NCCA launches inaugural values-oriented film festival
MANILA, Philippines — The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in partnership with the Negros Cultural Foundation (NCF) recently launched Sine Halaga, a values-oriented film festival that highlights 19 Filipino core values.
Sine Halaga Festival Director and film director Elvert Banares underscored that the values highlighted in the 12 short films do not only encompass moral ones but as well as socio-economic ones.
These include personal values such as value of the self, life and purpose, resilience, happiness and social values such as good governance, love for country, honesty and integrity.
Here are the 12 films out of the 100 submissions. Each film received the grant of P400,000 given in three tranches:
* "13 Feet" by Carlo Obispo.
* "Bakit Ako Sinusundan ng Buwan" (Moon Under My Feet) by Richard Legaspi
* "Black Rainbow" by Zig Madamba Dulay
* "Dandansoy" by Rod Arden Condez
* "Hadlok" (Scared) by Ralston Jover
* "Looking for Rafflesias and Other Fleeting Things" by James Allen Fajardo
* "Lorna" by Noel Escondo
* "Masalimuut Ya Tiyagew Ed Dayat" (Summer Blues) by Jan Carlo Natividad
* "Mina’s Family History" by Christopher Gozum
* "Sa Balay ni Papang" (In My Father's House) by Kurt Steven Soberano
* "Salog Ning Diklom" (Black River) by Jordan Jose Dela Cruz
* "Ugbos ka Bayabas" (Tender Leaves of Guava) by Manuel Magbanua Jr.
Banares said that Sine Halaga was supposed to be held in May but it was moved to August. He is aware of Fajardo and his short film "Looking For Rafflesias and Other Fleeting Things," which is concurrently showing as an official entry at the 17th Cinemalaya Film Festival. Cinemalaya is running until September 5.
The festival director said that they do not mind and, in fact, are pushing the other films to join other film fests since they believe that films should be given avenues to be screened.
The core values were determined from the two-year research by two members of the film festival's jury, National Study on Filipino Values author and lead researcher Arvin Villalon and co-author Jose Soliman, Jr.
The 12 films can be seen for free on Vimeo OnDemand and the NCCA Learning Resources Hub website.
Since Sine Halaga is not only a film fest but also an educational program, it also features educational components such as:
- 12 webinars for teachers and students the whole year;
- 12 film discussions with directors and production teams every weekend starting September;
- and provision of 12 critical essays and guide questions from the panel of education experts, teachers, professors and film critics who will help write the films and help provide guide questions to the teachers.
They also plan to launch its website by September as well as hold live community screenings subject to health protocols under different local government units such as Iloilo, Pangasinan, Rizal and Naga in Camarines Sur on August 28. It will also hold its first satellite screening at the Philippine consulate in Frankfurt, Germany.
Apart from Villalon and Soliman, Jr., the Sine Halaga jury also includes NCCA Committee on Cinema Chairperson Rolando Tolentino, film critic and educator Tito Valiente, award-winning Filipino filmmakers Jeffrey Jeturian, Roy Iglesias and Sari Dalena.
