mga karanasan sa private at public school. Hindi pa sila nakalalayo at kasisimula pa lamang ng kanilang pag-uusap nang biglang maalala ni Luigi ang kanyang guro sa kanyang “Arts Class” na magsisindi sa mainit na pagtatalo nila ni Mario.

Si Biboy Kag Ang Sigbin Sa Siudad by Hannah Britanico

SPACEBOUND by Stephanie Gwen C. Toribio

Honorable Mentions – Experimental Animation

A chick who lives in the forest, together with its own community, aims to live peacefully as because there’s a hungry giant that keeps on lurking around their town.

Hazmat by Noli Agbayani Manaig – 5 minutes

3rd Place – Animation

The Daligmata is a benevolent spirit that finds lost things and returns them to their owners. As the night falls, it rises to begin the search.

2nd Place – Animation

1st Place – Animation

Ang Amomonggo sa Aton by VinJo Entuna – 17 minutes

During the Marcos Dictatorship in Negros Island, Philippines of 1985, the Magbuelas family and their community of dumaan farmers face a brutal threat from the mythical creature called the Amomonggo. The creature is said to be the culprit behind the series of killings among the community. One day, a corpse was again found having sustained brutal mauling. The community is forced to further submission into solitude for their safety while in a non-violent struggle for their rights.

Documentary Category

Best Regional Entry – Documentary

Julieta, 57, is the only female kutsero (driver of horse-drawn carriage) in Cebu City, Philippines. She struggles between making a living for her remaining children as her husband is already dead and his son is in jail for being allegedly involved in illegal drugs.

Honorable Mentions – Documentary

LINGKIS (2021) mixes mythology, animation, and documentary to tell the story of a country plunged into darkness from the Marcos to Duterte regimes by a mythological serpent, whose only hope is the light people bring to fight against it.

Rocks in a Wildless Wadi by EJ Gagui – 22 minutes

The filmmaker and his younger brother filmed a wadi they describe as “windless” for being too quiet. With archives of footage and audio conversations, it recreates a lonely character contemplating to the deep muffled voices of the unseen real people; stillness of rocks to the unmoving conflict. The dialogues within the wordless exposé tackle traumatic memories as they become urgent stories relevant to both the past and the present.

3rd Place – Documentary

“Palengke Day” recounts experiences within the Baguio Public Market during the COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s Community Quarantine. Through the words and images of vendors and market-goers, the film glimpses into the space’s history and its possible future with the impending redevelopment and modernization undertaken by the city government and SM Prime Holdings.

2nd Place – Documentary

Women’s rights activist Reina Mae Nasino was a month into her pregnancy when arrested by Manila’s police on suspected trumped-up charges. She endured a difficult pregnancy in one of the world’s most crowded prisons and gave birth to Baby River Emmanuel while in detention. Efforts to allow mother and child to spend more time together failed, the Philippine government justifying their early separation to the lack of infant care facilities inside prisons. Denied care from her mother, Baby River died at only three months old. Amid a raging coronavirus pandemic, a dead three-month-old infant became a symbol of political repression by a regime denounced worldwide for its crimes against the people.

1st Place – Documentary

A trip down memory lane as a filmmaker looks back at the past that has been chasing her onto the present. She enlists the help of her cousins, with whom she grew up with, to provide the lens with which she could look at her own past in the eye, hoping that in some way, she could finally stop running.

Experimental Category

Jury Special Citation – Experimental

PAGTATAPOS by Jhonny M. Bobier II – 2 minutes

This is a bold interpretation of all the student’s emotions who suffered from depression, anxiety, harassment, and pressure that they encounter in outside and inside the school.

Honorable Mentions – Experimental

Lumalabas is an experimentation and documentation of two spaces, the indoor and the outdoor, in an attempt to present a journey of reconnection and recollection during pandemic through static images.

“I Wanna be a Tutubi” is based from the Filipino children’s game with the same name that involves hiding a small object such as a stone in their palms. The game’s mechanics and chant became a metaphor of how it feels as a queer hiding in the closet all their lives, and how the feeling of longing for freedom; hiding their true sexuality hinders them to live their lives to the fullest, to be free.

The film wants to show how someone who is aware about their sexuality for a long time was carrying this feel of longing to be free from the closet and the feeling of relief after they have the chance to finally release the “stone” or the fear that they have been holding on to their whole life.

1st Place – Experimental

A collapse of multiple lifetimes into pieces of amnesia; us, experiencing itself in dreams of life and death. A direct expression of the slow vibration as it currently is; you, a brief movement in the vestiges of nothingness.

After the genocides perpetrated by American expansionists during the Filipino-American War, the slogan of “Benevolent Assimilation” was more carefully set into motion by American civilian rule. Told in the epistolary form, excerpts of letters by William Howard Taft, appointed by American President McKinley to bring about further.

A man digs out his dead partner from the soil to spend another day with him.