Beaming with Filipino pride, John Arcilla won the best actor award at the 78th Venice Film Festival held last Sunday, September 12, 2021. He received the title for his performance in 'On The Job: The Missing 8,' the only Filipino production part of the Venice International Film Festival’s lineup this year, besting global actors.
Gaining recognition as one of the two Filipino films premiered at the 2020 Tokyo International Film Festival, ‘Fan Girl’ was a frontrunner for its volatile plot and remarkable direction. The film also bagged nine of the biggest awards at the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival ceremonies held last December 27, 2020.
What are film festivals?
Think cinemas, but on a bigger scale; outstanding selected motion pictures evaluated by an audience filled with influential people, award-winning figures, potential investors, and film fanatics.
Film festivals serve as a platform for a number of films to be exhibited at a single venue for consecutive days, generally with awards granted in various categories, depending on the venue and scale. However, there is a distinction between competing and being screened; the event comprises the main competition, out-of-competition, short films, special screenings, and so on.
Cannes, Berlin, and Venice are the world’s three most prestigious film festivals. Additionally, similar to classifying a celebrity’s popularity, international film festivals have also been categorized to A-lists and B-lists. Nationwide, regional, and inter-school film festivals also exist. Regardless, the purpose of film festivals allows for a ground and an opportunity for brilliant, independent, and studio-backed films to gain exposure in the market and in the industry locally or globally.
The Philippines has not held a global film festival since the one in 1982. Exposure to international film festivals allows the nation’s film industry to broaden their horizon in learning about different cultures, techniques, and films that are not readily available elsewhere. Philippine films that get selected to enter prestigious international film festivals is a symbolic milestone, which is why art films are worth investing in.
In the context of the pandemic
The essence of film festivals is best appreciated when filmmakers, distributors, and critics get to engage with one another to discuss the artistic developments of the productions. With the ongoing pandemic, physical interactions have become limited and activities have to be done online. Thus, decreasing the full experience one could get from film festivals.
For the first time since it was founded in 1975, the Metro Manila FIlm Festival (MMFF) went online in 2020 in accordance with the government’s safety regulations. However, the MMFF has cancelled the 2021 summer festival amidst the rising COVID-19 cases.
Unfortunately, films streamed online are often susceptible to piracy. In the 2020 MMFF, at least 18 individuals were accused for allegedly violating RA 9239, the Optical Media Act, and RA 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code.
While the physical resumption of film festivals remains uncertain in the Philippines, the world’s oldest film festival strictly implemented anti-COVID protocols as they recently opened their doors for the 78th Venice International FIlm Festival’s 11-day event.
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