With the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival wrapping up May 1st, there had to be a sigh of relief among those like me who saw a memorable film that was in my opinion, egregiously omitted from winning one of the top jury awards.  This film's journey is just beginning as TFF was its World Premiere so stay at ease.  And for me, I only saw it by good fortune because it was just one of those things that was not fitting into my schedule.  But I moved some things around with some understanding others and I was able to be a part of a special experience, as this was an actual audience at the screening I attended, not the press and industry crowds I had been watching many of the films I have seen with.  This life altering moment in time will hopefully relive itself because  Give Up Tomorrow was just announced as the recipient of the 2011 TFF Heineken Audience Award, which means there will be two additional screenings tomorrow.  Righteously great luck for those here in NYC who want to be part of something that was for me, one of the top festival experiences I have ever been a part of.

Give Up Tomorrow follows the story of 19-year-old culinary student Paco Larrañaga, who in 1997 was arrested for the kidnap, rape, and murder of two sisters on the provincial island of Cebu in the Philippines.  Even though there was overwhelming evidence of his innocence, namely  40 eye-witnesses and photographs placing him hundreds of miles from the scene of the crime at school, he was convicted of a crime he clearly did not commit.  Director Michael Collins and Producer Marty Syjuco as well as their collaborators have been tireless workers documenting  Paco's struggle and his unjust incarceration that continues to this day.  They have irrevocably elevated awareness concerning the horrible legal conditions that the world is being overrun by, and unfortunately, more and more very day.

As a piece of art, Give Up Tomorrow transcends being a film, which was pointed out by one of my astute friends who attended the screening with me.  This is something I have been harping on since I started doing this:  Documentary films are the greatest incarnation of journalism ever.  They have replaced the corporate owned television news sources and print media as the place to truly find out what is happening around the world with unflinching, unsanitized, and undeniable truth.  This film has broken through the wall of audience and filmmaker in a way that will forever change how films are made, well, if the powers with the dollars have any sense at all.

The level of commitment to the narrative in Give Up Tomorrow is unchallenged, as the filmmakers spent six years following this story, documenting it in a way that all other filmmakers should strive to achieve.  It was tireless, unnerving, and it was impossible to not be interested in what was going to happen next.  Perhaps think of the film as a deliberately paced, edge of your seat mystery/thriller, walking you through dead ends, thoroughfares, and confusing intersections, all the while, moving the narrative forward and revealing more of the evidence in Paco's case in a compelling way.  Oh, and by the way, the film is one of the most socially relevant works to come through the festival circuit in recent years.

This is all sounding so insanely complementary right?  Well, there is nothing to criticize in this film.  I only hope I am able to do something half as good as this in my filmmaking life.  The access that is shared to the intimate details of this horribly unjust travesty is mind boggling.  Sitting there watching all this, you are trying to take in the facts of the case, all of these "naked" moments with the subjects, I wondered if I was the only one feeling this. 

Alertly, I had the presence to take note of rest of the audience during one of the most haunting and uncomfortable moments of my film watching life to see how everyone else was feeling.  We were engaged, listening to the diabolical Mrs. Chiong, the mother of the daughters who Paco and the others were accused of committing the crimes against, describe what she was going to do to Paco and the others if they ever got out of jail.  It is insane to me that this woman would allow herself to be captured on camera in this manner, and bravo to Collins and Syjuco for getting it.  The entire film was like this, heroic and daring captures of moments it would seem impossible to preserve, but they pulled it off.

I have said a lot about this film, but perhaps the best way to understand it would be to read my initial thoughts from inside the theater after it ended, in the moment, which is what really counts to be honest.  This is what I wrote down in the theater, so pardon the raw nature. 

"This (Give Up Tomorrow) is the only film I have seen here receive a seemingly unending wave of applause.  At the end of the film, during the credits, then when Paco's parents, his sister and her husband, members of the Philippine Embassy, and the f*@&ing brilliant filmmakers, Michael Collins and Marty Syjuco all take the stage the enthusiastic audience just carries on.  Then we are given a heartwarming, but sober Q and A, and for most of the time, they were up there trying to answer questions within the barrages of cheering and clapping.  Just a magical moment you should never forget man."

Be part of something special, check the links below to find out where you can see this film at TFF and beyond.  If you are interested in following along with the coverage of the TFF or film festivals in the future, you can receive these articles directly as they are published by clicking on the “Subscribe” button at the top of this piece. You can also follow me on Twitter by searching for ericshlapack or by clicking the link below.

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2011 Tribeca Film Festival
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