Filmmaker’s Profile
ROMMEL TOLENTINO aka MILO is a visual artist who excels in fine-art and commercial photography, graphic design and filmmaking. He is a Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival multi – awardee, and the first Filipino filmmaker to win in the very prestigious Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France [ 2009 ] and to take the SONJE Award in the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea [ 2008 ].
He is also a 2009 Gawad Urian winner as well as a recipient of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Award in 2008 [ through the Cinemanila International Film Festival ], Kidlat Tahimik’s Bamboo Camera Award in 2009, and PIFF Asian Cinema Fund Script Development grant also in 2009. He was recently awarded a Special Citation by the National Council For Children’s Television and the Philippines’ Department of Education for his contribution in creating child-friendly and child-focused films.
He took up Communication Arts at the UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS and later took film classes at the UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES FILM INSTITUTE, DILIMAN. He made his first film in 2004 and hasn’t stopped ever since. He directs, writes, photographs, edits, designs, and produces most of his films.
FILMMOGRAPHY
- Nino Bonito 17MINS 2011
Boni, a little boy from the slums squares off with the stark reality of drugs, petty crime and abuse armed with ingrained moral conscience, his own brand of hip hop and some divine intervention.
- “P” 20MINS 2010
A playful piece about a pesky little boy’s peevish and precarious summer prance with his petrifying Auntie Pekta at the peak of the A[H1-N1] scare in the Philippines. Playfully pandemic.
AWARDS WON:
Best Direction
Special Jury prize award
Audience Choice award, Best Film for Children
CINEMALAYA PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL 2010
Official Selection, Wide Angle Section
15th Pusan International Film Festival 2010, South Korea
Official Selection,
Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival, Jakarta
- Si Baning, Si Maymay at ang Asong si Bobo
110MINS Cinema One Originals 2009
In an improvised classroom beneath an open sky, six-year-old Baning learns to draw her Letrang Ga – taking cue from her problematic, somewhat distracted friend Maymay. For a little girl who is focused on learning her Abakada, melodramatic excursions such as this poses an adverse effect on her makeshift education. And that, to Baning, is a problem.
And let us not forget, there’s also this serious concern over this dog named “Bobo”, her sibling rivalry with Paeng and her mother’s sudden fixation with the drunk next door.
AWARDS WON
Best Actress : Miss Rio Locsin
Best Supporting Actor : Jan Harley Hicana
Cinema One Originals 2009
- BLOGOG 17MINS 2009
A boy got more than what he bargained for when he picked up a filthy yellow ball down a creek.
AWARDS WON
Special Jury prize award
CINEMALAYA PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL 2009
Official Selection
14th Pusan international Film Festival 2009
Official Selection
Neil Geiman Graphic Fiction Awards 2010
- LAN-AY : CANDLES BURNING ON STILL WATER 17MINS 2008
A pseudo documentary that follows the footsteps of Laleng and Elmer as they seek spiritual cure for their ailing mother while collecting candle waxes for a living.
RECIPIENT
UNITED NATION MDG’S AWARD FOR SHORT FILM 2008
CINEMANILA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2008
- ANDONG 20MINS 2008
A story about a five-year-old boy’s obsession, family dynamics and the real value of a hard-fought twenty pesos.
AWARDS WON
WINNER, BEST SHORT FILM, Best Director, & Best Screenplay
Cinepambata Film Festival 2010
WINNER, BEST SHORT FILM
Gawad Urian 2009
WINNER, BEST SHORT FILM & BEST SCREENPLAY
CINEMALAYA PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL 2008
SONJE AWARD, BEST SHORT FILM
13TH PUSAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2008
AUDIENCE AWARD & PRESS PRIZE AWARD
CLERMONT FERRAND INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2009
OFFICIAL SELECTION
35TH SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM 2009
ARTFILMFEST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2009, SLOVAK REPUBLIC
INDIELISBOA INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL 2009, PORTUGAL
WORLD COMEDY FILM FESTIVAL, BANGKOK, THAILAND
SAN SEBASTIAN HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL 2009
- SI PEPE AT ANG MGA BULAKLAK
THE BOY WHO LOVES FLOWERS 05MINS 2007
A boy gets bullied and abused for his love of flowers.
One of the ten short films worldwide commissioned by UNESCO, France, for its podcast series project. It joins films from Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria, Guatemala, Italy. Mexico, India, Iran and Pan-Africa.
- SA KANLUNGAN NG IMPIYERNO
ON HELLS CRADDLE 35MINS 2007
After the mysterious drowning of her sister in Impiyerno – a polluted basin in the hub of their congested rural neighborhood, Eliza, 12, took the responsibility of looking after her orphaned nephew Bobot.
Relying solely on a battered wife’s herbal remedy and help from her wise-cracking bestfriend Rica, Eliza on a daily basis, struggles to keep the boy safe from her father’s constant abuse.
Now, five years later, the evil, that once stalked her sister, returns, quietly waiting, lurking in every corner – ready to grab and devour them in the shadows.
IN EXHIBITION
CINEMANILA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2007
- BUOG/SLEEP 30MINS 2007
OFFICIAL SELECTION
CINEMANILA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2006
ROTTERDAM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL in 2007 wrote, “The film maker simply and inventively uses the classic horror film idiom of making a film that is both more serious and more playful than this genre. Very exciting!”
A battered boy sought refuge in a secluded lighthouse and strike an unlikely friendship with a playful little boy
- ORASYON/ANGELUS 30MINS 2006
A modern-day parable about a religious old woman whose life was turned upside down by the arrival of a nosy, meddling housemaid. A stark tale of personal frailty, unanswered prayers and a dark secret that hides and taunts in a broken-down shed.
AWARDS WON
WINNER, BEST SHORT FILM
CINEMALAYA PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL 2006
NOMINEE, BEST SHORT FILM
GAWAD URIAN 2007
- ’APAK/BAREFEET 05MINS 2006
A poor boy with no slippers dreams of playing tumbang-preso – a game of hit the can.
AWARDS WON
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Chinh India kids film festival 2009
SPECIAL MENTION
SEDICICORTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FORLI, ITALY 2007
IN EXHIBITION
CINEMANILA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2006
BEST SHORTFILM MADE FOR/ABOUT CHILDREN
20TH GAWAD CCP FOR FILM & VIDEO, 2008
- ALIMUOM 23MINS 2005
A story about a man who committed a murder and a dead man who refuses to stay dead.
OFFICIAL SELECTION
CINEMALAYA PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL 2005