THE Short+Sweet Film Festival, together with the Australian Embassy and Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), had its successful inaugural year in July, which aimed to provide a platform for Filipino and foreign filmmakers to share stories and cultures across the globe through the short films they produced.
The festival of 10-minute films started in Sydney, Australia, then Chennai in India, now in Manila and then will culminate at the International Gala in Hollywood in partnership with the premiere acting school Stella Adler Academy.
Short films from the Philippines, the UK, Australia, Germany and Iran rounded up the top 12 films of this year. They will compete for Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Actor/Actress, Best Director and Best Film for the Regional Gala final in Manila.
The two big winners of the festival, “The Best Film” and “Audience Choice Award”, will have a chance to be showcased in Hollywood together with top films from other Short+Sweet film networks from Sydney and Chennai.
This year’s Festival Director James Harvey Estrada said, “We are happy to be part of the growing Short+Sweet Film worldwide network. And Manila, being the first city in Southeast Asia to witness this growing festival, had a great experience previewing films from around 12 countries.
He added, “We also had a talk-back with the Filipino filmmakers; through this undertaking, we would be able to know more [about] how the festival could help the short-film movement in the Philippines.”
The screening of the top 12 films was followed by the awarding ceremony on July 30 at SM Aura.