The Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival just announced another groundbreaking partnership set to support its student filmmakers participating in the Festival’s Student Shorts category.

MFP Rentals, an upstart local audiovisual equipment rental services company, has generously thrown its support behind the CinePanalo Film Festival, pledging to sponsor equipment rental services worth a total minimum value of PhP 100,000 free to use for all 25 student short film entries.

The partnership is a first for the CinePanalo Film Festival, as the inaugural event did not feature any equipment subsidy for the participants in the student shorts category. Now,
through the partnership between Puregold and MFP Rentals, the 25 student filmmakers no longer need to shell out a part of their P150,000 grant on equipment. They can, instead, allocate their funding towards perfecting their cinematic vision.

In this collaboration, Puregold Senior Marketing Manager Ivy Hayagan-Piedad shared the company's gratitude for allowing student filmmakers to give their all without worrying about equipment funding.

“The student shorts category of the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival was designed to give an opportunity to passionate young directors itching for a chance to show the world ntheir panalo stories. Thanks to MFP Rentals, our student filmmakers now have significantly more resources to make that happen,” she said.

Meanwhile, for MFP Rentals owner Mark Tristan Cua, the lease of the audiovisual equipment was a no-brainer given the advocacy of the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival in supporting the dreams of student filmmakers.

“After seeing the success of last year’s Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival, we knew that MFP Rentals needed to be a part of the next one, and we believed that supporting the entrants of the students’ shorts category was the best way we could lend a hand,” said Cua.

For Cua, the opportunity to help aspiring filmmakers has always been his goal. Outside of MFP Rentals, Cua founded the Mobile Filmmaking Philippines online community, where filmmakers can learn from each other, allowing young and aspiring filmmakers to find affordable equipment services.

“It’s difficult to be a student filmmaker in the Philippines, and having more space in one’s budget can go a long way,” added Cua. “We hope that through MFP Rentals’ assistance, these talented young artists can focus their budget on making the film of their dreams instead of spending a lot of money just on equipment.”

In addition to the equipment rentals, MFP Rentals will also engage in a technical discussion with the Director of Photography of each student short film before submitting any technical equipment requests. This allows MFP Rentals to tailor its assistance to the unique creative vision of each student short film project.

Puregold recently announced the list of 25 student filmmakers who will be receiving the P150,000 production grant, as well as the assistance by MFP Rentals and all of Puregold’s other official production partners for the CinePanalo Film Festival. The upcoming film festival will feature student filmmakers from universities across the country, including the University of the Philippines, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, University of Caloocan City, and even universities from outside Metro Manila like Central Philippine University, Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng San Pablo, the University of San Carlos, and Faith Colleges, and National University Laguna.

The Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival is set to begin in March 2025, with the Awards Night set for March 19, 2025. Each of the student short filmmakers will have a chance to compete for the festival’s top awards, including the best film and director.