[MFF FILM LAB: FDCP FILM TALKS]

This February 17 to 20, The Montañosa Film Festival and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) will hold the FDCP Film Talks, a series of workshops free to all budding filmmakers from the Cordilleras.

The talks, which will be conducted over Zoom, cover a variety of topics on filmmaking, including casting, directing, cinematography, scriptwriting, and more! Each talk will feature resource persons from the best of the best in the industry and will welcome a limited number of participants.

To register, those interested can visit bit.do/FDCPFilmTalk (this link is case sensitive), or scan the QR code in the event poster.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

GALE OSORIO is known for producing films such as ISKALAWAGS (2013) and LILY (2016), which were both directed by Keith Deligero. Notably, she produced the short film BABYLON (2017), which was part of the official selection for the 68th Berlinale International Film Festival's Shorts Competition. Subsequently, Osorio was given a six-month fellowship for film co-production at the Busan Film School. She also joined the Pustnik Screenwriters Residency, a nine-day retreat in the Romanian countryside for filmmakers working on their first or second feature film. In 2020, Osorio was a TorinoLab Story Editor Trainee.

SHERON DAYOC is a director with experience in both fiction and nonfiction storytelling, and in directing TV commercials. He directed a number of films which garnered awards and recognition both locally and abroad, including HALAW/Ways of the Sea (2010), The Crescent Rising (2015), and Women of the Weeping River (2016), which won him Best Director at the 2017 Gawad Urian Awards. Dayoc is also the founder of Southern Lantern Studios, a creative think tank and production company.

FATRICK TABADA is a writer, director, and cinematographer from Cebu known for working on the screenplays of Sabado, Sabado (2012), Si Chedeng at si Apple (2017), Born Beautiful (2019), and Patay na si Hesus (2016), for which he received a Gawad Urian Award in 2017.

CHE ESPIRITU is a writer, director, and cinematographer who studied film at the University of Philippines and at Florida State University. She is best known for her style in children's filmmaking, which is inspired by the magical realism in the works of Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki. Her first feature film, Pan de Salawal (2018), won multiple awards both locally and internationally.

The FDCP Film Talks are sponsored by the FDCP, a lead partner of the 2021 Montañosa Film Festival.

Drawing inspiration from the Spanish word montañosa, or 'mountainous,' the Montañosa Film Festival will highlight the rich cultural heritage of the Cordilleras, its diverse creative forces blending together harmoniously through the melting pot that is Baguio City.

With the theme "Crossing Borders," the MFF is geared to dive into new creative efforts to open relevant avenues for discourse on various topics under the sun.

Ten exceptional narrative and documentary films from ten of the region's most promising independent filmmakers will be showcased from March 20 to 28, 2021 in a one-of-a-kind festival experience, crossing the borders and limits of traditional communication methods into the age of the new normal.

Riding on the wave of success film tourism has experienced in the past two decades, the festival aims to bring exposure to Baguio Creative City and re-ignite the city's tourism industry.

The first Montañosa Film Festival is presented by the Baguio City Mayor's Office, Department of Tourism and supported by festival lead partners - the Council for Baguio Creative City, the Baguio Tourism Council, the Tourism Promotions Board, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, University of the Philippines Baguio and the Embassies of France, India, and Czech Republic.

The MFF is organized by The Workshop for Infinite Media, Inc. under the helm of Festival Director Ferdinand John Balanag, a multi-awarded film and theatre director.

The MFF's main beneficiary is GoodACTS (Artists, Craftspeople, and Tourism Support), a community initiative of mutual support among the city's artists amid the pandemic.

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