MMDA opens film fest to students using mobile phone cameras

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The next cinematic classic may come out of a mobile phone.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) aims to put this across to high school and college students in encouraging them to join its newest filmmaking competition.

MMDA’s first-ever Cine-Phone Festival, which was recently launched at the De La Salle – College of St. Benilde in Manila, is a prelude to the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), which the MMDA runs every December.

In a statement, MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said the Cine-Phone competition seeks to entice the youth to participate in the contest using their phones, considered a “viable medium” to this generation.

Cine-Phone is open to all high school and college students duly endorsed by their respective schools and universities.

Their entries must be three to five minutes long and totally filmed through the use of mobile phone cameras. The film must be in sync with this year’s theme “Restoring Road Courtesy Among Motorists and Pedestrians.”

Before the MMFF’s awarding night on December 27, some 60 entries will be selected, 20 each from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, 10 per category (high school and college).

Six regional winners will be chosen and awarded P25,000 each during awarding night.

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.

To promote the Cine-Phone and Student Short Film Competition, a team will be holding a university caravan and hop from one school to another, according to Tolentino.

“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.

A team led by director Soriano will go around several school campuses such as Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Intramuros and University of the Philippines – Diliman to encourage promising student artists to show their talent.