TMFF 2025 Edition
The Manila Film Festival 2025 Edition Is Now Open For Submission Of Entries!
Submit Your Short Films Entries Now!
Awards Night Winners
The Manila Film Festival 2024 Awards Night Winners
Finalists
Once again, Thank you to all who submitted their film entries to The Manila Film Festival 2024. For those who got accepted, kindly check your emails, in case you haven’t yet, for the proceeding steps.
Ballad of a Blind Man
Happy (M)others Day
UNA’T HULING SAKAY
threefor100: o ang tamang porma ng pag uukay at iba pang mga bagay-bagay, i think!
An Kuan
DITAS PINAMALAS
PINILAKANG TABINGI
BAHAY, BABOY, BAGYO
Featured Director's Films​
May at Nila
Sigrid Bernardo
Line Producer: Ava Yap
SHORTEST DAY, LONGEST NIGHT
JP Habac
Line Producer: Maria Kristina Cruz
Lumang Tugtugin
Jose Lorenzo “Pepe” Diokno
Line Producer: Madonna Tarrayo
NANANAHAN
Dwein Baltazar
Line Producer: Iana Bernardez
Featured Directors Profiles
The Manila Film Festival proudly presents our 4 feature directors who will be showing their exhibition short films for TMFF 2024!
Sigrid Bernardo
Sigrid Bernardo is a Film Director, Screenwriter, and Producer best known for directing films touching on themes of human rights, women, political, social issues and culture: Ang Huling Cha-Cha ni Anita (2013), Kita Kita (2017), Mr. & Mrs. Cruz (2018), and Under Parallel Skies (2024). Her 2017 film, Kita Kita, had its world premiere in Japan at the 12th Osaka Asian Film Festival, and was titled the highest grossing Philippine independent film at that time.
JP Habac
JP Habac obtained his bachelor’s degree in Film from University of the Philippines and has participated in film labs and workshops like Asian Film Academy, Generation Campus – Moscow, Southeast Asian Film Lab, and Tribeca Film Institute. Habac, whose body of work includes the film I’m Drunk, I Love You (2017) and LGBTQIA+-themed series such as Gaya sa Pelikula (2020) and Drag You & Me (2023), has directed films, limited series, and television commercials that have received many accolades in various international film festivals like Cairo International Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, and Shanghai International Film Festival.
Hapag, a branded campaign video he directed for Ikea Philippines, was awarded the Champions for Humanity Bronze Award by the prestigious Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards 2023. His most recent limited series, Drag You & Me, was the National Winner for the Best Production by a Streamer/OTT at the Asian Academy Creative Awards 2023.
Jose Lorenzo “Pepe” Diokno
Jose Lorenzo “Pepe” Diokno is an internationally acclaimed Film Director, Producer, and Screenwriter. He started his career as an independent filmmaker, with features such as Engkwentro (which won the Lion of the Future Award at the 2009 Venice Film Festival), Above the Clouds (2014), and Kapatiran (2015). Pepe has since expanded into advertising, creating award-winning viral commercials with brands such as Jollibee, P&G, Unilver, and Nestle. In 2023, he returned to filmmaking with the historical drama GomBurZa (2023), which was the most awarded film at the Metro Manila Film Festival, and a box office success). He is currently working on his next feature films under his newly founded company, Kapitol Films.
Dwein Baltazar
Dwein Baltazar is a Screenwriter and Film Director known for directing the films Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus (2018), Oda Sa Wala (2018), and Third World Romance (2023). Her debut film Mamay Umeng (2012) won Best Picture at the 2013 Jeonju International Film Festival, and Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus (2018) received two awards at the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei.
Jurors
The Manila Film Festival 2024 Jurors
Park Sungho
Park Sungho is a South Korean Producer and Film Festival Programmer since 2007. He majored in Film Editing at Chung-Ang University, and then started his career as an assistant buyer for a Korean company in Marche du Film in Cannes in 2000. Since 2007, Sungho has been one of the programmers for the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). He also worked as a program coordinator for Asian Cinema, under BIFF, and a manager for the Asian Film Academy both only until 2013.
In addition, he attended and worked for various film festivals and markets as a programmer, buyer, exhibitor, juror and producer. Having traveled to 39 countries, Sungho settled in Cambodia in 2013 to produce films and to promote Cambodian cinema globally.
