The 2023 Montañosa Film Festival (MFF) has opened on March 25 at SM City Baguio and will run various activities until April 1 to be held in key sites around the city.
This year’s edition of the MFF is in collaboration with Cinema Rehiyon, a flagship project of the Committee on Cinema of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
The theme this year is “Divergence + convergence” which is aligned with the local government’s goal to establish an interconnected creative and tourism endeavor as a creative city.
Activities lined up for the fest week are the opening gala, online screenings, campus caravan, filmmakers’ homecoming and film forum, film talks and mentoring, indoor and outdoor screenings and bonfire.
Through Executive Order 24 s. 2023, Mayor Benjamin Magalong has declared the whole month of March as the Montañosa Film Festival, a privately driven and government-supported activity in the city.
MFF started in 2021 to foster Baguio as home of independent filmmakers and to establish recognition for the Cordillera as a creative region. “Filipino films are our best ambassadors for culture and the arts across the globe,” MFF Creative Director Ferdinand Balanag.
The staging of the MFF provides an avenue to discuss pressing issues like environment, health, peace, freedom, art, culture, heritage, and more. The film fest also aims to encourage creativity and to inspire and create dialogue.
The Cinema Rehiyon and MFF collaboration aims to promote films that tell stories rooted in the culture of the Cordillera.
Cinema Rehiyon aims to showcase the Philippines’ regional filmmaking and providesopportunities for storytellers to build “networks and exhibit their films to a wider audience.”
NCCA has allotted P1.5 million for the purpose. – Kazer Joshua Galindon
April 30, 2024
