In its 17th year, the country’s largest independent film festival ‘flixes’ (which I mean – flexing) its featured films through partner online streaming platforms and drive-in cinema to keep the cinema experience alive even during the pandemic.

Cinemalaya partnered with Kumu, a proudly Pinoy-made video-sharing platform, to give viewers exclusive content such as premieres, featuring full-length and short films which have been produced in the past year and will be screened for the first time in the Philippines. The 17th Cinemalaya Film Festival will also launch “Riding the Waves: 15 Years of Cinemalaya,” a guidebook featuring the country’s biggest independent film festival.

Cinemalaya’s organizers believe that it is important for the festival to remain significant in the emerging era of film-viewing while still carrying its mission of discovering, encouraging, supporting, training, and recognizing talented Filipino Independent Filmmakers. Here are the 13 titles competing for this year’s Best Film:

1. AN SADIT NA PLANETA (THE LITTLE PLANET) by Arjanmar H. Rebeta;
2. ANG MGA NAWALANG PAG-ASA AT PANLASA (THE LOST HOPES AND FLAVORS) by Kevin Jay Ayson;
3. ANG PAGDADALAGA NI LOLA MAYUMI by Shiri De Leon;
4. ATE O.G. by Kevin Mayuga;
5. BEAUTY QUEEN by Myra Aquino;
6. CROSSING by Marc Misa;
7. KAWATAN SA SALOG (A TOY IN THE RIVER) by Alphie Velasco;
8. KIDS ON FIRE by Kyle Nieva;
9. LOOKING FOR RAFFLESIAS AND OTHER FLEETING THINGS by James Fajardo;
10. MASKI PAPANO (I MASK GO ON) by Che Tagyamon and Glenn Barit;
11. NAMNAMA EN LOLANG (GRANDMOTHER’S HOPE) by Jonnie Lyn P. Dasalla;
12. OUT OF BODY by Enrico Po; and
13. THE DUST IN YOUR PLACE by David Olson.

Cinemalaya is courageously hoping for innovative opportunities in screening contents that are originally made for the silver screen. Chris B. Millado, festival director and Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) artistic director wishes for good weather on screening dates. While the organization earlier planned to launch the first audience-centered on-site event since the imposition of lockdown in the country where film enthusiasts can watch movies via outdoor screens located in Liwasan Ullalim inside the CCP complex while inside their cars. This may be affected by the reimposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in NCR on August 6 to 20.

Aside from the drive-in cinema, the competing short movies can also be viewed on streaming platforms such as KTX and CCP Vimeo space and will stream from August 6 until September 5, 2021. The difference between the 1st attempt of Cinemalaya in the digital shift and today’s viewing experience, is that each title will be available for purchase independently compared to last year’s subscription method. Ticket prices may vary but according to Cinemalaya.org, competition films are priced at P150.

In this period when no one knows how the movie industry can provide quality films, Cinemalaya is a strong institution that is keeping the independent film industry alive.

For more details and up-to-date event announcements, please visit Cinemalaya’s Official Facebook page.