Bianca Balbuena
Bianca Balbuena is a Producer who is currently the General Manager of ANIMA Studios PH. She is known as the youngest awardee of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) FIAPF Award for her contributions to Asia Pacific cinema. Locally, Bianca is most known for producing local films such as That Thing Called Tadhana (2014) and Rookie (2023), and international films that have won in Berlinale, Cannes, Venice. She produced Nocebo (2022) which was starred by Eva Green and Mark Strong. Her most recent films, VIỆT and NAM, and Directors Factory Philippines were selected to be a part of the Cannes Film Festival Official Selection Un Certain Regard and Cannes Directors Fortnight.
Monster Jimenez
Monster Jimenez is a producer, filmmaker, mentor and documentary advocate. She is the managing director of This Side Up, a media company based in Manila. She is a co-founder of the Filipino Documentary Society, which organized the biggest documentary fest in the Philippines. She directed a documentary entitled Kano: An American and His Harem which won in International Documentary Film Festival, Gawad Urian and Cinemanila. Her producing credits include the Sundance-winning Leonor Will Never Die, Respeto and Apocalypse Child.
Monster’s film in development with director Martika Ramirez Escobar, Daughters of the Sea, takes part in the prestigious 16th edition of La Fabrique Cinema, a tailored program at the Cannes Film Festival.
Neil Daza
Neil Daza is an award-winning Director, Cinematographer and a Photographer who has been in the film industry for more than 30 years. He is best known for working on films such as Dekada ‘70 (2002), Feng Shui (2004), Badil (2013), Bwaya (2014), Oda sa Wala (2018), Fan Girl (2020), About Us But Not About Us (2022), and Firefly (2023). Neil has won best cinematography and best cinematographer from award-giving bodies like Filipino Academy of the Philippines (FAP) Luna Awards, Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Awards, Gawad Urian Awards, Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) and Star Awards for Movies.
Dodo Dayao
Dodo Dayao is a screenwriter and director. His first feature as director Violator (2014) was part of the 2014 Cinema One Originals. He also wrote and directed the short If You Leave (2016) for QCinema. His second feature Midnight In A Perfect World was released in 2020. He lives in Quezon City and is currently at work on his first book and his next film.
Screening Committee
The Manila Film Festival 2024 screening committee is a panel of judges consisting of the following established personalities in the industry of arts, culture, and entertainment: Bianca Balbuena, Noah Tonga, Wanggo Gallaga, Mackie Galvez, Dido Camara, and DTCAM’s Charlie Dungo.
Bianca Balbuena
Bianca Balbuena is the General Manager of Anima Studios of Kroma Entertainment (formerly Globe Studios). She has produced films that have traveled to Cannes, Venice, Berlinale, Sundance, and Toronto. The only Filipino awardee of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Asia Pacific Cinema, she is most known for championing international coproductions like “Nocebo” (starring Eva Green and Mark Strong).
Noah Tonga
Noah Tonga is a director, writer, and film editor. He was awarded Best Director for his short film, “Memento Mori,” at the Filipino Independent Film Festival-Netherlands 2022. “Baka Doon sa Buwan” (Somewhere in Space), his first full-length as a writer-director, premiered at the London Director Awards 2024.
Wanggo Gallaga
Wanggo Gallaga is a screenwriter, film critic for ClickTheCity and teacher at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. He wrote the films “Sonata” (2013) and “T’yanak” (2014). Gallaga also co-wrote the web series “Hanging Out” (2016) and was the head writer for “AfterLife” (2021).
Mackie Galvez
Mackie Galvez is the former president of the Lupon ng Pilipinong Sinematographo (LPS) and board member of the Inter-Guild Alliance (IGA). He has been in the film industry since 2010. He won best cinematography for “Sana Dati” (2013) during the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and was nominated for Best Cinematography for “Dementia” (2014) during the 38th Gawad Urian Awards.
Dido Camara
Dido Camara is KreativDen Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer (CCO). He was previously a creative head for ABS-CBN for shows like ASAP, Star Circle Quest, and Sarah G Live, to name a few. Dido Camara is now into Digital Content production and continues to direct live events and TV shows.
Charlie Dungo
Charlie Dungo is the director of the Department of Tourism, Culture, and Arts of Manila and the President of the Association of Tourism Officers in the National Capital Region. Under his direction, DTCAM won the Best Tourism-Oriented LGU award at the Pearl Awards of the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines.
