1st Metro Manila Summer Film Fest to Kick Off April

For the first time ever, another round of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) will be held this summer, with its eight film entries to be screened after the Lenten season.

In a press launch of the event dubbed the Summer MMFF (SMMFF) in Makati City, MMFF and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Danilo Lim emphasized that the event will not be a minor festival and will be equal compared to its December counterpart.

“Lahat ng pwede gawin ng (Everything that could be done by the) MMFF executive committee ibibigay natin para maging successful ito (will be done to ensure its success). This is the first summer film fest na gagawin natin (that we’re doing),” Lim said.

Aside from awarding prizes to winners of the festival’s several awards categories, he said winning entries will also be given the same incentives as those in previous MMFFs.

“I-sponsor natin sa international film fests yung mga awards na ibibigay natin — kung ilang daan libo yan for this award, ganun din. Ayaw natin masabi na itong summer film fest ay second class kumpara sa ano, dapat pareho yan (We’ll sponsor the winning entries in international film fests — if we give out this much for an award, we’ll do the same here. We don’t want anyone to say that the summer film fest is second class compared to another, it should be the same),” Lim said.

Featured films

During the event, Noel Ferrer, MMFF spokesperson, joined by actress-beauty queen Kylie Verzosa, announced that the eight films will be screened beginning April 11 (Black Saturday) up until April 21.

These films, chosen out of 24 submitted entries, include ‘A Hard Day,’ an action film starring Dingdong Dantes; Tagpuan, a romance film starring Shaina Magdayao, Alfred Vargas, and Isa Calzado; ‘Love the Way ϋ Lie,’ a romantic comedy and fantasy film starring Xian Lim; ‘Isa Pang Bahaghari,’ a family drama featuring Philip Salvador and Nora Aunor; ‘Love or Money,’ starring Coco Martin and Angelica Panganiban; ‘Coming Home,’ a family drama starring Jinggoy Estrada; ‘Ngayon Kaya,’ a romance featuring Paulo Avelino and Janine Gutierrez; and ‘The Missing,’ a horror starring Joseph Marco and Ritz Azul.

According to Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, the SMMFF will officially kick off on April 4 through its Parade of Stars which will feature floats themed after the festival’s eight film entries as well as carry several of the films’ stars.

The parade will begin at 3 p.m. from Welcome Rotonda and will run for seven kilometers via Quezon Avenue eastbound straight towards Quezon Memorial Circle.

To give way to the parade, the eastbound lanes of Quezon Avenue, from Mabuhay Rotonda up to Quezon Memorial Circle, will be closed to vehicular traffic from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The MMDA said its traffic enforcers as well as those from the Quezon City government will be deployed along the parade route to assist and regulate traffic.

It added that an hour before the parade’s start, the entire stretch of Quezon Avenue’s eastbound lanes will be cleared and illegally parked vehicles will be towed. (PNA)