About 18 full-length films and documentaries made by filmmakers across the Philippine archipelago will be featured in the Sineng Pambansa or the National Film Festival to be held in Davao City on June 29- July 1.
The event is initiated by the Film Development Council of the Philippines and partnered by the City Government of Davao and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Sineng Pambansa is part of the FDCP’s program in bringing Filipino films to different provinces across the nation and also in communities of overseas Filipinos.
The festival will commence with an opening night on June 29 at SM Davao Cinema 3, the event will feature a special screening of excerpts from the film “Thy Womb” which was shot in Tawi-Tawi helmed by Cannes Best Director awardee Brillante Mendoza and which stars Nora Aunor and Lovi Poe. Both Mendoza and Aunor are expected to grace the opening of the festival.
The festival films are a diverse collection of productions from Kalinga, Tawi-Tawi, Marawi, Davao City, Iloilo, Cebu, Manila among many other places. These 18 films were originally chosen as finalists by the FDCP from the National Film Competitions held last year; they were awarded seed money from the FDCP to start and finish their projects.
These finalists will have theatrical screenings for the duration of the festival in the four large malls in Davao City these are in SM City Davao, Gaisano Mall, Abreeza and NCCC Mall. The films will vie for awards which will be held Abreeza Cinema 4 on July 1.
Another highlight of the festival is the unveiling of the Davao Cinematheque a 150- seat small cinema located adjacent to the People’s Park in Palma Gil Street a joint project of the FDCP and the City Government of Davao. The Davao cinematheque is the second of its kind to be constructed in the country, the first one was built in Baguio City and was unveiled in 2011.
