UPDATE: Click the image to watch the talkback with EngageMedia video lead King Catoy on the official Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival Facebook page. Note that while “Shooting COVID-19” has English subtitles, the talkback was conducted in a mix of English and Filipino.
EngageMedia’s short documentary “Shooting COVID-19: Media Frontliners in Manila” has been chosen to be part of a special online screening at the 32nd Gawad Alternatibo film competition, a part of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival by the Cultural Centre of the Philippines (CCP). The documentary is one of three films under the program, “Quarantimes Chronicles, Documentaries, and Film Essays”.
Shooting COVID-19 follows JL Burgos, a Filipino filmmaker and video for change practitioner, as he documents the stories of marginalised communities in Metro Manila that have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. JL – whose lockdown journal will also be screened in the same program – is among the media frontliners who continue to film despite the risks of contracting the virus and threats against media freedom in the country.
The online screening and talkback for Quarantimes Chronicles will be live this August 15, 3:00 PM Manila time (UTC+8) on the Cinemalaya Facebook page.
Gawad Alternatibo is short for Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video (CCP Award for Alternative Film and Video), and is the longest-running independent film competition of its kind in Southeast Asia. It today joins the larger Cinemalaya independent film festival, which is running from Aug. 7 to 16, 2020. Like other film festivals globally, Gawad Alternatibo and Cinemalaya have shifted from a physical festival to an online live-streaming platform. The theme this year is “Ligalig”, or restlessness.
Stay tuned for a write-up of the talkback session with EngageMedia’s video lead King Catoy. In the meantime, Shooting COVID-19 remains free to view on our EngageMedia channels.
