MANILA, Philippines — Ten films will officially compete in this year’s 46th edition of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), organizers announced Tuesday.
Four of the film fest’s entries, namely, “Tagpuan” top-billed by Alfred Vargas and Iza Calzado; “Isa pang Bahaghari” starring Nora Aunor and Phillip Salvador; “Coming Home” featuring Jinggoy Estrada and Sylvia Sanchez; and “The Missing” with Joseph Marco and Ritz Azul, were originally part of the planned first Summer MMFF but was canceled altogether because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The remaining six films completing the line-up are the adventure fantasy “Magikland” with Jun Urbano and Miggs Cuaderno, the biopic film “Suarez, The Healing Priest” starring John Arcilla and Alice Dixson, “Mang Kepweng, Ang Lihim ng Bandanang Itim” featuring Benjie Paras and Ryan Bang, “Pakboys Takusa” with Janno Gibbs, Andrew E., and Dennis Padilla, the boys’ love-romantic comedy “The Boys Foretold by the Stars” top-billed by Adrian Lindayag and Keann Johnson, and “Fan Girl” starring Paulo Avelino.
This year’s festival will also be the first to be held online due to the new coronavirus crisis; that all 10 movies will be streamed via Upstream through GMovies.
“So ngayong taon ito, hindi kagaya ng mga nakaraang taon, tayo ay may problema sa pandemya kung saan ang ating mga cinemas ay hindi pwede mag-operate at full capacity,” Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman and MMFF overall chairman Danilo Lim said in a press conference.
(This year, unlike the previous years, we have a problem with the pandemic where our cinemas cannot operate at full capacity.)
“Hindi ‘yan sapat na dahilan para itigil natin ang ating MMFF, hindi pwedeng mawala ang ating MMFF sa bansa ngayong taong ito,” he added.
(That is not a sufficient reason to stop the MMFF, we cannot stop MMFF this year.)
Lim said the 10 films were chosen based on the following criteria: artistic excellence (40 percent), commercial appeal (40 percent), Filipino sensibility (10 percent), and global appeal (10 percent).
Aside from streaming the participating movies online, the MMDA chair also said other MMFF activities such as the Parade of Stars and Gabi ng Parangal will also be shown on the internet.
The 46th edition of the MMFF is set to open on Christmas Day.