We have to give an extra round of applause to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the organizers of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).
Even months before they unveiled the final roster for this year’s festival, this was the first time that producers were already vetting and campaigning for their films to be included. From August to September, most of the press conferences in showbiz were for their films to be hopefully included in the film festival.
I brought this up with MMFF spokesperson Noel Ferrer and he even said that before it was the opposite. Studios would hide or let it be a secret that their films were vying for a slot in the official lineup until it was announced already that they had made the cut.
The campaign helps drive up the interest of the audience in going to the cinemas this upcoming MMFF season. It was back in July with a price for entries was announced, which piqued the interest of producers to send in their finished films.
First of which was the Jescom films and MQuest Ventures’ GomBurZa, which held a press conference at the Ateneo de Manila University.
MQuest Ventures head Jane Basas shared why the wide reach of the MMFF is crucial. “This is the shared mission and it is really to help Jescom distribute it to as many audiences as possible, to non-Filipinos and Filipinos. Sinwerte kami rito, a blessing to find a way to contribute meaningfully.”
GomBurZa took years of planning for the perfect execution and the film will even release untold stories about our heroes.
“Marami tayong aha moments, madami kaya matutuwa, mga kabataan, maraming detalye rito na hindi pa naikwento,” said Father Roseller Atilano Jr. of Jescom.
Each week, the stars of the film like Enchong Dee, Cedrick Juan, Dante Rivero and even director Pepe Diokno would guest in the shows of MQuest’s sister company, Cignal’s One PH channel, to promote the film.
After making it and being the last film to be called, direk Pepe could not believe it.
“Nagulat, kinabahan kasi kami last na i-na-nounce. I was really almost shaking when it was time to announce the last entry, also very honored. Ang execution kasi sa tatlong pari ang bumuhay sa alab natin bilang mga Pilipino. They are the reason bakit na-inspire si Jose Rizal,” he said.
Thirty entries of finished films were also submitted before making the cut. The other films that made it were Becky and Badette, Broken Hearts Trip, Mallari, Firefly and When I Met You In Tokyo.
After two decades, Piolo Pascual is also joining the festival with GomBurZa and Mallari. He started the year wanting to slow down but the opposite happened for him. The stars aligned and he found himself taping the films back-to-back. He even opened up about the cutthroat preparations he had for the films.
“I had a two-paragraph dialogue and nagulat ako, it was in pure Spanish. I said to Pepe (Diokno), you owe me one. Gladly, I did not have to dub after. One long take iyon and there were priests around watching. Napahilata talaga ako after ng eksena!” he said.
Star for all Seasons Vilma Santos, Megastar Sharon Cuneta, Alden Richards, DongYan (Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera), and many other stars are headlining the parade this year even though many were snubbed as well. MMDA chairman Romando Artes reiterated, “We have a strict selection committee that did not even meet with the producers, so they wouldn’t have any influence on them.”
CAMANAVA will be this year’s host cities and the Parade of Stars is slated for Dec. 17 and will last for around three to four hours with a distance of 8.7-kilometer stretch. It will start from Navotas, Malabon, Caloocan and end at Valenzuela People’s Park.
The awards night is set on Dec. 27.