The QCinema International Film Festival is an annual

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

held in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The festival showcases local and international films,

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

, and

short films A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

, and gives grants to their creators. As of 2017, the venues for the festival are Trinoma, Gateway Mall,

Robinsons Galleria Robinsons Galleria (also known as Robinsons Galleria Ortigas) is a Mixed-use development, mixed-use complex and shopping mall located at EDSA (Circumferential Road 4, C-4) corner Ortigas Avenue in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is t ...

, and

U.P. Town Center The University of the Philippines Town Center, commonly known as the U.P. Town Center and abbreviated as UPTC, is a shopping center in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, managed by the Ayala Malls group. It opened on September 30, 2013. De ...

History

The QCinema International Film Festival was created in 2013 by the Quezon City Film Development Foundation (QCFDC), a

governmental commission that supported the city's filmmakers. The Circle Competition was created for entrants to compete for their films to be shown at the film festival. Winners of the Circle Competition would be given a seed grant to help them produce more films. Trinoma Mall Cinemas was selected as the venue for the first edition of the film festival. The first festival was held from October 3 to October 5 of that year, with 3,000 people attending. Only three filmmakers reached the Circle Competition, each winning a seed grant of ₱800,000 (US $10,000~). Their films were selected for promoting

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

, gender sensitivity, freedom, and excellence. Nine of the New Breed films from the 2013

Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival The Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, more commonly known as Cinemalaya, is a film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually ann ...

were also shown. Additional events included film

workshops Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

and talk-back sessions with the winning filmmakers. In 2014 the festival was held from November 5 to 11, and reached an attendance of 5,000. Thirty-eight films were shown, out of which eight received grants. Film categories were introduced, with "Screen International" highlighting foreign films, and "Children’s Classics" being films produced for children. The festival also featured a filmmakers’ forum. In 2015 the festival was held from October 22 to 31, with 10,000 people attending. Sixty movies were shown throughout the festival, with eight receiving grants. The "Screen International" and "Children’s Classics" categories returned, with the latter being renamed to "Special Children’s Screening." New film categories included the "International Documentaries", "RainbowQC" (films about the

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

community), "Music Genius" (films about music legends), "Special Halloween Screening", "Throwback Ticket" (digitally restored movies), "Indie Nacional" (homegrown award-winning films), "Reloaded" (films by previous Circle Competition winners), "QCX Anthology", and "Asian Cinerama" (films recognized as outstanding by the Asian Film Awards Academy). Additional events included complimentary film forums and workshops. In 2016 the festival was held from October 13 to 22, and reached an attendance of 15,000. QCinema screened sixty films, out of which seven full-length films and several short films were given grants. The "Screen International" and "RainbowQC" categories returned, in addition to "Throwback Ticket", which was renamed to "Back Throwback". New film categories included "Cinema Rehiyon" (regional titles) and "Pinoy Spotlight" (social realist films). Additional events included free film seminars, film forums, and workshops. In 2017 the festival was held from October 19 to 28. The festival opened with "

Loving Vincent ''Loving Vincent'' is a 2017 experimental animated historical drama film about the life of the painter Vincent van Gogh, in particular the circumstances of his death. It is the first fully painted animated feature film. The film, written and d ...

" and closed with the restored version of "Batch ’81”. Similarly to the previous year's festival, seven films and several short films were given grants, with the "Asian Next Wave", "Screen International", and "RainbowQC" film categories returning. The "Back Throwback" category also returned, again renamed to "Digitally Remastered." New film categories included "Trilogy", "Before Midnight", and "Special Screenings". Additional events included a film conference and an awards ceremony.

Sections

The festival has seven main sections: Competition sections * ''Asian Next Wave'' – the main competition section, focuses on emerging filmmakers from Southeast Asia and East Asia with less than three features * ''QCinema Shorts'' – short films by Filipino filmmakers Exhibition sections * ''Screen International'' – specially-curated section showcasing renowned directors with distinctive styles * ''New Horizon'' – showcases new directors and their acclaimed new works * ''RainbowQC'' – feature and short films on LGBTQ+ * ''Midnight Series'' – horror and thriller films * ''Asian Shorts Program'' – curated program for shorts films from Asia

References

External links

Official site
{{Philippine film festivals Film festivals in the Philippines 2013 establishments in the Philippines Quezon City

History

Sections

See also

References

External links