Last night, Facebook went down and we took it as a sign to shut down our computer and take a taxi to the 1st Kamias Jazz Fest. We’re glad we did. Held at Spaceship, a newly opened carinderia in Quezon City (20 Kamias Rd; Tue-Sun 10am-midnight), the event was in honor of Film Festival Rotterdam programmer Gertjan Zuilhof who has an unusual habit that he’s developed and harnessed with years of travelling: when he reaches his hotel room, he goes straight to the writing desk and sketches away on the hotel stationery. His works remind us of Dr Seuss: almost-surreal figures that look like they were drawn quickly and spontaneously.
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“I am a serious film festival programmer and most people didn’t know about my drawings other than the ones I made during boring meetings. Only after I started to post them on Facebook more people got to see my sometimes strange drawings. I call them AUTO CARTOONs (Auto for Autoportrait / Self-portrait; but also Automatic in the Surrealist sense),” says Gertjan, who studied art history in Leiden University.
The best thing about his drawings? He was giving them away to the first 100 guests.
There were 12 people scheduled to perform at the jazz festival, which was held on a makeshift stage right outside Spaceship. The street was lined with monobloc chairs, set against tables made of heavy, varnished wood.
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A projection screen hung delicately from the roof, while sofas and chairs were brought out and arranged cinema-style on the uneven pavement, seating the crowd of mostly college students.
The event, organized by film director Khavn De La Cruz, lasted till midnight.
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Photos: James Ong
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