Fresh from receiving the Audience Award at sold out screenings at the New Filipino Film Festival in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the prestigious Gawad Urian Award for Documentary in the Philippines, critically acclaimed documentary film HARANA will make its Australian premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival taking place from 25 July through 11 August 2013. Since its release in 2012, HARANA has participated at prestigious film festivals worldwide including Busan International Film Festival, Hawaii International Film Festival (Audience Award winner), Dubai International Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, and Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.
Co-Produced by Fides Enriquez and directed by Benito Bautista, the HARANA documentary chronicles world music guitarist Florante Aguilar’s personal journey throughout remote parts of the Philippines in search for what remains of this musical tradition and its practitioners. During his travel, Aguilar meets Felipe Alonzo, Celestino Aniel, and Romeo Bergunio, three men living simple lives in obscurity but who exemplify the definition of a true harana master. In a sincere effort to capture and preserve their melodies and stories, Aguilar plucks them from their humble surroundings and asks them to travel with him to perform, record, and resurrect unheralded songs.
Word quickly spread of these venerable men whose golden voices, warm, and expressive style of singing touch the heart, culminating in a series of triumphant live performances. As Aguilar and the three haranistas captivate audiences from small
Set against the picturesque Philippine countryside and atmospheric old towns, Harana is a heartbreaking and inspiring love song to the practitioners and the sounds of a romantic, bygone era. Through this remarkable and heartfelt journey, the film becomes a celebration of music and a tradition that will once again ignite the passion and melodic treasure that is harana.
Harana will be screened on:
27 July 27 2013 1.30pm, Australian Centre for the Moving Image 2, Federation Square/Flinders Street, Melbourne
4 August 2013 9pm, Australian Centre for the Moving Image 1, Federation Square/Flinders Street, Melbourne
Ticket information is available on http://tix.miff.com.au/session2_miff.asp?sn=HARANA