(SPOT.ph) Film festivals are a great way to acquaint yourself with new films from the local scene, but it's also a means for Filipino filmmakers and talent to get their work seen by an audience. There is an abundance of Filipino film festivals, like the Cinemalaya Film Festival, but the one most are familiar with would probably be the Metro Manila Film Festival, which takes place annually starting Christmas and into the first week of the new year. It's the one in two times (the other being the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino) cinemas in the Metro don't screen foreign films, and for some, it's become tradition to catch all the films. There are eight films every year and for 2019, the first four films have just been chosen.
The four films are: Kampon starring Kris Aquino and Derek Ramsay, Momalland starring Vice Ganda and Anne Curtis, Mission Unstapabol: The Don Identity starring Vic Sotto and Maine Mendoza, and Miracle in Cell No. 7, a Philippine remake of the South Korean drama, starring Aga Muhlach and Nadine Lustre. Four more films will complete the line-up.
In case you're wondering how these films got selected, scripts submitted had to follow a criteria: 40% commercial appeal, 40% artistic excellence, 10% Filipino cultural sensibility, and 10% global appeal. The four scripts were chosen by the MMFF Selection Committee, headed by National Artist for Film Bienvenido Lumbera.
Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Danilo Lim also announced the newest members of the MMFF Executive Committee: Senator Bong Go and Laguna 1st District Representative Dan Fernandez, a former actor.