Organizing Executives
The chairpersons, directors, and festival heads of The Manila Film Festival 2024!
Ed Cabagnot
Festival Director, Consultant & Programmer, The Manila Film Festival 2024
Ed Cabagnot began work in Philippine film in the early 80s as Film Programmer at the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. For more than two decades he worked as head of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Media Arts Department where he organized cinema festivals, film workshops, and managed the Gawad CCP Para Sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video. He was also one of founding members of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, and has served as a jury for a few of the following film festivals: QCinema International Film Festival (2016-2017), Pusan International Film Festival (2008), Berlinale’s Forum (2011), and Amsterdam’s IDFA International Documentary Festival (2013).
Hon. Maria Sheilah H. Lacuna-Pangan, MD, FPDS
City Mayor, City of Manila
Chairperson, The Manila Film Festival
Hon. John Marvin C. “Yul Servo” Nieto
Vice Mayor, City of Manila
Vice Chairperson & Festival Director, The Manila Film Festival 2024
Charlie Dungo
Director, Department of Tourism, Culture and Arts of Manila
Board of Director, The Manila Film Festival
Kate Valenzuela
Festival Head, The Manila Film Festival 2024
Ethel Manaloto-Espiritu
Festival Head, The Manila Film Festival 2024
Mechanics
The entries should have a target running time of no less than Fifteen (15) Minutes and no more than Twenty (20) Minutes (inclusive of opening and closing credits).
These works may come from school-based endeavors (i.e., thesis capstone projects) or non-school-based initiatives (i.e., personal passion projects). The entries should have a target running time of no less than Fifteen (15) Minutes and no more than Twenty (20) Minutes (inclusive of opening and closing credits). Non-school-based, regional entries may also be endorsed by bonafide, local filmfest organizations in their region with works-in-progress cut-off from September 20, 2024.
Interested parties must be a bona-fide student 18 years old and above and should submit the following requirements:
- Story paper of the project containing the basic premise of the film.
- A two-page synopsis/storyline of the film project.
- A short document stating the current stage or phase of the entry – (e.g., either Story/Script Development, Pre-Production/Planning – kindly select only one of the two stages)
- Related material based on above identified Production Phase, as follows:
- Either a full shooting script or a highly detailed treatment
- Production Plan
- Casting Details
- Location Details
- Production Crew/Staff details
- Equipment details
- Resume of the proponent/s
- Two (2) recent photos of proponent/s;
- Sample production work by the proponent (preferably as Director)
Interested participants may submit a maximum of three entries. However, only one entry per proponent may be considered as a finalist. Works already in principal photography or post-production phase before September 20, 2024 are disqualified.
Kindy note that all chosen grantees must include the TMFF in all its credits -including the short’s opening credits, closing credits, etc.
By September 20, 2024 (Friday), the TMFF Competition Committee shall select 15 promising submissions, whose proponents will be invited to a pitching session for their respective projects -online or in person session to be determined. The initial selection would be narrowed down to 8 winning entries which shall each receive the P150,000 production assistance grant. Kindly note that entries at both the 9th and 10th slot shall be kept as reserves to take over should any of the initial 8 winners pull out of the competition.
The finished works should be submitted to KreativDen Entertainment office at Unit 1211 Corporate 145 Bldg. Mother Ignacia St. Diliman Quezon City on April 12, 2025 (Saturday). Submission should include:
- the Finished Short Film shot on 4K in Pro Res 4444 format at 24 fps.
- a Poster Study 2’x 3’, Portrait Orientation, must contain logo of TMFF as a major production partner
- at least FIVE (5) Production Stills (same aspect ratio as finished work)
- a Short Synopsis, Main Cast & Production Crew listing
- a promotional trailer of the short film at no more than 1 minute and 30 seconds running time.
- a 2-mins Behind-The-Scenes feature
All the finished short films shall be screened during The Manila Film Festival 2025 in June, at venues to be announced soon. A school tour of the films in key academic institutions all over the country shall also be planned.
Premiere night will be on June 4 and the awards night will be on June 11 both happening at the Metropolitan Theater.
For updates, visit the TMFF website www.themanilafimfestival.com and follow the official TMFF social media accounts on Facebook, X, Instagram, and Tiktok.
LONG LIVE PINOY INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING!
