Supermarket chain Puregold is investing even more resources in its advocacy campaign Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival by offering the highest production grants for full-length materials in the Philippines. 

For its upcoming 2025 Puregold CinePanalo run, a whopping P3,000,000 full-length film production grant will be given to each of seven deserving professional and amateur directors, while 25 promising student filmmakers will each receive a P150,000 short film production grant.

Applications are now open to those aspiring to join the upcoming festival line-up. The deadline for full-length directors is on July 15, 2024. Meanwhile, student directors in the short film category must submit their applications before Aug. 15, 2024.

“After a highly successful and celebrated inaugural run in March, Puregold is proud to have started its mark in the Philippine film industry,” says Puregold President Vincent Co. “We aim to continue this for the benefit of Filipino students and filmmakers. This year, we challenge more aspiring filmmakers to push boundaries, tackle new matters and experimental approaches while raising Filipino heritage and values.”

Puregold CinePanalo has two categories: short films for students and campus-based filmmakers and full-length films for amateur and professional directors. Unlike the previous festival run, Puregold CinePanalo now requires applicants to submit complete screenplays for their entries. This allows the Selection Committee to identify the most compelling and well-realized stories suited to the festival’s theme. Applications can be completed at the following: https://forms.gle/wNUUQ62okYcyW5r37.

All submitted entries must be uplifting stories centered on the theme of “Mga Kwentong Panalo ng Buhay.”

Puregold senior marketing manager and festival director Ivy Hayagan-Piedad spoke on the importance of this theme. “We seek fresh perspectives in storytelling. Puregold CinePanalo aims to be a platform for local artists to take risks and be bold in their craft. Our goal is to bring more outstanding Filipino films to the national—and even global—stage,” she said.

The student shorts have a maximum runtime of 20 minutes, while the full-length films must have a minimum length of 90 minutes. All winning entries will be screened during the festival proper from March 14-25, 2025, at the Gateway Cinemas. Furthermore, all films in the festival lineup will be eligible for recognition at the Puregold CinePanalo Awards Night, which will be held on March 19, 2025.

The inaugural Puregold CinePanalo featured full-length films from directors such as Kurt Soberano, Sigrid Bernardo, Joel Ferrer, and more. Student shorts were produced by young filmmakers from UP Diliman, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and other schools nationwide.

For further inquiries on the Puregold CinePanalo, potential applicants may email [email protected].