Indy 1017
“1017: Sa Paglaya ng Aking Salita”
Espejo Productions, 2009
Starring: Kristofer King, G.A. Villafuerte, Rain Rosario, and Khalel Urdaneta
With the special participation of: Benji Garcia, Cris Aldaba, Tiya Pusit, and Tata Pido
Written and directed by: Zig Madamba Dulay
I’m not a movie reviewer (heck, I didn’t review Watchmen), and I’m not a big fan of “gay indy art film.” The success of films like Beautiful Boxer, Brokeback Mountain, and Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros have definitely made the queer theme popular. “Gay indy art film” is now a recurrent theme in school projects, among small independent filmmakers, and is now even explored by mainstream cinema.
Film, to me, is as much about the story as it is about the performance. 1017 may not be the most star-studded indy movie out there, and it may not have the gratuitous displays of male nudity and man-to-man sex that we have come to expect of independent films, but it is tied together by a very well-grounded story.