ILOILO CITY, Aug. 29(PNA) – The Department of Tourism 6 has named the four winners of the Western Visayas Film Grants Program of the department and CineKasimanwa.
The four filmmaker-winners in Western Visayas were Aimee Apostol- Escasa of Iloilo, Noel Galon of Guimaras, Romart Malapad Martesano of Aklan and Ethel Mae Reyes of Antique. The winning filmmaker-grantee representing Capiz was not yet selected.
The winning filmmakers will feature five official tourist spots from each of their selected province. The tourist spots were chosen themselves from a list of nine from each province provided by DOT 6.
DOT 6 regional director Helen Catalbas said that people would see the other spots and locations in the different parts of region 6 through the films that will feature the place, culture and the people of Western Visayas.
Catalbas also said that the films would serve as the DOT VI’s campaign to promote the region, which generated more tourists in 2014 and 2015.
A total of Php100, 000 grant will be given to each winning filmmaker and their production team and actors to be used in making their films. The production grants shall be released in three tranches with specific requirements and liquidation procedures.
The short films of the winning filmmakers will have its World Premiere during the Cinekasimanwa: The Western Visayas Film Festival on Dec. 1 to 6, 2015.
The films will be shown in SM City Iloilo Cinema 1, FDCP Iloilo Cinematheque and in University of the Philippines (UP) Visayas. The title of the films were “Ang Katapusan nga Handum”, “Sa Dapadapa Sang Balaan Bukid”, “Sa Pagtunod it Adlaw” and “Ang Panglakaton”.
The Western Visayas Film Grants Program is a pioneering project that strengthens Iloilo’s current status as the country’s haven of local films with Cinekasimanwas’s record-breaking editions in 2013 and 2014 and the DOT VI’s campaign to promote Western Visayas as one of the country’s top tourist destination. (PNA)