- CHERYL G. CRUZ
Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez officially announced April 10 the call for entries to the maiden staging of the Bacolod Film Festival this September.
Benitez earlier signed an executive order convening the Bacolod Film Festival Council (BFFC), that he will lead, with Councilor Em Ang, chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on History, Culture and Arts, as vice-chair.
The BFFC will select Bacolod filmmakers, who will receive subsidies to shoot their short films that will be shown during the film festival in September. An awards night will also be held as a culminating event, the city said in a press release.
The staging of the filmfest is under City Ordinance No. 1061, or the Bacolod Film Festival Ordinance, authored by Ang, with councilors Cindy Rojas and Celia Matea Flor as co-authors, and passed by the SP on Feb. 14, 2024.
It aims to establish a film festival in Bacolod to further develop the film production scene and to create a venue where local filmmakers and producers can showcase their talents, the EO said.
The filmfest ordinance has an appropriation of P6 million.
Ang, in an earlier press conference, said that selected filmmakers from Bacolod will each receive P300,000 in subsidy, and that cinemas in the city have agreed to show the chosen short films.
Benitez had said he has earmarked P3 million for the maiden staging of the film festival, adding that the Department of Trade and Industry also committed to augment the initial funding.
“Bacolod should be proud of their creatives. We have very artistic directors, and actors,” the mayor stressed, adding that they will be given another platform to show their creativity via the film festival./CGC
