FDCP Expands 2nd Year of Int’l Lab with Full Circle Lab Philippines

February 05, 2020

Following a successful first run in the country last year, 2019’s ‘First Cut Lab Manila,’ a film lab that develops projects through a series of modules headed by industry experts, will be expanding into the broader ‘Full Circle Lab Philippines.’ This year’s Full Circle Lab will build on First Cut Lab Manila’s program—which placed a particular focus on feature-length fiction films—to create a holistic program covering the diverse forms of cinema. Full Circle Lab Philippines comprises of a Fiction, Series, Animation, Documentary, and First-Cut Lab.

Full Circle Lab, in its second year in the Philippines as a capacity-building program for supporting creative talents, will bring in a select group of 10 international film industry veterans to lead film labs for their respective genres and fields of expertise. Through organizing the various labs ranging from the stages of pre-production to post-production, the program enhances selected projects from around the globe, elevating a particular film to its highest potential and allowing it to reach international standards.

Matthieu Daras, Giovanni Pompili, Izabela Igel, Mmbatho Kau, Matthieu Taponier, Avid Liongoren

The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) brings the film lab to the Philippines in collaboration with Matthieu Darras, current director of Full Circle Lab and former Artistic Director of the internationally renowned Torino Film Lab. The collaboration looks to make the Philippines a creative hub for filmmaking in the Southeast Asian region. With this aim, the tailor-made Full Circle Lab Philippines will open up its program to discover unique stories from all of Southeast Asia and to encompass the different voices within the region. Filmmakers from the Philippines and neighboring Brunei, Cambodia, East-Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and/or Vietnam are eligible and encouraged to submit their films for consideration in the program’s five separate film labs: the fiction lab, mini and/or multi-season series in development, animation stories in development, feature-length documentaries in post-production, and feature-length fiction films in the editing stage for the Fiction, Series, Animation, Documentary, and First Cut labs respectively.

Left to right: Rae Red, Iana Bernardez, Izabela Igel

Submissions are open till March 1st for the Animation, Fiction, and Series Labs and till March 15th for the Documentary and First Cut Labs. The Full Circle Lab mentors will review the materials of eligible applicants and confer to select the final selection, ensuring the diversity of the lineup. FDCP announces the final selection of projects by the 30th of March 2020.

The Full Circle Lab mentors this year consist of script consultants Ayman El Amir and Matthieu Taponier and producers Giovani Pompili and Izabela Igel for fiction. For Series Lab, script consultant Mmabatho Kau and producer Naomi Levari. Script consultant Julien Lilti and producer Jelena Popovic for Animation Lab, and editor Benjamin Mirguet for Documentary Lab.

Matthieu Taponier, Arden Rod Condez, Sonny Calvento, Matthieu Daras, Mmbatho Kau

Last year’s ‘First Cut Lab Manila’ selected 16 projects and included the award-winning films John Denver Trending (dir. Arden Rod Condez) and Babae at Baril (dir. Rae Red). Condez, whose film won ‘Best Picture’ in 2019’s Cinemalaya Film Festival, credited John Denver Trending’s participation in the film lab during his speech at the festival’s gala-night for aiding in the film's success.

FDCP Chairperson Liza Diño

Regarding FDCP’s role in bringing Full Circle Lab to the Philippines, FDCP Chair Liza Dino said,

“We are glad to continue our partnership with Full Circle Lab following a very successful and productive session last year. Among the projects who underwent the Lab, 2 went on to local and international film festivals to critical acclaim, 2 are already in production, while the rest have gone on to more international labs and project markets to further develop their films and collaborate with partners. This goes on to show the fundamental importance of project development in Filipino films and its role to further elevating and upgrading the quality of projects

With the clamor that we have received from our stakeholders, we are proud to expand First Cut for 2020 with the inclusion of series development to cater to the growing interest in the production of Filipino series in VOD platforms and the animation Lab for animation IP stories in development to encourage full-fledged original narratives from Filipino animators. We are also expanding the acceptance of documentary projects and works in progress to push for the format that meaningfully narrates our real-life stories. Lastly, in line with our goal for regional cooperation, we are pleased to open the projects in development Lab to Southeast Asian projects to unlock more potential collaborations among partners and stories.

We hope that this second year of Full Circle Lab brings forth a fresh and diverse crop of projects that we can support, empower, and realize their fullest potential, as well as new collaborations among regional partners that would foster reaching beyond borders as an industry.

By bringing Full Circle Lab to the Philippines, FDCP furthers its goal of developing the Filipino film industry into global standards. As the expanded Full Circle Lab, the series broadens its scope and support into the different genres and forms that constitute Filipino cinema.”

Charlotte Deflassieux-Viguier

The film lab continues FDCP’s push to invigorate and internationalize the Philippine film industry. Full Circle Lab helps fulfill FDCP’s goal of building the Philippines as a creative hub for cinema in the Southeast Asian Region alongside the newly launched FilmPhilippines financial incentive program which supports local production companies who work with international productions.

