Four years and not too late, the Filipino film on hunger is an internet success. Shot in 2005, “Chicken Ala Carte” came on top of 3,600 entries in the 56th Berlin International Film Festival Green Unplugged short film competition on the theme of Food, Taste and Hunger, a year later.
Ferdinand Dimadura of Naga City, Bicol, creator of “Chicken Ala Carte”, says the movie is based on a true story, an up-close depiction of hunger statistics. Nevertheless, “Chicken a la Carte” drew 12 million hits on www.cultureunplugged.com, YouTube and blogs, making the five-minute short film that was shot in one day, an online hit.
A narrative on abject hunger hitting heartstrings around the world, “Chicken Ala Carte” strays from hardcore melodrama that all too often coats Philippine storytelling. Despite this, the hits keep coming, a phenomenon that stuns the director.
Just recently, Dimadura found himself a guest director in “Slow Motion” a food film festival in Nova Scotia, Canada. Aside from “Chicken Ala Carte” his other short film, “Binamban—the glorious food of Lagonoy,” were screened at the gala of the Canada festival. Other documentaries from Canada and Denmark were also screened.
Incidentally, “Binamban,” also won in the 2006 Slow Food Short Film Competition in Torino, Italy winning over 400 entries.
“I am happy that an honest-to-goodness storytelling of the plight of the poor in our place has captured the hearts of many viewers. I hope this will be the beginning of real reforms that would benefit the most needy and dehumanized in our society,” Dimadura told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
