Matthew Victor Pastor, a young Filipino-Australian filmmaker from Melbourne is nominated at the prestigious Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS).
Part 2 in his Filipino-Australian trilogy the 82-minute pop-punk musical MELODRAMA / RANDOM / MELBOURNE, which features sing-a-long Karaoke songs billed as ‘Cinema-O-Ke’, sees composer Fergus Cronkite (Andrew Tran) up for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Score.
Last year saw the film win Best Original Score as part of 2018 Sinag Maynila Film Festival headed by Cannes award-winning director Brillante Mendoza and Wilson Tieng of Solar Entertainment.
The film had its Australian premiere at the well respected Adelaide Film Festival in 2018. Co-writer and lead actress, Filipino Australian artist Celina Yuen said, “Fergus Cronkite’s soundtrack added a whole new dimension to the film. The emotional depth of his music adds a beautiful layer to the performances and achieves a quiet empathy for the audience.
I also love a good melody.” Matthew said, “I’ve known Fergus (Andrew) since 2001 as kids. It’s great to see his beautiful music get recognition, even if he chooses to never show his face, which he never ever does, I’ll bring attention to his art because it’s deserved.”
Singer, and songwriter Fergus, who wrote composed all the original music said, “I’m honored to be nominated for my music. I don’t write with an audience in mind so my music can be abrasive at times, so I’m grateful FAMAS even managed to sit through my stuff.”
Passionate about Filipino Australian diaspora stories, Matthew was recently quoted in The New York Times, “it’s about seeing those stories. It has a lot of weight.”
With a lot of passion and a limited film production budget, the group Filipino Australian rebel artists who Pastor collaborates with (Alfred Nicdao, Celina Yuen, Rachel E. Zuasola, Felino Dolloso, Lilibeth Munar and Odin B. Fernandez) have worked on six feature films together.
Recently a diverse short film which he directed Fun Times managed to receive diversity funding through Screen Australia, Film Victoria, and AFTRS.
“I’m a young adult who has been gifted a lot of emotion which is a gift. I use it to make films which are now recognized. I want to thank
The FAMAS is one of the highly distinguished film award bodies in the country. The awards night will be held at The Meralco Theater in Pasig City, Philippines on April 28, 2019.
