NABUNTURAN, Compostela Valley (MindaNews/14 October) — Stories and realities of neighboring regions will take center stage in the upcoming Nabunturan Indie Film Exhibition (Nabifilmex).
Festival director and lawyer Karen Santiago-Malaki said Nabifilmex does not have an official theme, and will focus instead on the realities and stories of nearby regions.
She said they will institutionalize Nabifilmex by the end of the year through a municipal ordinance, adding filmmaking has a potential to bring in people and boost local tourism.
Nabifilmex is one of the official events of the town’s Simballay festival.
This second edition of Nabifilmex will be screening 15 competing films from Davao and Tagum cities, Nabunturan, as well as other municipalities of Compostela Valley province.
All of the entries are vying for the Gimadyawan Award, the highest honor for best film. The same award gives the winner a cash prize of P10,000 and a trophy.
Nabifilmex will also feature films from National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ national film festival Cinema Rehiyon 5 and 6.
The films to be featured were curated by award-winning filmmaker Arnel Mardoquio, who will speak in a forum during the exhibit, along with film scholars Kei Tan and Ed Cabagnot, and NCCA’s film committee vice chair Teddy Co.
Nabifilmex will take place on October 16-19 at the town plaza, where an open air cinema and an inflatable movie screen will be erected by the Open Air Cinema Foundation, an international film organization.
The film festival is organized by the Municipal Tourism Council of Nabunturan Inc.
in coordination with the local government with support from the NCCA. (Jesse Pizarro Boga/MindaNews)
