The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) will be launching today, Aug. 25, its new online film festival dubbed "Sine Halaga" that will feature films highlighting Filipino cultural values.
Film Festival Director Elvert Bañares said the virtual film fest, organized in partnership with Negros Cultural Foundation (NCF), would tackle 19 Filipino values that were identified from a two-year research conducted by the NCCA.
These include personal values on self, life, purpose, resilience, and happiness, as well as social values such as good governance, love for country, honesty, and integrity.
"Ito ang tinatanong nila sa mga Pilipino kung anong mahalaga. Hindi lang ito value na tinitingnan natin from a moral point of view but also from a social point of view (We have been asking Filipinos what is more important? It is not only the values that we look at from a moral point of view but also from a social point of view)," Bañares said in a virtual press briefing.
According to Bañares, each film was written to reiterate the importance of these Filipino values while depicting local customs and practices.
Aside from this, Bañares noted that the Sine Halaga also has an educational component as the films will be used for classroom education making it "unique" from other film fests.
"We are organizing a series of webinars and preparing study guides to aid our teachers in discussing the films to their students. With the help of our teachers, we can articulate effectively the values that each film conveys," he added.
Only 12 stories out of the at least 100 entries have been chosen by the Sine Halaga jury during the selection process and were awarded funds for production.
These films that will participate in Sine Halaga are "Bakit ako Sinusundan ng Buwan" directed by Richard Legaspi; "Black Rainbow" by Zig Madamba Dulay; "Dandansoy" by Rod Arden Condez; "Hadlok" by Ralston Jover; "Looking for Rafflesias and other Fleeting Things" by James Allen Fajardo, "Lorna" by Noel Escondo; "Masalimuut Ya Tiyagew Ed Dayat" by Jan Carlo Natividad, "Mina’s Family History" by Christopher Gozum; "Sa Balay ni Papang" by Kurt Steven Soberano; "Salog ning Diklom" by Jordan Jose Dela Cruz; "Ugbos ka Bayabas" by Manie Magbanua Jr., and "13 Feet" by Carlo Obispo.
The online film festival will kick off at 6 p.m. with an opening program to be broadcasted live on Facebook. This will also mark the world premiere of the 12 films on streaming platform Vimeo OnDemand and the NCCA Learning Resources Hub website.
Bañares added that the films will be made available to the public for free.
" believe that streaming the films online is an effective way of reaching the younger generation to empower them with values that are positively Filipino," he added.