Last month the organizers of the Philippine Independent Film Festival – Cinemalaya announced structural changes for the 2015 & 2016 edition.
In the last ten years the Cinemalaya has consolidated itself as one of the most important film festivals in the Philippines. It´s 11th edition will take place from August 7th to 14th (2015) in the beautiful city of Manila.
This year the organizers have announced several changes, one of the most important is the appointment of Laurice Guillen, a very well know Filipino filmmaker, as Director of the Cinemalaya Fundation, entity that organize the festival. The organizers explain that many of the recent changes were done because of the lack of financing from their sponsors. The event has always been supported mainly by Mr. Tonyboy Cojuangco, a very important Filipino businessman, but this year the festival will be supported mainly by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Other radical change for this edition is the elimination of the full-length competition. Instead there will be a "non-competitive section" of independent movies. The section that will remain as usual is the “Short Film Competition”, that will show the very best of the Filipino independent short films. The winner of this competition will receive a prize of PHP 150.000 (US$ 3.400). Other important section will be a “Retrospective” on the best movies presented in the last 10 years of the Cinemalaya. Finally to complete the program there will be a special showcase of Asian Films, curated by The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC)
As always the festival will have its main venue in the Cultural Center of the Philippines (Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas).
The organizers also give information about the 2016 edition, it will take place for the August 5th until 14th. The good news is that the full-length competition will be restored and the winner of this section will receive a prize of PHP 250.000 (US$ 5.700). Also the festival announced that they will increase the amount of money give to projects by 50% reaching almost US$ 17.000. The winner project will have 12 months to make the movie and present it in the 2016 edition.
By Sebastián Nadilo
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