by Alexandra Megia
Eagle News
QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News) —The stage is set and the lights are hot. The time has come for EBC Films’ Make it Reel participants to see the fruits of their labor. Excitement filled the air—10x more than the first day of the Make It Reel Seminar.
This is the time to see how each other fared during the 2-day Guerrilla filmmaking a week prior to the awards night.
After a short-film marathon, films were judged by some of Make it Reel’s mentors— Direk Carlo Cuevas and acting coach Chelina.
But the awards night, is best described by one of the presenters, Paulo Marcoleta. “There was jubilation and excitement from the aspirants, especially when the winners were announced.”
One of those winners, Myrna Tinio, won for Best director for her and the Pampanga district’s short film, Sibul.
“Winning best director, is truly a fruit of the whole workshop because i’m not a mass-com major. I’m not a film major. So it really is a fruit of what we have learned through the workshop.”
And most of the workshops were led by EBC Films’ own director and writer, Carlo Cuevas..
“The objective for this project is to create and also to discover new talents—Make it Reel is giving [them] a venue where they can showcase their talents.”
“What surprised me the most is the output. Because they had to make the film with limited time and resources,” says Cuevas. “Their films are like a recital. They had to learn everything and complete everything within 30 hours and they’re done. So it was really limited. the cast, the locations, but they executed it well, it was nice.”
As high as the production value was for these Guerrilla filmmakers, the content of the films produced were of greater value.
“When it comes to most film award giving bodies, the most anticipated awards are usually Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and the like. But EBC Films’ unique focus at the Make it Reel Awards is the Best in promoting Christian Values Award, as this is our advocacy”, says Bro. Robert T. Capistrano, EBC Films’ Head of Operations.
Stephen Cruz, one of the producers of EBC Films’, hopes that Make It Reel will “serve as an encouragement and motivation for them to continue telling meaningful stories thru film.”
And that will be these participants biggest takeaway from the entire Make It Reel experience.
“To participate and make a film that is not only a film,” says MJ Ferrer, “but to make a film that teaches values to all that watch them.”
UPDATED: March 21, 2020 – Additional quote from Stephen Cruz; spelling correction for Chelina and Paolo Marcoleta
© Eagle News
