MMFF announces new execs, criteria

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila Film Development Authority (MMDA) has announced some major changes in this year's Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

"We are all aware of the many issues involving the 2015 MMFF. So nagkaro'n tayo ng pagbabago," said MMDA Chairman Emerson Carlos about the major changes in the film festival, in a press conference on Thursday.

First of which is the new set of MMFF executive committee members.

"It's a mix of the old and new. It's a mix of people private and government entities," he said about the new set of festival executive committee members.

Although members come from different sectors of society, Carlos noted that "one thing unites us all, all of these are stakeholders of the film industry and nagmamahal sa pelikulang Pilipino."

"We hope, everyone hopes that this committee will bring changes that we want, changes that we need and changes we can deliver at least for the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival," he added.

Since the members of the committee came from different sectors, they had to have a workshop to arrive in a common vision and mission for this year's festival, and also to decide on the changes of the festival.

Their vision is for MMFF to become a "festival that celebrates Filipino artistic excellence, promotes audience development, and champions  the sustainability of the Philippine film industry."

Its mission, on the other hand, is "to develop audiences for and encourage the production of quality Filipino films, and to promote the welfare of its workers."

The new set of executive committee is composed of the following:

Atty. Emerson S. Carlos, Chairman, MMDA
PSSUPT. Rhoderick Armamento, Rep. Of PDIR Joel Pagdilao, PNP-NCRPO
Edward Cabagnot, Academe Representative
Jessie Ejercito, Producer
Teodoro Granados, FDCP Executive Director
Moira Lang, Writer/Producer
Bryan Ian Montances, Rep. Of Sen. Sonny Angara
Marcus Ng, Vice President, MMTA
Boots Anson-Rodrigo, President, MOWELFUND
Jun Romana, Bureau of Broadcast Services
Edgar Tejerero, President, SM Lifestyle Entertainment, Inc.
Wilson Tieng, President, MPDAP
Cong. Alfred Vargas, House of Representatives, Quezon City
Atty. Eugenio Villareal, Chairman, MMDA

Another change is the format of the submitted entries which is in "finished film format."

"After consultations with producers, film-makers and other movie stakeholders and they decided that the revolutionary changes for this year's festival is that for this year, we will be accepting film as basis for the selection," explained Carlos about this change in format of submitted entries.

Before, the official entries were chosen based on the script submitted to the executive committee.

The MMFF executive committee also made changes in the criteria for judging the entries.

Forty percent for story, audience appeal, and overall impact; 40 percent for cinematic attributes or its technical excellence; 10 percent for global appeal; and 10 percent for Filipino sensibility.

The deadline for the submission of entries will be on September 28 at 5 p.m.