MANILA – Even as the world is just beginning to discover the breadth of Filipino talent, the CineFilipino Film Festival is back to celebrate and support local filmcraft and storytelling under the theme, ‘Stories worth watching. Movies worth celebrating’.
Held once every two years since launching in 2012, CineFilipino is organized and led by Unitel Productions with the overall mission to seek out and define the human experience through an audience-friendly, distinctly-Filipino perspective.
CineFilipino is anchored by a main competition with traditional feature-length movies, documentaries, and TV series, as well as a feature shorts category that has been expanded to include mobile (for students only) and online entries. This is a far cry from the first CineFilipino festival, which only accepted traditional full-length and short features.
Maximum media exposure is guaranteed for the festival and its participants via a multi-platform approach care of event and media sponsors, such as TV5 – which was involved in the inaugural CineFilipino in 2013 – that includes theatrical screenings, television, print, and online coverage.
In addition to seed money/grants for participants and cash prizes for the top entries, student filmmakers will have the chance to break into the business via interactions and learnings with industry veterans at CineFilipino training and workshops.
Past Best Picture winners of CineFIlipino were Ang Huling Cha-Cha ni Anita and the Nora Aunor-starrer, Ang Kwento ni Mabuti.
Fortunately for aspiring filmmakers hoping to enter their works for consideration, but missed the original cut-off date, the deadline for submission has been extended to June 15, 2015. According to Unitel President Madonna Tarrayo, the decision was made due to overwhelming demand, and organizers were all too happy to, as stated in their press release, heed the call. Furthermore, said Tarrayo, who also serves as CineFilipino Executive Producer, the extension will also allow those who have already submitted entries (under the original deadline) to retrieve their works and polish them off before judging.
While final details will be forthcoming regarding the festival proper, filmmaking hopefuls shouldn’t miss this chance to join the fastest-growing film festival in the country!
Interested parties may download the official application forms at www.cinefilipino.com. For further information, visit the official CineFilipino Facebook page or write to cinefilipinosecretariat@unitel.ph.