Full Circle Lab, by honing in on specific projects and encouraging the artistic portrayal of Southeast Asian narratives, further diversifies the scope of Philippine cinema in general and Asian cinema as a whole. As a center for creative development in the Southeast Asian region, FDCP hopes to empower the local industry, providing further possibilities of growth and collaboration.

See more details for the submission process below:

FULL CIRCLE LAB PHILIPPINES 2020

Full Circle Lab Philippines is a capacity-building program aimed at supporting Filipino and Southeast Asian filmmakers. The second edition of the Lab takes place in Manila, from the 15th to 22nd of April 2020.

Full Circle Lab Philippines is co-organised by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and Tatino Films.

Full Circle Lab Philippines aims at:

Identifying, nurturing and training creative talents in the Philippines and in South-East Asia;
Supporting Filipino & South-East Asian film projects along their development & post-production processes – in order to enhance their artistic and audience potentials with a focus on storytelling;
Fostering the internationalisation of the Filipino film industry, and positioning the Philippines as a creative hub in the South-East Asian region.

MODULES

The Lab is composed of five modules: Fiction, Documentary, Animation, Series and First Cut Labs

The Fiction Lab nurtures feature films in development.This lab combines works in plenary, groups and individual consultations. Each project is followed by two mentors, one focusing more specifically on script development – either Ayman El Amir or Matthieu Taponier – and the other on production issues – either Izabela Igel or Giovanni Pompili.

The Series Lab aims at answering the growing demand for episodic content from VOD platforms, and will nurture series projects – both mini-series and multi-season series are accepted. Projects are mentored by script consultant and development executive Mmabatho Kau and producer Naomi Levari.

The Animation Lab is designed to support the development of animation IP stories (shorts, features or series), in order to encourage original narratives from South-East Asian animators. Projects are mentored by Jelena Popovic, producer at Canada’s NFB’s Animation Studio, and scriptwriter Julien Lilti.

The Documentary Lab consists of a one-week editing residency for feature-length documentaries in post-production. The projects will benefit from a series of consultancy sessions by editor Benjamin Mirguet.

The First Cut Lab is open to fiction feature films at editing stage, and helps creative teams to reach the film they envision, fostering their artistic and circulation potentials. Under the supervision of Matthieu Darras, this 3-day Lab involves all the mentors of Full Circle Lab as advisors, with Benjamin Mirguet and Matthieu Taponier as editor consultants.

Projects from The Philippines and fellow Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Cambodia, East-Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are eligible for submission to all film labs.

CALL FOR PROJECTS GUIDELINES

How to apply

Full Circle Lab Philippines is open to filmmakers from The Philippines and Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Cambodia, East-Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Applicants should submit their entire application package:

– by the 1st of March 2020 deadline in the case of the Animation, Fiction & Series Labs;

– by the 15th of March 2020 deadline in the case of Documentary & First Cut Labs.

Applications should be sent to: [email protected].

For any information request, please contact: [email protected].

Selection

The Full Circle Lab mentors shall review the materials of eligible applicants and shall confer to select the final selection, ensuring the diversity of the lineup.

FDCP announces the final selection of projects by the 30th of March 2020.

For Fiction, Animation & Series Labs, the stage of development of each project may vary.

Projects with or without producer(s) attached will equally be welcomed. There’s no need to have financing in place. Participants will be the author(s), and the directors and producers will also be attending if they are attached to the projects.

The Labs are open for projects that have not yet entered preproduction stage.

Applicants must submit the following:

Logline (50 words), Synopsis (1 page), and Concept/Treatment (Up to 10 pages)
Director’s & producer’s statements (Up to 2 pages)
Director’s & screenwriter’s filmographies (1 page)
Producer’s filmography (1 page) & Production company profile (1 page)
Rights to Adaptation if necessary.

For Documentary & First Cut Labs, the film’s producer, director, and editor must attend the whole duration of the Editing Lab.

Applicants must submit the following:

A minimum of 30 minutes of scenes from the film subtitled in English. Scenes can be separate and can be in rough cut.

Logline (50 words), Synopsis (1 page)
Director’s & producer’s statements (Up to 2 pages)
Director’s & editor’s filmographies (1 page)
Producer’s filmography (1 page) & Production company profile (1 page).

9 mentors from all continents with constitute the pedagogical team of Full Circle Lab:

Animation projects will work under the double mentorship of NFB’s Animation Studio producer Jelena Popovic (Canada), and scriptwriter Julien Lilti (France) – notably author of the European Film Academy’s nominated animated feature Adama.
Series projects will work under the double mentorship of drama series producer & development executive Mmabatho Kau (South Africa) and film & series producer Naomi Levari (Israel/Germany).
Feature film projects will work under the guidance of scriptwriters/script consultants Ayman El Amir (Egypt) and Matthieu Taponier (USA/France), producer/distributor Izabela Igel (Poland) and producer Giovanni Pompili (Italy).
Projects in post-production will benefit from consultancies of editor Benjamin Mirguet (France/Germany).