Filmmaker to fest execs inviting entry back: No, thanks

Organizers of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival have decided to reconsider “MNL 143,” which it earlier barred from competing because of casting disagreements with its director, Emerson Reyes.

In a recent forum organized by the Young Critics Circle (YCC) Film Desk, representatives of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)—where Cinemalaya is held—invited Reyes back to the festival.

But Reyes said that he had moved on and would finish his movie without Cinemalaya’s subsidy. His film was to compete in the New Breed category, whose finalists each receive a seed grant of P500,000 from the Cinemalaya Foundation.

Need to reshuffle

The forum, held on March 21 at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, was also attended by filmmaker Yam Laranas, film critic-lawyer Francis Joseph “Oggs” Cruz and UP College of Mass Communications professor Dr. Eulalio “Eli” Guieb III.

The meeting tackled the need to reshuffle the festival’s monitoring committee members so as to have a fresh mandate in looking at administrative choices.

An oversight committee might also be created, said YCC Film Desk president Eloisa May Hernandez, to “take over if casting problems are not resolved between finalists and the monitoring committee.”

Hernandez reported that the CCP would look closely into its relationship with the Cinemalaya Foundation. The CCP reportedly spends up to P18 million annually on the festival.

She continued: “Cruz, who recently resigned as a member of the Cinemalaya screening committee, said that other filmmakers had withdrawn (from the festival) because of disagreements with the monitoring committee.”

But she said that Laranas—who stressed he was not part of either the indie movement or mainstream cinema—declared that he was a big fan of Cinemalaya. She said the filmmaker acknowledged the organization’s huge contribution to the industry and that he was saddened by the nasty politics happening within.

Hernandez said: “Yam believes everyone concerned should help Cinemalaya improve and evolve.”

She said she was pleased that most questions raised during the forum were “answered in a very collegial manner. There was no tension. Everyone was respectful.”

Cinemalaya will be held from July 20 to 29 at the CCP, as well as at Greenbelt, Makati City, and TriNoma, Quezon City.