In celebration of the One Hundred Years of Philippine Cinema, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) leads a big delegation of Filipino filmmakers, artists, and members of the academe with the Philippines chosen as the Country of Focus in the Far East Film Festival happening until April 29 in Udine, Italy.
Set to compete in the Festival are Si Chedeng sa Si Apple, Smaller and Smaller Circles and Ang Larawan, while restored Ricky Lee classics, Himala and Moral, directed by the well renowned late director, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, will be showcased at the restored film classics feature.
With the opportunity to showcase our very own filmmakers in Far East Film Festival, FDCP brought in select filmmakers and speakers for Sandaan: Philippine Cinema Centennial Talks.
Speakers include Mr. Ed Lajano, Festival Director of QCinema, Bianca Balbuena, CEO of EpicMedia, renowned actress Elizabeth Oropesa and FDCP Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño for Filipino Popular Cinema to be moderated by Mr. Max Tessier today.
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Film Historian and documentarian Mr. Nick Deocampo will talk about Discovering the Past: Asian Film History-Filipino Cinema during WWII, to be introduced by Mr. Roger Garcia, Festival Director of Hong Kong International Film Festival, tomorrow.
Meanwhile, three Filipino film projects made it to the 14 titles selected by Focus Asia, the Far East Film Festival Project Market dedicated to genre cinema. These projects in development will be presented to more than 200 professionals made up of panels, one-on-one meetings, projections and networking opportunities.
The films are Belen by Quark Henares, produced by Bianca Balbuena and Bradley Liew, Epicmedia Productions Inc., Quantum Suicide by Mikhail Red, produced by Micah Tadena, Media East Productions and Taro Imai, Harakiri Films, co-produced by Japan and Wilderness by Nadira Ilana, produced by Nadira Ilana, Telan Bulan Films and Pamela Reyes, Create Cinema and Panuksmi Hardjowirogo, M’GO Films, a co-production between Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore.
On the other hand, Filipino Producer Monster Jimenez of Arkeo Films with her film in development, Return of the Owl by Martika Ramirez Escobar made it to the 15 selected projects for the tenth edition of Ties That Bind, the Asia-Europe co-production workshop, bringing together Asian and European professionals in the development of film projects. These selected films will have the opportunity to meet numerous producers, financiers and distributors present on the Focus Asia days for potential partnership in the development of their film.