Stepping-up its advocacy for women empowerment through visual arts, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has initiated CineMarya, the first women’s film festival in the Philippines to be held annually.
DILG OIC-Secretary Eduardo M. Año invites filmmakers to vie for the seed money of PhP100,000 to be given to ten grantees to produce inspiring short films about Filipino women.
“Storytelling through films is a tried-and- tested creative way for the Filipino viewers to better understand and appreciate an issue, inspire them, and engage them,” says Año.
“I call on Filipino men and women film artists to join CineMarya’s first year of competition. Share your talent for the good cause of advancing awareness and education on gender and development (GAD),” he says.
DILG Assistant Secretary Marjorie N. Jalosjos, who is delegated by Año to handle the Department’s GAD advocacy, says that interested filmmakers can submit their entries starting this April to June 2018 to its partner for the CineMarya project, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).
Together with the FDCP and Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), the DILG will sit in the panel that will evaluate the ten short film entries for CineMarya.
Up for grabs during the debut of the CineMarya film fest in March 2019 are awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Jury Prize, People’s Choice, and the Josefa Llanes Escoda Film Excellence Award.
“CineMarya stems from the DILG’s aim for local government units (LGUs) to mainstream GAD and the Magna Carta for Women into their local plans, programs and activities,” says Jalosjos.
She says that the CineMarya initiative of the DILG is an educational and artistic support mechanism for LGUs vying for the DILG Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG).
The SGLG is a progressive assessment system given yearly to select LGUs that meet good governance standards across several areas including social protection of women.
“Through short films focused on women and GAD, LGUs will be able to learn experientially,” she says.
Jalosjos urged interested filmmakers to submit their entries the soonest so as to be included in the filmmaking workshop series to be conducted by the FDCP in support of the CineMarya film fest.
