HOOQ up with Metro Manila Film Festival’s indie entries for the very first time

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This 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival in partnership with HOOQ, Asia’s largest video-on-demand service, presents the entries under the New Wave category and will be simultaneously available in theaters and online, exclusively through HOOQ.

For the first time in the 41-year history of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), and now the exclusive presenter for the 41st, MMFF New Wave category has a new Short Film Competition for amateur and professional filmmakers.

It's open-themed and for films ten-minute films. The Metro Manila Film Festival New Wave category features progressive works of independent and student filmmakers to express themselves through the powerful medium of film.

“Some of the most inventive techniques are shown in short films,” said Jane Walker, HOOQ Philippines Country Manager. “We’re very proud to showcase this and the creativity and talent of Filipino filmmakers.”

A partnership geared towards promoting quality Philippine entertainment, HOOQ and MMFF to address the growing needs of the digital natives to consume content at their own time; through streaming and download of the finalists’ animation and short film entries.

The MMFF New Wave category has been around since 2010 to give the opportunity to independent filmmakers to showcase their entries and the chance to take home prize money that could potentially be used to fund future film projects.  

This year’s finalists were selected by a jury out of hundreds of national submissions which was then trimmed down to five finalists each. 

There are five finalists from the short-film medium and another five from the animated genre. 

The complete list of entries are listed below.

Short-film finalists:

Daisy (Bryan Reyes of Colegio De San Lorenzo)

Ding Mangasyas (Justine Emmanuel Dizon of Kayumanggi Pictures)

Lapis (Maricel Cariaga of Center Stage Productions)

Momento (Jan-Kyle Nieva of UP Film Institute

Mumu (Jean Cheryl Tagyamon of UP Diliman)

These entries for short film feature:

Daisy, a story about a wife and mother Barbara who orders a Proxy Daisy robot to take care of household duties, only for Barbara to have a growing realization that there may be something very wrong with the robot that she has let into her families’ lives.  Written and directed by Bryan Reyes of Colegio de San Lorenzo, this is his first film competition that he joined on a whim and shot two days prior to the contest deadline.

Ding Mangasyas

Ding Mangasyas (Tough Guys) centers on 2 brothers who have had a lifelong love-hate relationship filled with violence. They’re faced with the emotional reality of separation as one of them packs up to work in the US. The film was directed by Justine Emmanuel Dizon and written by Jason Paul Laxamana of Kayumanggi Pictures, who was initially discouraged by the rejection of this same film in another competition. This is his first national competition, and he is proud to show off the “homegrown” talents of his team who are from Pampanga like him.

Lapis 

Lapis follows the career shift of a pencil artist in his 50s as he applies for a job as a graphic artist only to be confronted by the realization that his medium of expertise is defunct in a modern world.  This moving film that addresses the conflict of analog vs. digital artistry was inspired by real stories of unemployment in the country.  Written and directed by Maricel Cariaga of Center Stage Productions, this is her third competition after UP POV 11 and Sinkwento International Film Festival, wherein she placed top 3 for both.

Momento

Momento features an ageing couple, Teresita and Ronaldo, as they celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary--despite Teresita having made a terrible discovery earlier in the film that “marks the darkest hour of their relationship.”  Written and directed by Jan-Kyle Nieva of the UP Film Institute, Nieva states that he enjoys disturbing films and made this film to challenge himself into delving into a genre that he has not previously explored.

Mumu

Mumu is about a fresh grad named Kara who resists pursuing a nursing career despite her nagging mother and pressure from witnessing the success of her friends.  She also finds herself being haunted by a ghost – a character she had played in a blockbuster horror film. Mumu is directed by Cheryl Tagyamon from UP Diliman, who also wrote the film.  Mumu has thus far won 3rd place in the National Digital Arts Awards 2014 Motion Graphics Category for Students, and in the UP Film Institute’s Black Beret Film Festival it won the Audience Choice Award, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and Best Performance.

The short films and animations under the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival’s New Wave category will be shown simultaneously on the country’s biggest subscription video-on-demand platform. Anyone with a HOOQ subscription can watch the shorts on just about any screen they own, on the same day the films are being shown in theaters.

Each film is under 10 minutes  and screened started December 17 and up to 24 at Glorietta 4, Robinsons Movie World Ermita and SM Megamall.  All ten entries will be available on HOOQ from December 18.

HOOQ has the largest collection of Pinoy movies and TV series, which includes close to a hundred winners and finalists of the Metro Manila Film Festival such as “Baler”, “Tanging Yaman”, “Mulawin the Movie, “Pedro Penduko” and many more.

New users can enjoy a 30-day trial by signing up at www.HOOQ.tv.  

Monthly subscription is available at only  P149 and can be charged on your Globe mobile bill or via credit card, or it comes free with Globe Home Broadband plans P1,299 and up.

Catch these Animation finalists too! 

Animation finalists:

8 (Johanna Kaye Boncodin of Ateneo De Naga)

Geo (John Arthur Mercader of Puppeteer Animation Studio)

Little Lights (Rivelle Mallari)

Buttons (Marvel Obemio, Francis Ramirez, Jared Garcia of De La Salle College of St. Benilde)

Marvino’s League of Superheroes (Ja Marti Escandor of Ateneo De Naga)