Ni Reggee Bonoan

HINDI pumabor ang tatlong miyembro ng executive committee na sina Roland Tolentino, Ricky Lee, at Kara Alikpala sa unang apat na pelikulang kasama sa 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) sa Disyembre na binubuo ng Ang Panday ni Coco Martin (CCM Creative Productions); Almost Is Not Enough nina Jericho Rosales at Jennylyn Mercado(Quantum & MJM Productions); The Revengers nina Vice Ganda, Daniel Padilla at Pia Wurtzbach (Star Cinema at Viva Films) at Love Traps: #Family Goals nina Vic Sotto at Dawn Zulueta (OctoArts Films).

Kaya nagbitiw sila bilang miyembro ng execom ng MMFF.

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Ito ang official statement galing sa spokesperson at miyembro rin ng MMFF execom na si Noel Ferrer.

“My personal statement as a member of the EXECOM. Let me just correct the erroneous report that Kara resigned after the results of the first 4 films have been announced. No, she resigned even before any deliberation happened.

“They may have their own reason/s for leaving and we respect those. Besides, some of Ricky’s films too, we were earlier informed, are to be submitted as finished films. We have always admired his integrity.

“Personally, I respect Roland’s opinion and reasons for resigning. I know that he knew the group’s dynamics from the start, as he was the Chairman of the Rules Committee that drafted the rules for the separate script and finished film submission. We feel for everyone who was not part of the first 4 official entries.

“But as Ed Lejano and I pointed out, hindi natin dapat isuko ang laban. If we feel that excellent films ought to be part of this year’s MMFF line up and that indie films were marginalized, then we should fight for them. Even if we quit, the MMFF will still go on anyway.

“If we see its potential in doing something good for the industry as we still do proof of it is that most of the producers - even indie or mainstream, still have the intention of joining and to put it bluntly, earning from it then we should continue guarding our gains from the past and change it from within. It is a tedious, tricky and difficult balancing acts as we also have beneficiaries to subsidize.

“But we cannot give up on the MMFF just yet, as it still has the most viable play date compared to all the other local festivals, thus, it’ll always be an arena for struggle.