How to recover from the cinema slump

International Film Industry Conference 2022 aims to bring synergy to stakeholders

Hearing film experts from neighboring ASEAN countries and bridging connections for progressive co-productions are the goals of the government to help the film industry rise against the economic slump caused by the pandemic. Opening this Friday, Nov. 18, is the International Film Industry Conference 2022 (IFIC), now on its sixth year, at the Novotel Manila Araneta City Hotel. It is organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) in partnership with QCinema International Film Festival and Full Circle Lab Philippines.

What’s in store for film enthusiasts and industry insiders? Documentary lovers will get a chance to sit down and hear the country’s top documentary filmmakers talk about the period of “disinformation.” Monster Jimenez who made Kano: An American and His Harem, the 2010 Competition for First Appearance winner at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam shares the panel with Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, the producer of Palawan environmental film Delikado, and Babyruth Villarama, who will share her new projects, Touch the Color and Breaking the News. Active Vista executive director Leni Velasco joins the discussion with television broadcast journalist Kara David as moderator.

Getting funding and incentives from the government are available through the FilmPhilippines office. Moderator Madonna Tarrayo, president and CEO, Unitel Productions, Inc./Straight Shooters Media, picks the minds of Agathe Vinson, FDCP technical consultant, and producers Wilfredo Manalang, Bianca Balbuena-Liew, and Jun Juban. These three local producers have brought foreign projects into the country. Manalang is one of the co-producers of Japan’s official Oscar entry Plan 75, Balbuena-Liew co-produced Ireland’s psychological thriller Nocebo, and Juban’s family is known for bringing in Hollywood productions and Survivor Philippines in the country.

Because local movie audiences have yet to come in full force to the cinemas, it is time for streaming services to level up.

For “Mapping Global Opportunities for the Southeast Asian Film Industry,” slated on Nov. 19, our film industry neighbors from the Republic of Korea and ASEAN countries fly in to Manila with European-based Lorna Tee to discuss the success of film commissions. Led by Md Nasir Ibrahim of the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), Jean Ng of the Singapore Film Commission, National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations vice president Sirisak Koshpasharin, Korean Film Council chairman Park Ki-Yong, they are joined by Filipino ace director Jose Javier Reyes.

First-time full-length directors from Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand will share their engaging stories on filming co-productions. Chie Hayakawa, who directed the 2022 Cannes Un Certain Regard finalist Plan 75, teams up with director Makbul Mubarak, who created Autobiography, which had a world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI critics’ prize for the Orizzonti section), and Sorayos Prapapan, whose film debut Arnold is a Model Student premiered at the 2022 Locarno International Film Festival.

Because local movie audiences have yet to come in full force to the cinemas, it is time for streaming services to level up. For the rise of an alternative film exhibition, executives from Amazon Prime, iWantTFC, Vivamax, and Viu Philippines will share how video on demand dominated the global market when cinemas were forced to close and how they provided for the needs of the industry and audiences.

Visit https://fdcp.ph/ific/ to register to the online and onsite hybrid format.