MMDA launches cell phone film fest contest

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority  has encouraged high school and college students to make their own film using their cell phones and enter it in the agency’s first-ever Cine-Phone Festival.

The competition which was launched recently at De La Salle-College of St. Benilde in Manila, will be a prelude to the annual Metro Manila Film Festival  which the MMDA is also in charge of.

In a statement, MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino said that entries must be three to five minutes long, filmed entirely with the use of cell phone cameras and in sync with this year’s theme “Restoring Road Courtesy Among Motorists and Pedestrians.”

Sixty entries will be selected, 20 each from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and out of these, six regional winners will be chosen and awarded P25,000 each.

The winners will also receive free post-production packages, digital cameras, broadband kits, high-end smart phones and an apprenticeship under film director Paul Soriano.

“I am optimistic that the Cine-Phone competition will produce potential award-winning directors and add to the success of this year’s MMFF,” Tolentino said. Niña Calleja