THIS is my fifth year as the festival director of the Mindanao Film Festival (MFF), which is now on its 12th year. It is considered as one of the longest-running regional film festival in the country today.
There’s a fusion of passion and excitement in watching a new set of regional films that are hitting our local silver screen.
With the support of the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, and the Philippine Information Agency-Davao, we will be staging a bigger film festival, one which will be a window to a very vibrant filmmaking movement in Mindanao.
We have around 61 films that will be shown during the festival. Many of these films came from Davao City but also, we will be showing a sizable number of superb short films from Compostela Valley courtesy of the Nabunturan Indie Film Exhibition or Nabifilmex. We also have films from the cities of General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Zamboanga.
We have two notable non-competition exhibition films that we will be showing during the festival. One of which is our opening film “Baboy Halas,” a full-length film shot in Marilog and which was awarded with the Jury Prize by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema and the Best Artistic Contribution for Cinematography during this year’s QCinema International Film Festival in Quezon City.
We also have the documentary “Crescent Rising” which won the 2016 Busan International Film Festival Mecenat Award, a prize given to Asia’s best documentary film.
The Mindanao Film Festival will have the theme “Cinema of Change.” The theme stresses the role of film as an agent of transformation by raising public awareness to certain issues which would have the possibility of leading the audience to action.
This transformative power of films has been recognized by government agencies who have partnered with the Mindanao Film Festival. In the past, we had the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (Pdea) who sponsored an anti-drug documentary competition among college students. This year we have the Population Commission which entered two short films submitted by college students under their Adolescent Health and Youth Development Independent Film Festival.
I am inviting our dear readers to catch these shorts and full-length films during the MFF, which will be held this December 7 to 13 at the Gaisano Mall Cinema 6.
Ticket prices are at P140. The films are blocked according to themes which is a change from the past when we used to group the films according to geographical regions.
Here are the full-list of the films:
Shorts in the “Films from Nabifilmex” include Sherador, Asay, Warak, Yagapanaw, Pamugas, Makaakar, Bahandini Lola, Belo and Panggaw. These films were created by Comvalenyo filmmakers and were featured in this year’s Nabunturan Independent Film Exhibition (Nabifilmex).
Films tackling friendship are featured in the block “Amigo Ta” which includes shorts Higala, Orpheus, Ma’am La, Anito, AngAgimat, Birthday Boy, Kathryn and Margaret.
Films about family are included in the “Ohana” block and among these shorts include Dear Mama, Lipstick, Abal, Bulong, Lapok.
Crime related films and its repercussions are part of the “Crime Does Not Pay” block and are composed of shorts such as God Must Think I’m Cain, Pulis, Fachada, Nino, Panun and Static.
Short films centered on the lives of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender) are part of the “Bahaghari” block-these shorts include Handuraw, Dasal, Love, EntreMedio del Fin.
Shorts about love, its joys and pain are part of the block “Nagmahal, Nasaktan” with films Kapanglawan, Soulmate, Allyn, First Time, Subang, and Sad Boys Club.
Films that revolve around student life are featured under “Estudyante Blues” block with short films Bobby, Gaba, Sta. Monica, Kinsa Ta? and The Project.
Documentary works are included in the CineReal block. These films include A Fading Heritage, The Soil of Dreams, Panicupan, Under the Canopy of Light, Saranggola, PagbarugugPagtuon.
Two short films created by students which were entries in the Davao region leg of the Population Commission’s 2016 Adolescent Health and Youth Development Independent Film Festival will also be screened and these are student shorts Buboy and Kapit-os.
Films produced from the 2016 Guerrilla Filmathon, a 24-hour filmmaking race held in the capital of Davao del Norte province, will be shown in the “FilmathonDavNor” block. These films include Tanum, Huwag Na Lang, AkoBahalasa Imo, Halug, AngHanasnaMagsusugid, Balagtas, Amboy and A Father’s Promise.