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| (Image Source: pelikula mania/Puregold Price Club Inc.) |
The Philippine film industry is breathing with anticipation as the 2025 Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival draws closer, promising another showcase of homegrown talent and compelling storytelling. Adding to the excitement, entries from the festival’s inaugural 2024 edition continue to garner international acclaim, earning coveted spots in prestigious global film festivals and shining a light on Filipino filmmakers’ exceptional creativity and artistry. These achievements not only celebrate our deep pool of local talent but also affirm Puregold CinePanalo’s role in elevating Philippine cinema to world-class stature.
In particular, three of the 2024 Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival’s big winners were selected for presentation at different film festivals around the world. Best Picture winner “Under a Piaya Moon”, directed by Kurt Soberano, was featured at the 2024 Festival International du Film Transsaharien de Zagora in Morocco, last December 9-13, 2024. Meanwhile, the Always Panalo Film and Audience Choice winning film “A Lab Story”, directed by Carlo Obispo, was shown at the 2024 Asian Film Festival Barcelona in Spain last October 24-November 3, 2024 and at the 2024 Brunei Film Blitz last December 18-20, 2024. Finally, Special Jury Prize for Short Film student short “Text FIND DAD and Send to 2366”, which was directed by Kent Cadungog, was featured at the 2024 Singapore International Film Festival last November 28-December 8, 2024 and is set to be showcased at the Emirates Film Festival this coming January 15-18, 2025. Apart from the three films, a number of other entries in the first Puregold CinePanalo were also invited for recognition at various international film festivals. Student short “Tiil ni Lola”, directed by Reutsche Colle Lima, was displayed at the 2024 Asia-Pacific Youth Micro Movie Festival in Hong Kong last November 21-23, 2024. In addition, the 2024 Jagran Film Festival featured Joel Ferrer’s “Road to Happy” in the non-competitive section of the Children Showcase while the aforementioned “A Lab Story” competed in the International Feature category. Meantime, Eugene Torres’ “One Day League: Dead Mother, Dead All” was displayed at the 2024 Exposures Montreal Trans Film Festival which concluded last September. Finally, joining “Text FIND DAD and Send to 2366” at the Emirates Film Festival is Jenievive Adame’s student short “Smokey Journey”.
For Puregold Price Club Inc. Senior Marketing Manager Ivy Hayagan-Piedad, the recognition of Puregold CinePanalo’s winning entries in film festivals across the globe proves that prodigiously talented Filipino filmmakers simply needed the first Puregold CinePanalo to unleash their dream projects. “The ability of young Filipino filmmakers to make masterpieces has never been the question. Really, it’s always been about opportunity. I speak for all the organizers of the Puregold CinePanalo film festival when I say that we’re proud to have given them such opportunities. It goes to show that when you give Pinoy artists a canvas, they will create art the entire world can appreciate,” said Hayagan-Piedad. CinePanalo Festival Director Chris Cahilig concurs with Hayagan-Piedad and believes that the success of the 2024 entrants will boost excitement for the 2025 entrants. “Hopefully the success of our 2024 CinePanalo batch encourages more people to check out what the upcoming 2025 edition has in store. Together with Puregold, we hope to make the next CinePanalo bigger and better,” said Cahilig. The eight finalists of the Puregold CinePanalo 2025 will be receiving a three-million-peso (Php3M) grant each while the 25 student shorts will be receiving a production grant of one hundred and fifty thousand pesos each (Php150,000). The eight films and 25 student shorts are set to debut at the 2025 Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival, which will run on March 14-25, 2025 at Gateway Cinemas in Araneta City.
