page_title: Metro Manila Film Festival
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Metro Manila Film Festival / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Antonio J. Villegas while attending a Manila city event in 1970.
context_page_description: The Metro Manila Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Metro Manila, Philippines. The festival, which runs from December 25 through New Year's Day and into first weekend of January in the following year, focuses on Filipino films. During the course of the festival, movie theaters show only films that are approved by its jurors and exclude foreign films except in 3D theaters and IMAX theaters. Since 2010s, film entries were played in select 3D cinemas that it can show movies in 2D format. It is one of the two Filipino major film festivals to exclude movies out of the country in a week-long period, the other being the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino happening during August.
  The annual event began with the 1975 Metro Manila Film Festival, during which Diligin Mo ng Hamog ang Uhaw na Lupa by Augusto Buenaventura won the best film award.
  One of the festival highlights is the parade of floats at the opening of the festival.
context_section_description: A precursor the current festival began in 1966.  Then-mayor of Manila Antonio Villegas inaugurated the "Manila Film Festival" ("Manila Tagalog Film Festival"). It was set up in order to get Philippine films screened in "first-run" theaters which at that time only screened American films.  It was a 12-day event from June 14 through June 24, Manila's birthday, during which only locally produced films could be shown in the theatres. The festival featured a parade in downtown Manila of actors and the featured films. In addition, in an effort to promote Philippine films, Antonio Villegas banned the showing of foreign films at movie houses during the Manila Film Festival. Most of the first batch of the festival films came up with English titles. Despite the lack of support, there were different changes in making the festival flourish.
  The best films of Manila Film Festival included Daigdig ng mga Api (1966), Dahil sa Isang Bulaklak (1967), Manila, Open City (1968), Patria Adorada (1969), Dimasalang (1970), Cadena de Amor (1971), Elias, Basilio at Sisa (1972), Nueva Vizaya (1973) and Alaala mo Daigdig Ko (1974). Starting in 1975, Manila Film Festival was discontinued as Metro Manila Film Festival took over.
  In 1973, the Manila Film Festival was discontinued as Martial Law was imposed in September the year before. On September 21, 1975, during the Marcos dictatorship, the filmfest was expanded to include all the other cities and towns in the newly formed Metro Manila and began under the name "1975 Metropolitan Film Festival" (MFF). In 1977, name was changed to "Metro Manila Film Festival".
  After Villegas' death in 1984, a special award in the Metro Manila Film Festival, the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award, was created in his honor and is given to the best film that best portrays Philippine culture and Filipino people to the world. MRN Film International's Andrea, Paano Ba ang Maging Isang Ina? was the first one to receive the lifetime achievement award in 1990. Since then, it has been awarding prestigious films that deserves the honors.
  In 2010, the film festival underwent some changes. First, the commercial viability criterion (box-office performance of the entries) was removed. As of 2010, the criteria for the selection of Best Picture(s) are: artistry; creativity and technical excellence; innovation; and thematic value. Entries are also judged for global appeal (70 percent) and Filipino cultural and/or historical value (30 percent). In addition, the festival format gave a tribute to independent "indie" films. Lastly, the established board of jurors was expanded to include housewives, drivers, students, teachers, etc. The festival logo was changed to feature a map of the Metropolis of Manila, based on the old seal of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority with seventeen stars on it symbolizing the 17 cities and municipality of Metro Manila. The logo for the first 35 festivals featured a torch.
  In September 2011, Atty. Francis Tolentino, then-chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) changed the category name of "indie" films to "New Wave" films to make it sound better and more attractive to hear, as well as including "Student Short Film Category" for the first time. Consequently, the next year, the 38th Metro Manila Film Festival held in 2012 became the highest earning MMFF to date with 767 million pesos, 21% higher than that of 2011.
  In January 2013 Interaksyon.com review, writer Jessica Zafra complained, "Speaking of standards, why do we bother to review the festival entries when most of them are rubbish? Because they're not supposed to be rubbish! Contrary to what you’ve been led to believe, 'entertainment' and 'commercial appeal' are not synonyms for 'garbage'. There are good commercial movies, and there are bad commercial movies. The bad outnumber the good because the studios think the viewers are idiots."
caption: Mayor of Manila Antonio Villegas in 1970, founder of the "Manila Film Festival".
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