Baguio film festival boosts local tourism

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY – The three-day Baguio film festival last week has helped the local tourism industry with influx of more people from Northern Luzon to witness the free showing of 10 independent films of veteran producers.

Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan bared this as he expressed gratitude to the officials and members of the Film Development Council of the Philippines for selecting this mountain resort city as the venue of Sining Pambansa where films produced by independent film makers were shown to local residents free to attract them to patronize locally produced movies amid the advancement of information and communication technology.

With conduct of a series of film festivals in key cities nationwide, independent film makers are hopeful that the showcasing of low budget but quality films will help uplift the local film industry and regain its vibrance for the benefit of the growth desired by the producers.

The FDCP is confident that the showing of independent films will educate the public to appreciate films that are made not from the usual Hollywood formula which is currently adopted by film producers.

Ten films, most of which already earned international recognition, are now featured in two cinemas located inside a giant mall here in the next three days in order to restore the appreciation of the public to the independent films that could also meet international standards.

The local film makers are now embarking on showing their films nationwide to show the public their quality creations using a pool of talents that are equally creative and talented as their mainstream counterparts.

Moreover, independent films must be aggressively promoted to avoid the current trend now where locally produced films usually become inferior copies of Hollywood films which should not be the case.