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SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

FEATURES

SHORTS

BIOGRAPHY

As a film director, Khavn has made 16 features and more than 60 short films, several of which have won prizes in the Philippines, Tokyo, Spain, Canada, Germany, Brazil, & Italy. Retrospectives of his features and shorts have been presented in Italy, Spain, and Czech Republic; his short films have also been showcased in Brazil, Germany, Australia, Slovenia, and the Netherlands. He has exhibited his films in Berlin, Egypt, Manila, Tehran, Oberhausen, Amsterdam, New York, Sao Paulo, Chile, Slovenia, Austria, Australia, Goteborg, Hamburg, Singapo re, Montreal, Tokyo, Morbegno, Pesaro, Palermo, Vila Do Conde, and Rotterdam.

His latest feature “Squatterpunk” won the Grand Jury Prize in the Cinemanila International Film Festival last November. His short film “Can & Slippers”, aside from being selected in the “Shoot Goals! Shoot Movies” of the Berlinale Talent Campus, has won awards and has been an opening short film in the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. His short film “Rugby Boyz” has also been shown in a number of festivals and won awards, particularly the Special Mention Prize from the Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia in the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. “Amen”, his first short film in 16mm was produced through the Mowelfund Film Institute, the Philippine Information Agency, Kodak Philippines, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. His films have also been exhibited in the University of the Philippines Film Center and at the Cine Katipunan, a new screening venue in the center of several campuses.

His latest project "Mondomanila: Institute of Poets" has been included in the Berlinale Co-Production Market and Produire au Sud, World Film Festival Of Bangkok, and is one of the first projects to receive the Digital Production Grant from Hubert Bals Fund. Based on the award-winning novel by Norman Wilwayco, "Mondomanila" is a social surrealist portrait of the Philippines.

.MOV

Since 2002, Khavn has been the festival director of the .MOV International Digital Film Festival, the first digital film festival in the Philippines. .MOV has been held in Manila and Cebu City (with the Cebu Filmmakers Society and Revive Cebu Film Movement); the next edition will be held in Davao City (with the Mindanao Film Organization). The National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Canon Philippines, Ayala Cinemas, and SM Cinemas have been official sponsors of .MOV.

FILMLESS FILMS

With his independent digital film company Filmless Films, Khavn has produced Roxlee’s “Golden Throne” (Best Experimental Short Film, Gawad-CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) Alternative Film Festival) and JJ Duque’s “Journey” (Best Digital Feature, Gawad-CCP Alternative Film Festival). The Gawad-CCP is the longest running competition for Philippine independent films.

INDIE COOP

Khavn is a founding member of the Philippine Independent Filmmakers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Indie Coop), an alliance of film professionals from all parts of the Philippines. The Indie Coop has produced an omnibus of 16 shortfilms (featuring Kidlat Tahimik et al) about the oil spill tragedy in Guimaras Island and has distributed "Imahe Nasyon", a shortfilm anthology about the Edsa People Power Revolution (featuring Raymond Red et al). With Robinsons, one of the major theatre mall chains, the Indie Coop has also set up "Indie Sine," an arthouse cinema situated in the center of Manila, solely for the screenings of independent artfilms.

JURY

Khavn has served as a jury member in the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France), Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech Republic), the biggest festival for documentaries in Central Europe, and Jeonju International Digital Film Festival (Korea).

TEACHER

Through the Asia-Europe Foundation and the Singapore International Film Festival, Khavn gave a digital film workshop in the Ngee Ann Polytechnic University in Singapore. He also taught filmmaking, songwriting, and creative writing in the Ateneo De Manila University, his alma mater where he took up Film, Literature and Development Economics.

OTHERS

He has attended the Berlinale Talent Campus and has received the Hubert Bals Fund grant for his feature projects "Mondomanila", "The Family That Eats Soil", and "Edsa XXX", and the distribution of his films in the Philippines.

MUSIC

Singer, songwriter, and pianist of The Brockas, Khavn has directed music videos of various Philippine singers and bands, has written & composed two rock operas staged in the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and has received songwritings citations from the Metropop Song Festival and the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

LITERATURE

Khavn has won prizes for his poetry and fiction from the Palanca National Literary Awards, the most prestigious literary contest in the Philippines. This year, he was invited to be part of the jury. He has been a Writing Fellow twice, for poetry and fiction, in the National Writers Workshop. He has written two novels, a book of short stories, and several collections of poetry, two of which are published by the University Of The Philippines Press ("Ultraviolins") and University Of Santo Tomas Press ("Lines Of The Sole").