What's in store for CINEMANILA 2009?

The 11th Annual CINEMANILA International Film Festival kicks off a brand new decade in its new home – Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. This year’s festival will once again celebrates the best of Philippine and World Cinema in an 11-day event, running from October 15-25, 2009 at the Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines.

First showcasing Cinemanila Film Festival in 2003 with Lifetime Achievement Awardee Christine Hakim, CNN will give due recognition to Cinemanila for the 2nd time around. In addition, there will be a Global Broadcast for a Global Cinemanila. A joint collaboration between CNN International and the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards, the popular Scene by Scene television series will introduce the 11th Cinemanila International Film Festival on October 2009 to a worldwide audience.

Aside from parallel competitions for full-length, short and documentary films, there will be distinct exhibitions, tributes, marathon showings, outdoor screenings and other special events. Master Classes, seminars and workshops will also be held during the festival and will cover subjects and issues on independent filmmaking. Directors, producers, critics and actors throughout Asia, Europe and North America will be invited to attend this 11-day event at the Bonifacio Global City.

BRILLANTE MENDOZA TO CHAIR THE JURY
Cannes Palme d’Or Best Director Brillante Mendoza heads the Main Competition Jury of this year’s Cinemanila International Film Festival.

The association between the festival and the world-renowned filmmaker goes way back, as Cinemanila was one of the very first to give Mendoza recognition. Back in 2006, Cinemanila awarded Mendoza the coveted Lino Brocka Award for his film, Manoro. Mendoza was also the Director in Focus during the festival’s momentous 10th edition last year.

MACHINIMA
This year, the City of Taguig and the Cinemanila International Film Festival give recognition to machinima with the launch of the Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival – the first event of its kind in the country. The contest is open to all individuals or groups, whether amateur, professional or independent. All entries should be in by September 21. Entries can be submitted online at www.cinemanila.org.ph.

A portmanteau of “machine cinema”, machinima is real time animation that relies on in-game artificial intelligence and digital puppetry. The first widely recognized machinima film, Diary of a Camper, was based on id Software’s Quake. The 100-minute short showcases the video game’s action and gore but in the context of a brief story. Another landmark machinima film is the Emmy Award-winning 2006 episode of South Park, “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” featuring manipulated footages from Blizzard Entertainment’s widely popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

Modern filmmaking gains new meaning with the onset of Machinima – a process that utilizes video games to produce short films and music videos. Since gaining mainstream attention in 1996, Machinima has since been heralded as one of the most groundbreaking movements in modern cinema.

for details on the goings-on at the upcoming festival, go to the festival's website at www.cinemanila.org.ph