SINENG PAMBANSA Iloilo Film Fest 2011 report

THE SINENG PAMBANSA Iloilo Film Festival 2011 report
by Reymundo Salao

The City of Iloilo and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) have launched, this week, the first major Philippine film festival outside Metro Manila, the Sineng Pambansa Iloilo Film Fest 2011, the first of what is destined to go on as an annual series. This film fest showcases the country's best films made by the "indie" film community. The screenings of the Film Fest is actually FREE ADMISSION, you don’t have to pay a single centavo to watch these movies. Regular audiences would get to watch internationally acclaimed Pinoy movies like Himpapawid, Bakal Boys, Yanggaw, and many more.

According to the chairman of the FDCP, Briccio Santos, there are plans to make this event an annual series, with a wider scope that would include short films and ilonggo films, additionally the next festival will also possibly one that would include international films, and would include workshops and symposiums to go along with it. He is very much happy that the FDCP has this mutual cooperation with the city government to make this event possible.

The event formally opened last Wednesday January 19, 2011, first with a press conference at Hotel Del Rio in the afternoon, then on that evening was a red carpet event and cocktail party which was followed by an opening program that formally launches the event. That program featured a number of impressive musical numbers both locally here in Iloilo, and from Metro Manila as well. The movie that was screened directly after the program was Jim Libiran’s HAPPYLAND. The entire Film Festival will be a series of screenings of various films on SM Cinema 2 and 3, from January 19, 2011 up until January 21, 2011. The Festival closed in the late afternoon of January 21, 2011 with the closing film EMIR by Chito Rono, which was greeted by an overwhelming number of audiences that it literally filled up the SM Cinema 3. It even kinda reminded me of the good old days of moviewatching, when audiences would literally sit on the floor because the moviehouse is really filled up. A fitting ending to what is a milestone event for our city and for Philippine Cinema, of what is destined to be a great film festival that will continue for generations.

SINENG PAMBANSA Iloilo Film Fest 2011 Screening Schedules

The Sineng Pambansa Iloilo Film Festival 2011 will be held from January 19, 2011 to January 21, 2011. The venue of the event will be on SM City Cinema (specifically Cinemas 2 and 3). Several Movies will be shown on the said dates, and on some specific dates, the screening will be coupled with a Question and Answer segment between the audience and the Director/Producer/Stars in attendance.

Here are the Screening Schedules of the Festival:

DAY 1 - January 19, 2011 Wednesday

Cinema 2
10:30 am - Lola
12:30 pm - Bakal Boys
2:30 pm - Red Shoes
4:30 pm - Halaw

Cinema 3
11:00 am - Sigwa
1:00 pm - Kano
3:00 pm - Himpapawid
6:00 pm - [Reception/Cocktails]
7:00 pm - Festival Opening Program (Filipiniana Attire) / Featured Film: Happyland

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DAY 2 - January 20, 2011 Thursday

Cinema 2
11:00 am - Red Shoes (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)
1:30 pm - Sigwa (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)
4:00 pm - Lola (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)
6:30 pm - Kano (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)

Cinema 3
10:30 am - Happyland (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)
1:00 pm - Sampaguita (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)
3:30 pm - Himpapawid (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)
6:00 pm - Yanggaw (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)

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DAY 3 - January 21, 2011 Friday

Cinema 2
11:00 am - Lola
1:00 pm - Red Shoes
3:00 pm - Yanggaw
5:00 pm - Sampaguita

Cinema 3
10:30 am - Bakal Boys (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)
1:00 pm - Halaw (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)
3:30 pm - Sigwa
5:30 pm - Festival Closing Film: Emir (Director/Star in Attendance + Q & A)

Iloilo Film Festival to be held this January

The Iloilo City government will host the screening of some eleven independent films for free in Cinemas 2 and 3 of SM City Iloilo starting January 19 to 23, 2011.

The critically acclaimed indie movies are the feature films in the “Sineng Pambansa Iloilo Film Festival 2011”, a project spearheaded by the city government in cooperation with Film Development Council of the Philippines which is under the Office of the President.

The 11 films include “Lola”, “Sigwa”, “Red Shoes”, “Bakal Boys”, “Halaw”, “Himpapawid” (Manila Skies), “Sampaguita”, “Yanggaw”, “Kano”, “Happy Land”, and “Emir”.

According to the Iloilo City Information Office “Yanggaw” of Richard Somes is the sole Ilonggo feature included in the film festival.

The City Information Office said that Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog worked out the realization of the film fest following his meeting with FDCP Chairperson, Usec. Briccio Santos as part of his efforts to show the Ilonggos’ awareness in movies, culture and arts. Likewise, the event will highlight the city’s capability to host film event and draw art patrons.

Some of the dignitaries invited to attend the formal launching and grand opening program on January 19 are the Ambassadors of France, Italy and other European countries.

Also, expected to perform during the program include renowned Filipino pianist Raul Sanico and popular Ilonggo artists.

The three-day event will be a prelude to this year’s Dinagyang Festival on January 21 to 23. (PIA)

Action! CINEMALAYA YEAR 6 Begins

The Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival 2010, now on its sixth year, is a project of the Cinemalaya Foundation, Inc., in partnership with the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and Econolink Investments, Inc. (EII). It will be held on July 9 to 18, 2010.

In the spirit of independent expression, the Cinemalaya Awards seeks to discover, encourage and honor the cinematic works of Filipino filmmakers that boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity.

The works will be:
* narrative features that articulate the Filipino identity and culture
* in digital video format-to take advantage of this new, more accessible technology
* open to both filmmakers who have not yet directed a full-length commercial film, and filmmakers who have directed not more than three full-length commercial films.

There will be two main categories
* Short Feature–from 15 to 20 minutes
* Full-Length Feature – from 90 to 120 minutes.

Ten finalists were selected for the Full-length Feature category while ten finalists were selected for the Short Feature category. In the Full-length Feature Film category, each of the ten finalists received a P500,000.00 seed grant from Cinemalaya Foundation, Inc. as investment for the production.

The Awards are:

* The Best Short Feature Film will receive a grant of P100,000.00 and the Balanghai Trophy.
* The Best Full-length Feature Film will receive a grant of P200,000.00 and the Balanghai Trophy. Awards for both categories will be given on 18 July 2009 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

A new section, the Open Category, is being introduced this year. This section features Filipino filmmakers who have directed at least three full-length feature films which have been released commercially. Five finalists were selected to compete in this category.