CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Cannes Film Festival best director Brillante Mendoza will create a film industry that caters to local artists, scriptwriters and filmmakers devoted to making quality Kapampangan independent (Indie) films.
Mendoza, who filmed award winning movies like Masahista (2005), Kaleldo (2006) and Serbis (2008), made this announcement during Tuesday’s round table discussion with local media at the City Heights Hotel here.
The move came as a personal advocacy of Mendoza, who, with help of local artists here, has set up The Film Academy of Pampanga (TFAP) to lead the plan to harness local talents that will form the backbone of the planned local Kapampangan indie film sector here.
TFAP is a workshop facility that caters to raw talents in Central Luzon, teaching them the rudiments in acting, scriptwriting, cinematography and film production.
“We hope to create a local pool that will help us establish a Kapampangan Film Festival,” Mendoza said, stressing that the move will start from honing the talents of young screenwriters, artists, actors and directors.
Just recently, Mendoza said the TFAP has come up with a list of screenwriters that would undergo training. The finalists come from various schools and universities in the province and are participants in a free scriptwriting workshop by the renowned screenplay writer Bing Lao.
“We have to start somewhere. We need to train talents and prepare the local scene in accepting that there are also films that can come out of the province that does not star big names and focus on the realities of the Kapampangan community,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza added that he will personally look into the training of talents along with other artists in Pampanga.
Mendoza, a full-blooded Kapampangan, said there is much to put in film in Pampanga.
He said Kapampangan indie filmmaking is best in highlighting local identity and cultural advocacies for the province.
TFAP co-founder Andy Alviz said the move will bring a new era of cultural renaissance in Pampanga, adding their group sees problems in funding and local support.
“This initiative will only be effective with the help of the local community,” Alviz said.
Just recently, the film “Manenaya”, co-produced and filmed by director Richard Soriano Legaspi with TFAP, made it to this year’s Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (JAFF) in Indonesia, with the film highlighting the best locations in Pampanga and the talent of local artists and visionaries.
