Would showing Pinoy movies as a festival beyond or outside the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) attract more viewers to the cinemas?

Calling a collection of movies a “film festival” makes it sound grand and special, similar to the MMFF, Cinemalaya and QCinema.

We don’t yet know how much Cinemalaya 2024 (promoted as Cinemalaya XX) made at the box office, and we may never know since the festival organizers typically do not announce their gross revenues. However, considering the festival has been running for 20 years, even in rainy (and stormy) weather, we can assume that the Cinemalaya Foundation is not struggling financially each year.

QCinema will definitely take place this November, and we now even have the CinePanalo festival by the Puregold supermarket chain. In September, Solar is reviving Sinag ng Maynila, which had been on hiatus for four years.

Would people line up in droves at the box office for a Pinoy film fest outside of the MMFF if it featured international actor Dolly de Leon? And what if all five members of SB19, now rumored to be internationally adored P-pop group, were the headliners of a documentary film? Would moviegoers flock to the cinemas?

In fact, it’s SB19 who will get a first shot at the box office this year ahead of De Leon. Their documentary, Pagtatag World Tour, is set to screen in cinemas nationwide starting 28 August. While it’s not part of any festival, the country’s most followed and adored P-pop group likely doesn’t need a festival to draw fans.

The documentary is directed by Jed Regala and produced by 1Z Entertainment and First Light Studios. 1Z Entertainment is owned by SB19 members themselves, with Pablo leading the team.

Composed of Pablo, Stell, Ken, Justin and Josh, SB19 debuted in 2018 and is known for their songs “GENTO,” “Mapa,” “Bazinga” and more.

SB19 concluded their Pagtatag era with back-to-back concerts at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in May.

Sinag ng Maynila

The first film starring Dolly de Leon to be shot in the Philippines and screened nationwide following her international acclaim for Triangle of Sadness is titled Salome. It will be shown from 4 to 8 September as an entry in the revived Sinag ng Maynila Festival, which was last held four years ago.

We refer to it as her first film after Triangle of Sadness because her two films from the 2023 Cinemalaya — Ti Mapukpukaw and Duyan ng Magiting — were shown only at the Philippine International Convention Center and in a few theaters.

Salome is neither biblical nor religious. It can be described as an arthouse film about a painting called Salome, in which the woman depicted in the canvas comes to life on some nights. The film is directed by Gutierez “Teng” Mangansakan, who describes himself as a queer artist and award-winning writer-filmmaker from Mindanao

Salome is not his first full-length feature film. Mangansakan has been directing films since 2001, with his first being A House Under the Crescent Moon. He also had an entry in the recently concluded Cinemalaya, titled Kantil.

Sinag ng Maynila is a festival founded by Solar Films’ producer and Cannes-winning filmmaker Brillante Mendoza in 2015. It brings together seasoned filmmakers with first-time filmmakers.

If you’ve been missing actor Tony Labrusca, he has an entry in this year’s Sinag ng Maynila titled What You Did, in which he portrays a man whose fits of violence are due to clinical depression. It is directed by first-time feature filmmaker Joan Lopez Flores, a seasoned director of commercials and narrative audiovisual presentations for corporate campaigns. What You Did also stars Mary Joy Apostol, Epy Quizon, Mercedes Cabral and Ana Abad Santos.

Other full-length feature films at the Sinag festival include the social drama The Gospel of the Beast by Sheron Dayoc, starring Janssen Magpusao and Ronnie Lazaro; the family drama Her Locket by J.E. Tiglao, starring producer-lead actress Rebecca Chuaunsu and Elora Españo; the action film Banjo, written, directed and starring first-time filmmaker Bryan Wong, who is based in Mindanao; the OFW-themed romance Maple Leaf Dreams, shot in Canada by Benedict Mique and headlined by Kira Balinger and LA Santos; and the psychological thriller and drama Talahib (Legend of the Tall Grass), directed by Alvin Yapan and featuring Joem Bascon, Gillian Vicencio and Kristoff Garcia.

Sinag ng Maynila also has categories for documentaries and short films. We’ll update you on those films next time. However, we want to reiterate that Sinag ng Maynila entries will be shown nationwide with whole-day screenings at the cinemas. It won’t be just one screening per day but multiple showings simultaneously each day from 4 to 8 September.

Vilma Santos

Meanwhile, apologies to Vilmanians. Your idol Vilma Santos is not planning to have an entry in this year’s MMFF, even though she has begun shooting for a film directed by the esteemed Dan Villegas, which is expected to be submitted as a possible entry for the MMFF.

The Star for All Seasons has told the media that she does not want to rush the completion of the film just to submit it to the MMFF selection committee for completed films.

In fact, the film’s title, storyline and lead cast are still undisclosed. Villegas, in recent media interviews, revealed that the storyline and lead character are ideas proposed by Santos herself during a session with Villegas and her partner, scriptwriter-director Antonette Jadaone.

Santos is quite busy and visible these days, attending talk-back sessions in retrospective screenings of her old films. These visibility efforts are believed to be part of a campaign to eventually draft her as a senatorial candidate for an unidentified party.

While Santos has not declared any serious intention to run for senator, many are speculating about it. They point out that her nomination as National Artist might be part of the campaign to get her onto a senatorial ticket.

Therefore, she wants to remain visible to the public and express her views on issues independently, rather than being confined to film shoots. Film industry insiders, however, feel that her presence in the forthcoming MMFF could help boost the festival’s box office gross.