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Thursday, January 29, 2004
Bigfoot owner to open film school in Mactan
By Jessica B. Natad
VENTURE capitalist Michael Gleissner, owner of communications powerhouse Bigfoot, has again showed his confidence in Cebu, by investing in $5 million for an international film school, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.
The International Aca-demy of Film and Television (IAFT), which will be based in Mactan island, will not only help the Philippines attract large movie producers in Hollywood to shoot here, but bring in more tourists to the country as well.
According to IAFT president and chief executive adviser Kacy Andrews, one of the school’s objectives is to attract film students from all over the world to study in Cebu.
This is one of the reasons why Gleissner and his advisers decided to put up the film school in Cebu.
“Cebu (with its tourist attractions) is a good place to start to attract people from all over the world to come and study in our film school,” Andrews told a press conference at the La Gondola restaurant, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino Tuesday.
She said the prices of the courses of the film school, which is patterned after the Los Angeles film school, are one-third of those of other international film schools.
The courses are also short term, unlike in a film school in Singapore that offers four-year courses.
She said Cebu’s scenic spots will also help IAFT achieve one of its visions of encouraging Hollywood films to be shot in the country, once the school produces graduates.
Andrews said some reasons international films are not shot in the Philippines are the lack of highly competent and skilled talents and technical people, and the unavailability of technical movie equipment.
Expensive
“Because of the lack of human resource and the equipment, shooting movies in the Philippines is very expensive because producers will have to bring their own pool of talents and equipment here. If we have these ready for them, then they will want to shoot here,” she said.
Andrews is a producer on Miramax’s “Playing by Heart,” starring Sean Connery and Angelina Jolie. She has been actively involved in the entertainment industry for over 16 years.
The IAFT will begin offering short-term courses in April, at the office of its sister company Bigfoot located on Ramos St., Cebu City.
But it will fully operate as soon as the construction of its campus situated on an 8,200-square-meter facility in Mactan will be completed.
The facility will include a Dolby surround sound-equipped movie theater, recording studio, Foley stage, six digital editing suites, a computer laboratory with animation and sound design software and a 600-square meter soundstage.
After Cebu, IAFT hopes to open branches in Vietnam, France and the US, Andrews said.
(January 29, 2004 issue)
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