Dennis Empalmado
Biography
Dennis Empalmado studied filmmaking at the MOWELFUND FILM INST. His work experience runs the gamut from sounds recordist/sound designer to writer/director of short, feauture length films and documentaries. His work is influenced by Filipino counterculture of the 1970s and 1980s. His current works were screened at local and international film festivals. He has also worked with some notable independent and mainstream film makers and film scholar at GOETHE-INSTITUT (German Cultural Center). Dennis Empalmado was born and raised in San Pablo City, Laguna, Philippines where he currently resides with his wife and two sons. One of his advocacies is to impart film knowledge and incline people who aspire to be filmmakers. With that in mind, together with his colleagues they established Sineuna, a film community based in San Pablo City.
Known For & Full Filmography5 Titles
Movie - 2006, 2h 15m • as (segment "Tawa")
Imahe Nasyon is a groundbreaking, conceptual omnibus film by 20 alternative filmmakers who were tasked to present their personal visions on national issues. Renowned line producers Jon and Carol Red hatched the idea of revisiting the 1986 EDSA revolution, challenging directors to answer the question "What happened after 1986?" with a short film not longer than five minutes each. Despite individual techniques, the same goal is shared: to depict a truthful image of the nation at present.
Movie - 2005, 2h 15m • as Carpenter 2
Set in Philippine post-American colonialist era, where the American influence was still apparent, Ilusyon tells the story of Miguel, a young man from the countryside, who decides to visit his father, Pablo, a Modernist painter in Manila. Upon his arrival, he discovers that his father has decided to leave for the province but he opted to stay in Manila for a vacation. One day, he meets Stella, a nude model originally scheduled to pose for Miguel's father. Struck by her beauty, Miguel does the unthinkable - he pretends to be his father the painter. Developing a relationship based on a lie, things turn for the worse as Stella begets a strange skin disease that turns off Miguel. Surrounded by strange characters - a talking cow, a talkative mailman and a nosy landlady - Miguel is driven into a frenzy realization about beauty, lust, love and being true to oneself. An ambiguous ending underlines the surreal tone of the film.
Movie - 2006, 2h 15m • as Jeepney (segment "Sayaw ni Aling Sepia")
Pandanggo has three stories with parallel themes converging in one event, the Kasilonawan Festival in Obando: a career woman learning to dance tango who is torn between her dance partner and live-in partner has to choose the man who will satisfy her dream of raising a family; a wife whose wish to conceive a baby boy to make her husband happy brings her feet to the festival, but fate has other plans of bringing the child into her life; and a modern woman who, amidst her medical condition that might render her childless for the rest of her life, finds connection with an ancient lore about fertility.
Movie - 2018, 2h 15m • as Tiyo Maximo (Voice)
As Angelo and his friends struggle to find self validation through music and art, his growing obsession with Lelay – a young cashier drives him to withdraw from reality.
Movie - 2018, 2h 15m • as Gig Scene Person #7
As Angelo and his friends struggle to find self validation through music and art, his growing obsession with Lelay – a young cashier drives him to withdraw from reality.