MANILA, OCTOBER 26, 2012 – Cellphones and films are now synonymous as the annual Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) opens a new category under Student Short Films: CinePhone Film Festival.
Not only are the films recorded via cellphone, viewers can also vote for their favorite film with just a text message, exclusive to Smart Communications subscribers.
Launched last July, the CinePhone film fest is a competition that gave high school and college students all over the country the opportunity to develop their filmmaking talent, simply by using their cellphones to create mini-movies. Part of the contest is the People’s Choice Award that will be selected by Smart subscribers voting via text messaging.
The telco’s involvement in the film fest was born out of recognition of “the immense power of the cellphone in democratizing filmmaking and making the technology more accessible to a much larger pool of talent,” said Ramon R. Isberto, head of Public Affairs at Smart.
Organized by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the films for this category all adhere to the theme of Restoring Road Courtesy among Motorists and Pedestrians and depicting values such as courtesy, discipline, and respect.
“With CinePhone, we hope to encourage the youth to embrace the values of discipline and courtesy through a medium they know well. We also hope to help instill in them those values, because they will eventually shape the future of and build this nation,” said MMDA chairman Francis N. Tolentino.
Screening committee
Through a stringent screening and judging process supervised by CinePhone festival director Paul Soriano, creator of multi-awarded independent movie “Thelma”, the initial long list of entries has been pruned down to 60 finalists – 20 from Luzon, 20 from Visayas and 20 from Mindanao.
The board of judges is composed of Tolentino, Soriano, heads of other government agencies, other respected film writers and directors, as well as advertising “rockstars”.
Sixty finalists will compete for the top six slots – two from Luzon, two from Visayas, and two from Mindanao. These six winners will each receive P25,000 in cash, a Smart-powered HTC Desire smartphone, a Sony digital camera, among others.
The CinePhone film with the highest number of online and text votes will be given the People’s Choice Award and a Smart-powered HTC Sensation XE smartphone.
To vote, text CINEPHONE POLL <letter assigned to the film> to 9977 for only P2.50 per vote. Exclusive only to Smart subscribers.
All winners of the 1st CinePhone Film Festival will be announced on November 5, 2012.
In partnership with other major CinePhone sponsors like Sony Philippines, Manila Bulletin, Ten17 Productions, among others, Smart hopes to help revive public interest and support for Filipino films, and to encourage the creativity of Filipino youth.
To view the films, log on to www.cinephone.ph.
