The 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is the 43rd edition of the annual Metro Manila Film Festival held in Metro Manila and throughout the Philippines. It is organized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). During the festival, no foreign films are shown in Philippine theaters (except IMAX, 4D, and large format 3D theaters).
The festival began with the traditional Parade of Stars (Filipino: Parada ng mga Artista) on December 23, 2017. Unlike the previous editions, which held its parade in Manila, the 2017 parade was held in Muntinlupa to celebrate the centennial of the city's founding as a municipality.
Launch and reform
The 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival was formally launched on March 7, 2017. As part of the launch ceremony, changes to the composition of the MMFF Executive Committee were announced. The changes were made in a bid to include more sectors of the film industryrepresentatives from the academe, government, media, and private sector professionals.
Among the changes were the removal of Moira Lang and Ed Cabangot, who reportedly favor independent films, and the addition of representatives from theater chains. The best practices from the film entries selection criteria used for the previous edition will be adopted into the selection process of the 2017 edition with MMFF Chairman Thomas Orbos saying that the film festival will feature a film roster that are of "quality and box office potential".
New rules and regulations were introduced in the 2017 edition. This year's edition reintroduced the script submission which was the regulation prior to the 2016 edition. The festival committee will now select four scripts and four finished films that will completely make up the Magic 8. The selection criteria were also revised to reintroduce the controversial "commercial appeal/viability". The MMFF Executive Committee was criticized for these as it was alleged that the reintroduction of these old rules was made to accommodate the big mainstream studios that were mostly left out last year. This move was seen as a way to prioritize box-office success over quality films. After the announcement of the first four official entries from the script submissions, three members of the MMFF Executive Committee, namely, Ricky Lee, Rolando Tolentino and Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, resigned due to failure to continue the reforms that occurred in the 2016 edition. In a joint statement, the three former members stated that they did not agree on the MMFF Execom "putting too much emphasis on commerce over art" and they also explained that the first four entries did not affect their decision to leave as they're planning to leave long before the announcement of these entries. Another MMFF Execom member, Ed Lejano, resigned only days after. The first three resigned members were replaced by Maryo J. de los Reyes, Joy Belmonte-Alimurung and Arnell Ignacio. The remaining fourth slot is kept open for representatives of the independent cinema.
Entries
Feature films
The first four films were announced on June 30, 2017, representing the Magic 8, by using the script submission method. The last four official entries were announced on November 17, 2017, completing the list of 8 official entries. Of all the 26 submitted entries, 8 were chosen for the said film festival:
Short films
Aspirant producers had until September 1, 2017 to submit entries for the Short Film category. The eight short film entries were announced in November 2017. Two of the entries were animated films, Kinalimutan Natin ang mga Bata and Noel.
Rejected and unsubmitted entries
26 scripts for candidate film entries were submitted to the MMFF Executive Committee. Among these potential entries four films were accepted as the first official four entries. The following films had their scripts submitted to the film festival organizers but their entries were not accepted.
Ang Bomba ni Ginger Paloma by Antoinette Jadaone
Buy Bust by Erik Matti
Deadma Walking by Julius Alfonso
Ang Larawan by Loy Arcenas
My Fairy Tail Love Story by Perci Intalan
Ang Sikreto ng Piso by Perry Escaño
Other films reportedly has expressed interest to enter the 2017 MMFF prior to the announcement of the first four official entries:
Bagtik by Chito Roño
Blood Hunters: Rise of the Hybrids by Vincent Soberano
Smaller and Smaller Circles by Raya Martin
The Significant Others by Joel Lamangan
Tuwa, Luha, Saya: Memoirs of Timog by Roderick Lindayag
The following films were reportedly submitted after the first four official entries were announced: