2020 Metro Manila Film Festival
The 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is the 46th edition of the annual Metro Manila Film Festival. It is organized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). It is the first edition of the festival to be held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[1] and also the first to make its entries available to an audience outside the Philippines as part of the festival's official run.
| Awards | Gabi ng Parangal (transl. Awards Night) |
|---|---|
| No. of films | 10 |
| Festival date | December 25, 2020 to January 8, 2021 |
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival was modified into a digital event. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced on November 24, 2020, that the film festival would go digital due to the general community quarantine (GCQ) in the Metro area, in partnership with Upstream and GMovies, a streaming provider and ticket provider respectively, to stream the official entries. The festival is also co-presented by the telecommunications company Globe Telecom.[2]
The Parade of Stars and the Gabi ng Parangal (Awards Night), both part of the annual MMFF, will also be streamed online in compliance with health and safety protocols for COVID-19. This annual event is primarily to promote and enhance the preservation of the Philippine cinema. The proceeds from the film festival will go to a number of beneficiaries in the film industry.[3] The Parade of the Stars, the film festival's traditional float motorcade, was also modified due to the pandemic.[4]
Entries
The following was the criteria used in determining the final 10 entries:[5]
Previously, the Metro Manila Film Festival usually had eight feature films as official entries which are screened in cinemas across the Philippines. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the temporary closure of cinemas in the country, the film festival was modified and all entries were streamed online instead. The number of entries was also expanded to ten from eight,[6] with all ten entries being announced on November 24, 2020.[2] The ten films part of the "digital" film festival were made available starting December 25, through Upstream. The official run of the film festival will be until January 8, 2021.[2]
The film festival entries were also made available to people outside the Philippines. The move was made specifically with the Overseas Filipino Workers demographic in mind.[5]
Previous entries
Prior to the changes made to transform the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival into a digital event, it was planned that this edition of the film festival was to have eight official entries as customarily done. The MMDA announced four films, supposed to be the first of eight entries, was announced to be part of the 2020 film festival on July 17, 2020, despite cinemas in the country already closed at the time due to COVID-19 pandemic. These films were selected based on submitted scripts.[7]
However, only one of those first entries made it through the official entries by November, namely Brightlight's Magikland. Several of the entries for the December festival were entries for the proposed MMFF Summer edition, which did not push through because of the pandemic.[8]
The following table lists the three previously-announced entries that are no longer part of the film festival.[9]
| Title | Starring | Production company | Director | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ang Mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan | Joshua Garcia, Angie Ferro | Regal Entertainment | Chito S. Roño | Horror |
| The Exorcism of My Siszums | Toni Gonzaga, Alex Gonzaga | TINCAN | Fifth Solomon | Horror, Comedy |
| Praybeyt Benjamin 3 | Vice Ganda, Ivana Alawi | Star Cinema, Viva Films | Jun Lana | Comedy, Adventure |
Short films
A short film competition for students was organized as part of the film festival. An undetermined number of entries were originally part of the short film competition of the cancelled 2020 Metro Manila Summer Film Festival. Like their feature film counterparts, the entries were made available online through Upstream.[10]
| Title | School | Director |
|---|---|---|
| AaBaKaDa | De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde | Tyrone James Luanzon |
| Sala, Salin-Laway | Daniella Verzosa | |
| Sina Alexa, Xander at Ang Universe | Vahn Leinard Pascual | |
| Paano Maging Babae | Gian Arre | |
| Balik-Bayan | University of Makati | |
| Kyokok (Nilingaw) | Western Mindanao State University | |
| Lipstick | Philippine High School for the Arts | |
| Paraisong Parisukat | ||
| Laruang Baril | Far Eastern University | |
| Garbo[11] | University of Southeastern Philippines | Jeziah Rabbi Salvar |
Parade of Stars
The Parade of Stars was held as a virtual event prior to the film festival's official opening day. Traditionally, the event is organized as a float parade but the event was instead held as a 4-hour virtual event. The 2020 MMFF was opened by MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim and Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte since Quezon City is the designated host of the film festival. The cast and director of each of the MMFF's ten official entry films answered questions from the audience and select members of the media. As part of a "virtual" parade, a "virtual" float was featured prior to each of the ten official entries' segment.[4][12]
Streaming
The official entries for the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival were not screened in cinemas, which were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the films were made available online through transactional video on demand platform, Upstream. Tickets for the films were made available through GMovies, a payment platform by Globe Telecom. Tickets were made available for purchase starting December 7 for patrons based in the Philippines and on December 18 for people outside the country but the films themselves were only watchable starting December 25, 2020, the official opening day of the film festival. The films is available to stream up to five days after ticket purchase, but once the film was played, the certain media is only viewable for 24 hours. The films can be rewatched for unlimited times within said 24-hour period from the first playback.[13]
Awards
| 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival Gabi ng Parangal | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 27, 2020 |
| Site | Project Space, Makati |
| Hosted by | Marco Gumabao and Kylie Verzosa |
| Highlights | |
| Best Picture | Fan Girl |
| Best Direction | Antoinette Jadaone (Fan Girl) |
| Best Actor | Paulo Avelino (Fan Girl) |
| Best Actress | Charlie Dizon (Fan Girl) |
| Most awards | Fan Girl (8) |
The Gabi ng Parangal (transl. Awards Night) of the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival was held virtually on December 27, 2020.[12][14] The awards night was hosted by Marco Gumabao and Kylie Verzosa from Globe Telecom's Project Space studio in Makati.[15]
Awardees were announced via the MMDA's Official Facebook Page.[16] The nominees were announced on December 24, 2020.[17]
Major awards
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (
). Nominations are also listed if applicable.[18]
Other awards
- Manay Ichu Vera-Perez Maceda Memorial Award – Gloria Romero
Short Film category
- Best Student Short Film – Paano Maging Babae from De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde
Multiple awards
| Awards | Film |
|---|---|
| 8 | Fan Girl |
| 4 | Magikland |
| 3 | The Boy Foretold by the Stars |
| 2 | Tagpuan |
| 1 | Isa Pang Bahaghari |
| Suarez: The Healing Priest | |
| The Missing |
Multiple nominations
| Nominations | Film |
|---|---|
| 12 | Magikland |
| The Boy Foretold by the Stars | |
| 11 | Isa Pang Bahaghari |
| Tagpuan | |
| 10 | Fan Girl |
| The Missing | |
| 9 | Suarez: The Healing Priest |
| 8 | Coming Home |
| 2 | Mang Kepweng: Ang Lihim ng Bandanang Itim |
Notes
- This film was originally nominated for the inaugural Summer Film Festival, which was cancelled because of the pandemic, but it was instead promoted as an official entry in this film festival.
References
- "MMFF goes online; 8 entries won't screen in theaters". ABS–CBN News. October 23, 2020.
- "MMFF 2020 Festival Entries". Pep.ph. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- "MMFF Events were Streamed Online". PTV News. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- Calderon, Ricky (December 25, 2020). "Metro Manila filmfest to have virtual opening parade". The Manila Times. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- "MMFF 2020 Reveals 10 Official Entries". PTV. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- "Paulo Avelino's 'Fan Girl' joins 9 other films in 2020 MMFF". ABS–CBN News. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- "Metro Manila Film Festival announces first 4 entries for 2020 edition". Rappler. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
- "The MMFF 2020 is pushing through – Here's the Full Lineup". Rappler. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- "Quick Facts of MMFF 2020". Pep.ph. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- "MMFF 2020 showcases student short films". Manila Standard. December 24, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- Perez, Ace June (December 16, 2020). "Usep students' short film picked as official MMFF entry". Sunstar. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- Asis, Salve V. (December 24, 2020). "Parade of stars ng MMFF, nairaos!" [MMFF's Parade of stars held!]. Pilipino Star Ngayon (in Tagalog). Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- "How to watch the 2020 MMFF movies". Rappler. December 24, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- Nepomuceno, Neil Patrick (December 27, 2020). "'Fan Girl' sweeps virtual 2020 MMFF Awards with nine wins". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
- Gabinete, Jojo (December 27, 2020). "Marco Gumabao at Kylie Verzosa, hosts ng 46th MMFF Gabi ng Parangal" [Marco Gumabao and Kylie Verzosa, host the 46th MMFF Awards Night]. PEP.ph (in Tagalog and English). Philippine Entertainment Portal, Inc. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
- Iglesias, Iza (December 20, 2020). "Metro Manila Film Festival Digital Edition". The Manila Times. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- "MMFF 2020 nominees revealed". ABS-CBN News. December 24, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- "FULL LIST: Winners, MMFF 2020 Gabi ng Parangal". Rappler. December 27, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
| Preceded by 2019 Metro Manila Film Festival |
Metro Manila Film Festival 2020 |
Succeeded by 2021 Metro Manila Film Festival |
