The Cinemalaya Film Festival is organized by the Cinemalaya Foundation, a not-for-profit, non-government foundation that was created to promote Philippine independent film and to discover, encourage and support talented young filmmakers. The inaugural Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival was held in the Philippine capital of Manila from July 12 to 17, 2005.
Since its very first installment, Cinemalaya has been a competitive film festival. At the 6th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival that was held in 2010, the full-length entries were separated into two competitions for the first time: the New Breed Section and the Directors’ Showcase. Since 2016, the festival has been hosting one Main Competition for full-length features. There’s also a separate competition for short films.
Awards presented in the Main Competition include Best Film, Best Direction, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. The Short Film Competition has its own set of awards: Best Film, Special Jury Prize, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Audience Choice Award, and NETPAC Prize (presented by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema since 2015).
The films that participate in the competition are funded by the grants (seed investments) provided by the Cinemalaya Foundation that oversees the production of the films. The “finalists” who receive the grants are selected from hundreds of submissions. Their films debut at the festival and then the jury selects the winners.
Alongside the film competitions, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival hosts out-of-competition screenings, art exhibitions, a conference on independent filmmaking and distribution, a forum for emerging filmmakers, workshops and seminars on film production, marketing and distribution, and other events and activities for both cinema-goers and film industry professionals.
In 2020, the event was held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo: Kiko Cabuena
