After three years of delay, a second installment of the Metro Manila Festival will be launched in the summer of 2023, following the success of the MMFF in December.
Following the comeback of its annual year-end celebration of locally made films, the Metro Manila Festival is finally ready to launch the inaugural summer edition after getting delayed by the pandemic.
On Monday, January 9, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman and MMFF overall chairman Romando Artes announced that it will hold the first Metro Manila Summer Festival (MMSF) this year, and will be done in partnership with the Cinema Exhibitors Association of the Philippines (CEAP).
“We will release the deadline of submission of entries as early as we can so that interested producers and filmmakers may be guided accordingly,” Artes said in the statement, reported Rappler.
The MMSF will run for 11 days from April 8 (Black Saturday) to April 18, in cinemas nationwide, with its Parade of Stars kicking off the festivities a week ahead on April 1, while its Awards Night will take place on April 11.
The summer film festival was planned to be launched in April 2020 after getting announced by MMFF’s ExeCom in July 2019 to be able to showcase two film festivals each year.
But with the pandemic, the executives decided to withhold their plans for three straight years. The success of the recent MFF Artes and company found its right time to pursue the project now.
“As mentioned earlier, two years ago pa dapat ito ginawa pero inabutan nga ng pandemic. But we felt that the people are ready to go back to the theaters now as proven by the success of the MMFF 2022. Yung summer festival is the time na naka-break talaga and halos lahat ng kabataan nasa bakasyon. So it’s really a time for celebration,” said Laurice Guillen, head of the 2022 MMFF jury.
In the statement, Artes added that the films which failed to enter the top 8 of the 2022 MMFF may still qualify for the summer film fest, reported the Manila Bulletin.
Tags: #MMFF, #localfilms, #Philippinecinema