CINEMAPUA Heads To Its 13th Year!

CINEMAPUA  is an annual Digital Student Short Film Festival of Mapua Institute of Technology, which showcases the skills of Mapuans in producing short film and in appreciating the value of film making. Prof. Benigno B. Agapito Jr. conceptualized CineMapua in Mapua Makati in 2003 as a student activity of the School of Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences (SLHS) in cooperation with the TheaterLinks, a student organization he had created in Mapua Makati campus. The legacy and academic value of Cinemapua had continued through the efforts of the SLHS Makati professors, until Mapua Administration considered Cinemapua to be an official institutionalized annual event in 2011.

Cinemapua 2011 was a perfect move to make the students’ film festivity more accessible to a bigger audience with SM Cinema as a partner, and during Prof. Agapito’s conversation with SM Marketing officers they said they are open to be the major sponsor of Cinemapua short film festival annually.

The yearly event has its Festival Organizing Committee both in Intramuros and Makati campuses with the cooperation of the Department of Multimedia Arts and Sciences (now School of Multimedia and Visual Arts). The Cinemapua also has its official student organization as festival co-handler, The Film Arts and Media Enthusiasts (FAME), the student organization in Mapua Intramuros campus which Prof. Agapito had created to officially handle the various activities of the festival.

The organization aims to: 1) to enhance the Mapuans’ awareness on the importance of film arts in the academe, community and the world as a whole; 2) to develop the skills of the Mapuans in using film technology as a tool for learning; 3) to educate the Mapuans about the basic concepts, principles and practices of film arts and visual communication; and 4) to promote values through film production.

It also serves as a training ground for Mapuans to compete in the national and international film festivals. The CINEMALAYA provided Cinemapua winners the slots in 2011 and 2012 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, as exhibition films.

Before, Cinemapua was only open to all students of Mapua Institute of Technology, Intramuros and Makati campuses. The competition has two (2) phases: The film script phase and the film production phase.  All submitted short film scripts will be screened to select the Top 16 best scripts to join the Official Entries in the annual CineMapua. Only the top 16 scripts will be allowed to proceed to the second phase of the competition, which is the actual film production.

Cinemapua is getting bigger every year and this year’s Cinemapua introduces a different student film festival with quality film stories and excellent film productions from different universities and colleges in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Batangas. Today, Cinemapua 2015 has two categories: the Intercollegiate Category and the All Mapuans Category. The Inter-Collegiate is a category for legitimate students from all colleges and universities in Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Bulacan, while the All Mapuans is an exclusive category for Mapua students from Intramuros campus and Makati campus. Film entries have an actual maximum length of 20 minutes and a minimum of 10 minutes including the credits. The entries are live action videos or animations, and not in a documentary format, of any of the following genres: drama, comedy, musical, action, suspense, historical, science fiction, or adventure. All submitted films were screened last Nov. 29-30, 2014 to select the Top 10 for Inter-Collegiate Category; and Top 10 for All Mapuans Category. The top 10 films for each category are the finalists and the official entries of Cinemapua 2015.

The 2015 CineMapua Student Film Festival Week will be during the 90^th Founding Anniversary of Mapua Institute of Technology on January 27-31, 2015. The film screenings of entries will be from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm at AV1 and AV3 of Mapua Intramuros campus. The Awards Night (Formal Dinner) will be on February 4, 2015, 5:00 pm at the Mapua Gymnasium with a special coverage from DZRH News Television. The Best Festival Film under Intercollegiate Category will receive 10K cash plus 20K film grant from OPEN REEL. The Best Festival Film under All Mapuans Category will receive 10K cash plus 15K film grant from OPEN REEL. A lot of special awards will be given away to this year’s festival winners and will be receiving customized CineMapua trophies.

CineMapua 2015 is brought to you by Mapua Institute of Technology; School of Multimedia and Visual Arts (SMVA); and Film Arts and Media Enthusiasts (FAME).