CineKasimanwa Film Festival & Ilonggo Filmmakers Conference, set to revolutionize Iloilo's Film Scene

ILOILO CITY is looking forward to a major cinema event this coming week. The CineKasimanwa: The Panay Islands Film Festival and Ilonggo Filmmakers Conference will be kicking off with the Film Fest from December 10 to 14, 2013 and the venues will be at The FDCP Iloilo Cinematheque (which is located at Solis Street, Iloilo City), the SM City Iloilo Cinemas, and the UPV Cinematheque (located inside the UPV Complex). The Festival is meant to showcase movies and short films that are all made by Ilonggos Filmmakers, not only will it be focusing on Iloilo filmmakers, but any films coming from the rest of the Panay Islands as well. This will be a festival that will celebrate the Ilonggo Cinema Art Scene, and will be a venue for the mainstream audiences to be exposed to Ilonggo films. In addition, all festival proceeds will go to the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda through the Jaro Archdiocesan Social Action Center’s Relief Operations and Rehabilitation Projects in Western Visayas. [hit the jump to continue]

The CineKasimanwa is the first film fest to gather all filmmakers in Region 6 and will feature all types of genres by Western Visayas filmmakers, and among those films that will be featured is “Puti” which is the first horror short film in the country which is shot in stereoscopic 3D. The festival will also feature the full-length animated Hiligaynon film “Ang Bantay”(The Keeper). And in addition to that, the festival will also highlight a Horror Program, which will be screening horror short films entitled “Moo-Moo-An” is scheduled on the fourth filmfest day which is scheduled on December 13, which is Friday the 13th. Before the Main Festival date, the Kasimanwa will actually already be having Filmmaker School tours from December 2 to 6, 2013. According to festival director and programmer, Elvert de la Cruz Bañares, this campus tour is aimed to promote the event and be part of their Film Aesthetics, Film Production &Humanities subjects. The organizers are advocating to integrate the essence of filmmaking and its cultural-social relevance to Humanities and other art-related subjects for students in various schools.

The Filmmakers Conference, on the other hand, is scheduled for February 2014. This conference hopes to unite all filmmakers from Western Visayas and will be part of a definitive directory of filmmakers and film directors from Western Visayas. The conference will also be having various workshops and lectures relating to film.
Notable filmmakers who are set to take part in the film festival and showcase their films are Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes, Nick Deocampo, Tara Illenberger and ErikMatti. Top-notch filmmakers from Region VI: Joenar Pueblo, Ned Trespeses, Ronny Poblacion, Ciro Ray Gibraltar, Peter Solis Nery, Ned Trespeces, T.M. Malones, Jay Abello and more than 40 others with their films are scheduled to be screened at SM Cinema 1, Iloilo Cinematheque and UPV Cinematheque. Independent and young filmmakers with their short films are also invited to screen their works. In its first edition, the filmmakers in focus are The Filmmakers from Guimbal, Iloilo. The screening of horror short films entitled “Moo-Moo-An” scheduled on December 13 at the FDCP Iloilo Cinematheque is one of the most anticipated part of the film festival.

Envisioned as a significant annual event that will unify filmmakers and merge their collective talents in promoting the region’s flourishing film industry, this event was brought to us by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Committee on Cinema and The Negros Museum in partnership with Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), UPV Cinematheque with SM City Iloilo and SM Cinema. [r.salao]

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