Adolfo Alix Jr.'s Kalayaan at the FDCP Cinematheque this week

This week at the FDCP Cinematheque, a relevant film about the lives of lonely soldiers in Spratly Islands, entitled "Kalayaan" written and directed by Adolfo Alix Jr. will be screened from May 19 to 24, 2015. The FDCP Cinematheque is located at the B&C Square Building, Solis Street, Iloilo City (near BPI and East West Bank). The Cinematheque is Iloilo's home of quality indie films and art films from the local and international cinema. [hit the jump to continue]

Julian, a Filipino soldier stationed in Kota Island, is ready to leave Kalayaan. He already completed his three months of service. News of a pending coup d' etat in Manila orders him to stay in the island until further notice. With nothing much to do, he spends his waiting hours walking by the beachfront, cleaning his rifle, watching porn, listening to songs on his old radio to overcome boredom and loneliness. He also has to contend with ‘someone’ seemingly watching him. Not until his officer from the main island sends the loud mouth Lucio and the newbie Eric to station with him on the island. Their moments together - chatting, drinking, playing basketball and exchanging stories about a ghost soldier opens up things that Julian tries to forget. He is now confronted with a growing loneliness and remembers a traumatic experience in his past, which he doesn’t want to talk about. His only option for survival is to cope with reality or lose his own sanity.

The film stars Ananda Everingham, Zanjoe Marudo, Luis Alandy, Rocky Salumbides, Kiki Sugino, and Angeli Bayani, and is written and directed by Adolfo Alix Jr., who is best known for his films "Kadin", "Death March" which entered to the Un Certain Regard section of 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and "Donsol" which  was a finalist in the 2006 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and was the Philippines' official submission to the 2006 Academy Awards (OSCARS) Best Foreign Language Film category.

For "Kalayaan" Alix based the film on the interviews he conducted on different Filipino soldiers stationed in the Kalyaan Islands for months. It is one of the official entries for the Directors Showcase Category in Cinemalaya 2012. "Kalyaan" had several nominations and awards. Among them was that it was nominated for the Grand Prix Award, and won the NETPAC Award at the Warsaw International Film Festival in 2012.

Admission price is at P100 only.
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