How to land an Oscar nomination, according to FDCP chief

Jose Javier Reyes, Film Development Council of the Philippines chairperson and CEO —FDCP/FACEBOOK

Originality, universality of theme and a Filipino story that the whole world can relate to.

These are the Top 3 considerations when it comes to picking a film to represent the country to the annual Academy Awards, according to Film Development Council of the Philippine (FDCP) chair Jose Javier Reyes.

For the past two years now, the FDCP has been assisting the Film Academy of the Philippines, the county’s counterpart of the United States’ Academy of Motion Picture Awards and Science (Ampas), to choose the country’s representative to the Oscars. This was after Vivian Velez, FAP’s director general, resigned in 2022 and has yet to be replaced.

The Ampas is the organizer of the prestigious awards ceremony held every first quarter of the year.

To get nominated under the best foreign language film category of the Oscars, a Filipino-produced film needs to raise at least $2 million for promotions, Reyes said. “It’s the battle of marketing. What kind of producer would spend his hard-earned $2 million to campaign for a film without any guarantee of getting a nomination? This really needs government support,” he added.

“One would ask, ‘How come other small countries get nominated and we don’t?’ It’s because they have long-range plans. That’s what we don’t have. Sabak lang tayo ng sabak. For example, it took decades of planning before Korea came up with ‘Parasite,’ which won for them the best picture and best director awards. We really have to look to the future and prepare right now,” said the FDCP chief.