Mapúa University successfully concluded a fully online film festival despite the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
CineMapúa, the university’s annual digital film festival, features student flicks from schools all over the country.
According to Mapúa School of Media Studies (SMS), 36 finalists had been shortlisted out of 87 film entries this year; 12 each for the Collegiate, All Mapúans, and High School categories.
Due to restrictions, the university organized a fully online film festival for its 18th edition, during which the films were made available for free streaming for the first time via Youtube and CineMapúa’s Facebook page.
During the awards night on July 26 held via Zoom, Kurok of BFA Digital Cinema was hailed as the CineMapúa 2020 overall winner after bagging the Cardinal Excellence Film Award and Cardinal Gold Film Award for All Mapúans category.
Amanung Sisuan and Malapit Na Nay of Far Eastern University received the Cardinal Gold Film Award for the Collegiate and High School categories, respectively.
CineMapúa 2020 jurors were composed of independent filmmaker, screenwriter, and playwright Joseph Israel Laban; filmmaker, animator, and writer Carl Joseph Papa; and Viva Films director, screenwriter, and film instructor Raynier F. Brizuela.
The challenges posed by the pandemic as well as the Taal Volcano eruption drove the organizers to be creative.
“There had been significant adjustments in this year’s CineMapúa. It allowed us to be creative in utilizing the online platform to feature and share the beautiful entries of the festival to a wider audience,” said Mapúa SMS Dean Benigno Agapito Jr.
Agapito shared that about 7,000 viewers joined in the three-day live streaming.