The Maginhawa Film Festival is Back!

Photos from Maginhawa Film Festival’s Facebook page

The Maginhawa Film Festival (MFF) is back on its second year of showcasing the best movies made by filmmakers from all walks of life. It features full-length films and short films that Manila Centenario hopes will foster a newfound love for locally made films in its audiences.

Unlike last year’s MFF where it was simply an exhibition of filmmaking skills, this year’s iteration is a competition which, according to Hector Barretto Calma, the brain behind Cinema Centenario, also “serves as the culminating activity for all the best films from the past year”.

When asked about the non-separation of documentary films and narrative fictions, Calma states that the committee members wanted to make sure that all genres of film are given the same amount of exposure.

Calma also notes that the film selection process was not easy as they received upwards of 100 combined full-length and feature film submissions. With regards to choosing which submissions would be included, they decided that craftsmanship and how the message was delivered were part of the criteria for short films while merit and the impact towards the audience were the main factors for the selection in the main competition.

Calma also said that since Cinema Centenario and MFF are all about featuring movies with diverse genres. With 10 main competition movies and 12 short films, we have several suggestions on what to watch per category: