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Puregold CinePanalo Festival Director Chris Cahilig and Puregold Senior Marketing Manager Ivy Hayagan Piedad with MFP Rentals Tech Director Tristan Cua and MFP Rentals Co-Producer Zsara Laxamana at the contract signing.
MANILA -- The movie industry is brimming with talented student filmmakers, but due to a lack of funds, they are unable to present their art.
But that will change after Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival partnered with MFP Rentals to fulfill the ambitions of young filmmakers in the student shorts category.
MFP Rentals, a new local audiovisual equipment rental services company, has graciously pledged its support for the CinePanalo Film Festival, promising to sponsor equipment rental services worth a minimum of P100,000 for all 25 student short film entries.
The agreement is a first for the CinePanalo Film Festival, as the initial festival did not provide any equipment subsidies to participants in the student shorts category. Now, thanks to a collaboration between Puregold and MFP Rentals, the 25 student filmmakers will no longer have to spend a portion of their P150,000 award on equipment and can instead focus on perfecting their cinematic vision.
The brand’s senior marketing manager Ivy Hayagan-Piedad expressed the company's appreciation for allowing student filmmakers to give their all without worrying about equipment funding.
“The student shorts category of the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival was designed to give an opportunity to passionate young directors itching for a chance to show the world their panalo stories. Thanks to MFP Rentals, our student filmmakers now have significantly more resources to make that happen,” she told the press.
Meanwhile, MFP Rentals owner Mark Tristan Cua said the lease of the audiovisual equipment was a no-brainer given the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival's commitment to supporting student filmmakers' goals.
“After seeing the success of last year’s Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival, we knew that MFP Rentals needed to be a part of the next one, and we believed that supporting the entrants of the students’ shorts category was the best way we could lend a hand,” Cua shared.
Cua has always wanted to encourage aspiring filmmakers. Outside of MFP Rentals, Cua is the proud originator of the Mobile Filmmaking Philippines online community, where filmmakers can learn from one another while also finding economical equipment services.
“It’s difficult to be a student filmmaker in the Philippines, and having more space in one’s budget can go a long way” said Cua.
“We hope that through MFP Rentals’ assistance, these talented young artists can focus their budget on making the film of their dreams, instead of spending a lot of money just on equipment,” he added.
In addition to equipment rentals, MFP Rentals will hold a technical discussion with the director of photography for each student short film before submitting any technical equipment requests. This allows MFP Rentals to personalize its help to each student's particular creative concept for their short film project.
The festival just named the 25 student filmmakers who would receive the P150,000 production award, as well as help from MFP Rentals and Puregold's other official production partners for the CinePanalo Film Festival.
The upcoming film festival will feature student filmmakers from universities across the country, including the University of the Philippines, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and University of Caloocan City, as well as universities from outside Metro Manila, such as Central Philippine University, Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng San Pablo, the University of San Carlos, Faith Colleges, and National University Laguna.
The Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival is scheduled to begin in March 2025, with the Awards Night on March 19. Each of the student short filmmakers will be eligible to compete for the festival's top honors, which include best picture and best director.
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