Senator Grace Poe and actress-turned-politician Vilma Santos have been added to the executive committee of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), chairman Tim Orbos announced Tuesday.
Orbos said the decision to include the two industry veterans, in addition to other new names, was part of a move to create a more diverse committee that will hopefully strike a balance between indie, mainstream producers, and theater owners.
Poe is a former head of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), while Santos is widely considered to be a pillar of the local movie industry.
During the opening of the film festival yesterday, Orbos said the appointed members of the MMFF Executive Committee, aside from Santos and Poe, are Taguig City Mayor Laarni Cayetano representing the Metro Manila mayors; Police Director Oscar Albayalde, chief of the PNP-Metro Manila; Rachel Arenas, chairwoman of the Movie, Television Review and Classification Board; Mary Liza Diño, head of the Film Development Council of the Philippines; Wilson Tieng, president of the Movie Producers and Distributors Association of the Philippines; Jun Romana of the Bureau of Broadcast Services; Jesse Ejercito of the Philippine Motion Picture Producers Association; Marichu Maceda, chair of the Mowelfund; actress Boots Anson-Rodrigo; film distributor Victor Villegas; Edgar Tejerero, president of the SM Lifestyle Inc.; and lawyer Rolando Duenas, assistant general manager of the Ayala Cinemas.
Completing the MMFF Execomm are Christina Caparas, general manager of Vista Mall Cinemas; Evylene Advincula, operations manager of Robinsons Movieworld; movie directors Jose Romero IV and Mel Chionglo; Prof. Rolando Tolentino of UP Diliman College of Mass Communication; Ed Lejano, executive director of the Quezon City Film Development Commission; scriptwriter Ricky Lee; journalist and documentary producer Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala; professor and multimedia practitioner Noel Ferrer; and Atty. Anselmo Adriano, chairman of the Optical Media Board.
Last year the MMFF only had 13 Execomm members.
Orbos said the MMFF Execomm members were thoroughly screened, adding they added members to include those from the academe, government, media, and private sector. He denied the revamp was caused by the stir last year when the MMFF allowed Alvin Yapan’s “Oro” to be screened even if it allegedly showed canicide.
The previous executive committee changed the rules in selecting the eight finalists in 2016. Orbos said the best practices from last year will be adapted and further improved for a better film festival this year.
“After the success of the 2016 MMFF where artistic quality became the main focus, this year’s MMFF would want to move forward with a crop of entries that would combine quality and box office potential. We will never abandon the artistic gains we had last year but we need to push forward in this direction,” he also said. ( Evan Orias, Malaya, abs-cbn)
