Pitch it, film it: Movie makers try ‘speed dating’ financiers

To put it simply, a pitching forum is a lot like speed-dating: Indie filmmakers sit down with potential producers and financiers, round-robin fashion.

Today, the Philippine Independent Filmmakers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (IFC) teams up with Cinemalaya to mount the first Manila Film Financing Forum at the Silangan Hall of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. It’s a win-win setup, organizers say.

Doy del Mundo, IFC head, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, “The forum gives filmmakers an opportunity to be heard by producers who, in turn, get the chance to shop around for projects.”

IFC treasurer Margie Templo, who organized the forum, envisioned the project as “a way to bridge the gap… in emerging cinema today.”

Templo explained, “[The local scene] lacks a system wherein artists and financiers can go about their business, do their work and prosper. It is this system [that] we need to build and trust.”

With the theme “Making Sense and Cents of Emerging Cinema,” the forum, she said, offers “forward-thinking discussions [that aim to] raise the aptitude of filmmakers in film finance.”

The basics of film financing will be dissected by indie pioneers: producer Raymond Lee, filmmaker Adolfo Alix Jr., editor Manet Dayrit and scriptwriter-director Del Mundo.

Singapore-based Mel Songco of the Innovation and Creative Enterprise (ICE) Group will speak on the growth of creative economies in Asia, while Indonesian producer Shanty Harmayn-Hofman will tackle “structuring film projects for investors.”