Science Filmfest at SM Supermalls

MANILA, Philippines - The recent launching of the Science Film Festival at Cinema One of the SM Mall of Asia brought together members of the diplomatic corps, international organization, corporate executives, and students from different schools.

A joint project of the SM Nido Fortified Center and the SM Cinema with the Embassy of France, Goethe Institut Philippines, the Asean Centre for Biodiversity, UNESCO, the Department of Education, and ABS-CBN Foundation, the launch kicked off the Philippine leg of the festival, which will take place until Nov. 30, in venues in various ASEAN countries like Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Cambodia. This is also the first year in which the festival has a United Nations agency as an official partner.

In time for the UN’s declaration of 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, the Philippine leg of this year’s festival is themed as Sinesensya – Kamaghaan ang Samu’t Saring Buhay sa Daigdig or Be Amazed by the Diversity of Life.

German Ambassador to the Philippines Christian-Ludwig WeberLortsch (right) with Goethe Institute director Richard Künsel and Ricarda Künzel.

The festival, which will take place in venues around the Philippines, includes selected films that communicate technological and scientific issues to a broad audience, especially the youth. By presenting films that communicate these issues accessibly and entertainingly to a broad audience, the festival encourages a culture of science films that effectively combines education and entertainment, proving that learning can be fun.

On its opening day at the SM Mall of Asia Cinema 1, the festival premiered the French film Oceans by Jacques Perrin. This beautifully crafted film about the photogenic oddities and endangered wonders in and around our seas, was enjoyed by hundreds of grade school and high school students from Caloocan, Muntinlupa, Quezon City, and Manila Science High Schools. Students from the German School, the European International School of Manila, and Martyr Ecumenical School joined them.

German Ambassador Christian Ludwig Weber-Lortsch and French Ambassador Borja de Mozota led the diplomatic dignitaries that graced the occasion that included Goethe Institut director Richard Kunael, UNESCO representative from Jakarta Hussein Macarambot, the French Embassy’s cultural counsellor Christian Merer, and Goethe Institut’s Luisa Zaide. SM executives — VP for Marketing Millie Dizon, Mall of Asia AVP for Operations Steven Tan, AVP for Marketing Dennis Cruz, and mall manager Perkin So welcomed them.

On Nov. 30, the Science Discovery Center will showcase films about the seas and marine life: Saved by the Seals at 10 a.m.; Drain the Ocean: The Face of the Deep, 11 a.m.; and Les Codes Secrets de la Nature, Ushaia, 3 p.m. A forum on Philippine marine biology will be held from 2 to 3 p.m.