MANILA — The Quezon City International Film Festival, dubbed as QCinema, has topped the list as the Best Local Film Festival for film reviewers in 2018.
According to PinoyRebyu, a Filipino film aggregators’ website, QCinema garnered a near-unanimous first place for being able to exhibit “high-quality local films and world cinema favorites in 2018,” while offering a more audience-friendly viewer service than those of other film festivals.
Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte said she is pleased with recognition gained by the city’s film fair from moviegoers, especially since the city is also able to promote restaurants, hotels and other attractions through a partnership with the Department of Tourism.
“I am happy that movie critics chose QCinema as the Best Local Film Fest. I think this shows that our city’s film festival is effective for showcasing world-class films that movie goers can enjoy and at the same time, they are starting to see Quezon City as a film destination,” Belmonte said in an ambush interview Thursday.
Launched in 2013, Belmonte spearheaded QCinema in the city’s venture to be the Philippines’ “Film Capital” while also challenging Quezon City filmmakers to illustrate their creativity through well-crafted movies that incorporate Filipino values such as nationalism, freedom, excellence and gender sensitivity.
Held in October last year, the 6th QCinema featured some 40 independent films, short films, international feature films, and digitally-remastered Filipino classics which included five flicks from home-grown filmmakers who each received a PHP1.5-million peso production grant from the Quezon City local government.
The entries were Samantha Lee’s “Billie and Emma,” Timmy Harn’s “Dog Days,” Dan Villegas’ “Hintayan ng Langit,” Gutierrez Mangansakan’s “Masla A Papanok,” and Dwein Baltazar’s “Oda sa Wala” which topped the 2018 film poll by PinoyRebyu as the Best Philippine Cinema in 2018.
The other nine film festivals that made it to the list are Cinemalaya, C1 Originals, ToFarm Film Festival, CineFilipino, Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino, Maginhawa Film Festival, Sinag Maynila, Piling Obrang Vidyo, Gawad Alternatibo, Never Forget Film Festival and the Metro Manila Film Festival.
Belmonte added that she looks forward to more artistic films from Quezon City filmmakers as the city will continue to encourage them by providing a production grant to selected deserving filmmakers.
