The pandemic has brought a lot of changes in lifestyle and tradition. Fear over the Corona virus had led to cancellations of the usual festivities held during the holiday season. But all is not lost as some of the traditions most Filipinos look forward to have transitioned themselves into digital platforms that are accessible to everyone, even to those who cannot be home for Christmas.
One tradition Filipino families look forward to during the holiday season is watching Filipino films that are part of the Metro Manila Film Festival. Usually, families flock to the cinemas on December 25 until the first week of the new year to watch original Filipino films of different genre: comedy, romance and drama. Of course, the film festival will not be complete without fantasy and horror films. Also during this time, cinemas only show Filipino movies.
It is great to hear that this year, even with the pandemic, the "show goes on" shared by Ms. Lars Magbanua, a Production Designer and Art Director for film, TV and commercials since 2013. She is the Production Designer of the film "The Boy Foretold By the Stars", one of the entries to this year's Metro Manila Film Festival.
With great satisfaction, she shared, "The Boy Foretold By The Stars is a romantic comedy movie about two senior high school boys, who through the help of a fortune-teller, find each other at an optional school retreat called Journey with the Lord. I did the Production Design and was responsible for the visual concept of the film with the collaboration of the Director and the Director of Photography. The movie was supposedly part of CineFilipino, an independent film festival but because of the pandemic, the festival was postponed. It was then bought by Cleverminds Inc. and was chosen to be part of the MMFF. This will be the first BL (Boys Love) movie in the Philippines starring Andrian Lindayag and Keann Johnson. The film was directed by Dolly Dulu".
When asked how the Metro Manila Film Festival be celebrated this year, she replied, "MMFF this year is celebrated entirely online. Even the parade and awards ceremonies are being held virtually. Although it gets a bit disappointing that our audience won't be able to see our work on the big screen; being online would still make a lot of difference. The fact that we are now online, our movie can now be watched from anywhere in the world." Indeed, good news for our "kababayans" worldwide.
This year, the Metro Manila Film Festival has 10 official entries and even under the most challenging circumstances to date, this amazing feat is made possible through the efforts of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Globe Telecom and the MMFF Executive Committee.
The entries can be viewed through Upstream, the newest video-on-demand platform created by Filipinos established to provide entertainment beyond the usual and through GMovies, a mobile app and website platform that provides booking services for cinemas and third party online video streaming services.
Are you interested to watch the different entries to the Metro Manila Film Festival? Here's how:
1. Go to UPSTREAM.ph/mmff. A tiled view of the different movies available for streaming will be presented.
2. Once you've chosen the movie, click on the "Sream Now" button found below the chosen movie tile.
3. You will then be redirected to their ticketing partner site GMovies.ph.
4. When already in GMovies.ph, click "Pay". If you have a voucher, all you need to do is enter your voucher code in the "Enter your promo code" button and click "Apply".
5. You will then be asked to "Sign In". If you don't have a GMovies account, you will be asked to create an account. Don't worry. It's free!
6. Once the account is created, you can now watch and enjoy the movie you have chosen by clicking on "Stream Now on Upstream" or from the "My Shows" tab of your GMovies account.
It's that easy! Now you can enjoy the Metro Manila Film Festival with the whole family from home. So what are you waiting for? Get your tickets now! The MMFF will run from December 25 to January 7, 2021.