MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Bangsamoro Short Film Festival (BSFF) is an opportunity for young Moro artists within and outside Bangsamoro region to hone their talent in short visual storytelling through film and showcase their skills in directing, cinematography, video editing, and also acting that promotes awareness on the Bangsamoro stories and illustrate the challenges and small victories especially amid the CoViD-19 pandemic.
This year’s festival will carry the slogan #HeritageWithoutBorders, aiming to discover new moro talents and strengthen their Bangsamoro heritage wherever they may be around the globe. And to create a platform for the Bangsamoro people to unite and take pride in the creative artistry of their fellow moro all while entertaining diverse audiences online in a time of pandemic.
According to MP Atty. Maisara C. Dandamun-Latiph, the executive producer of BSFF “This will also promote awareness of the Bangsamoro stories that illustrate our rich heritage as well as our unique identity as a Bangsamoro. The Bangsamoro has its very unique identity and this uniqueness needs to be shared to the whole world. Our aim is to discover aspiring young moro filmmakers who can contribute in building just and inclusive society and communities. Through this Festival, we hope to provide the platform for our aspiring artists to show their talents and skills in short film-making.”
The film festival will also serve as a psychosocial intervention amid the New Normal by giving an opportunity for the talented young generation to unearth their talents in filmmaking and to echo their voices.
Leading the creative programming of the event as our Festival Director is the Moro filmmaker Rhadem Musawah, and he shared “When we talk about Moros or Bangsamoro art, we are typically boxed as traditional craft-makers. I believe that the Moros can go beyond that and I want to change that by helping give them the platform to kick-off and showcase their creative storytelling through short films.”
Entries should be one (1) to five (5) minutes running time (RT), which already includes the credits. Participants can use their professional camera or smartphone as long as it is in High Definition quality 1080p. They may submit their entry through our official BSFF email address: bangsamoroshortfilmfestival@gmail.com or they may drop their final copies at our satellite office at: The Office of MP Maisara C. Dandamun-Latiph, 2nd floor, IPDM Bu i lding, Mindanao State University (MSU) , Marawi City, Lanao del Sur province.
The filmmaker should be self identified as moro or at least one of the members of the production team should have rootedness in the Bangsamoro. Deadline for submission of entries is 11:59 PM of July 25, 2020.
There will also be a series of filmmaking webinars where the general public can tune in for inspiration and additional knowledge on which genre they should choose, their importance and how to professionally edit their raw footage. We are proud to have on board the blockbuster director Marlon Rivera who will be speaking about fiction film, Award-winning documentary filmmaker Babyruth Villarama of Sunday Beauty Queen to talk about non fiction film, TOMCATS Chief Officer Jude Van Caoili to facilitate the video editing workshop and our Moro Filmmaker Sheron Dayoc among others.
The screening and the awarding ceremony will be held online through Facebook and Youtube Live Streaming from August 5 – 12 for the online screening while the awarding will be on August 15. The winners will receive cash prizes, freebies, a chance to screen their works internationally and to physically re-exhibit their works at the Philippine’ biggest independent art festival FRINGE MNL early next year.
This event is in partnership with the Czech Embassy in Manila, British Council Philippines, FRINGE MNL, Para Sa Sining, Save The Children and Bureau of Cultural Heritage-BARMM and Asia Pacific Film Institute.
