​​​​​​​Here is another binge-watch list of short films for the Binging During Quarantine series of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). Last week, we tackled the Vimeo playlist of animated shorts by the Philippine Animation Workers Association. This time, we are featuring some regional shorts that are posted or shared by the Quarantimes: Short Films from the Regions Facebook page. Cineastes will be treated to a wide array of short films on the Quarantimes page, each with a distinct local color.  

In honor of the late Peque Gallaga and his distinguished body of work, we have chosen to revisit his 1982 classic Oro, Plata, Mata. Often considered his masterpiece, Oro, Plata, Mata won the Gawad Urian awards for 'Best Picture,' 'Best direction,' 'Best Cinematography,' 'Best Production Design,' 'Best Musical Score' and 'Best Sound.' The film also won the Luna Awards for 'Best Production Design' and 'Best Supporting Actress' (Liza Lorena).

The Philippine Animation Workers Association (PAWA) introduced a playlist of short films through its “free to watch, pay what you can” project that aims to spread good vibes during the quarantine period and encourage viewers to donate to charities such as the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Medical Foundation, Kaya Natin, People for Accountable Governance and Sustainable Action (PAGASA), and #PARaSCIBayan.

We have previously watched Birdshot, and Signal Rock, and Bayaning 3rd World. For part four of our series, we have chosen to revisit Kip Oebanda’s Bar Boys, a film that premiered in 2017’s Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino and was recently made available by the film director and producers for free streaming on Youtube.

Still building on your binge-watching list during the quarantine period? FDCP's Binging During Quarantine series can help you by highlighting Filipino films available in online streaming platforms. Our first two featured films are official entries of the Philippines to the Foreign Language Film category of the Academy Awards: "Birdshot" (2016) by Mikhail Red and "Signal Rock" (2018) by Chito S. Roño. For our third installment, we have a classic this time: Gawad Urian Best Picture "Bayaning Third World" (1999) by Mike de Leon.

This week, we chose Chito Roño’s Signal Rock, a film that premiered in 2018’s Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino where it won various awards on its way to being selected as the Philippine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. Signal Rock is currently available for streaming on iWant and iTunes. 

Perhaps the most helpful thing most people can do right now under the pandemic situation is to stay at home, follow the community quarantine, and flatten the covid curve. For many folks, this gives plenty of free time to binge-watch new shows and movies online (imagine that! Binging is already a form of helping out your community!). Here at FDCP, as lovers and promoters of Philippine cinema, we’ve decided to start our series: Binging on Quarantine, to revisit and explore the many great films of Philippine cinema that we can include in our quarantine watch-list. We hope that this series brings forward a further appreciation of Philippine movies and allow us to see all its excellence and diversity.

Launched last October, the Film Philippines Incentive Scheme seeks to encourage international production companies to shoot in the Philippines by providing financial incentives for projects that co-produce with or hire local production companies. The new initiative takes effect in January 2020 and comprises of the Film Location Incentive Program (FLIP) and the International Co-Production Fund (ICOF).

VENICE, ITALY: In my five years as Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Chairperson, it was only my first time to attend the Venice International Film Festival, the oldest and one of the most prestigious festivals of its kind. Despite the pandemic, I was fortunate to attend it this year, in support of "On the Job: The Missing 8," the only Filipino (and Asian film) in the main competition. I was also there to promote the FilmPhilippines incentives to possible international partners and collaborators.

We're only just two weeks into September as the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) headed the celebration of the first-ever Philippine Film Industry Month, and I can say that we are off to a great start.