FDCF Chair Liza Dino Seguerra Bares Plans For 2019 To Help The Local Film Industry

FDCP CHAIR LIZA DINO SEGUERRA

LIZA DINO SEGUERRA is really trying her best to make a difference in the local film industry as chair of the Film Development Council of the Philippines. There were other FDCP chairs before but they came and went without making any real connection with the entertainment press. Liza presented all her plans for this year in a special presscon and it shows that she really has her hands full with projects meant to uplift the industry.

First for this year is the Film Ambassadors Night to honor local films and filmmakers who won acclaim in international filmfests to be held this Sunday night at SM Aura.

Then there’s the Berlinale NATIVe, a section in the Berlin International Filmfest this month which will honor films on indigenous people around the world. It will have Pinoy director Aureus Solito as an advisor and his film “Busong” set in Palawan will be shown, along with Kidlat Tahimik’s 1977 film, “Perfumed Nightmare”.

In September, FDCP will hold the 3rd Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino where only local films are shown in theaters for one week. This will coincide with Sandaan, celebrating 100 years of Philippine cinema. They will offer P2 million grant to help finance worthy indie films that lack funding. Mechanics on how you can join will be issued later.

Then there’s First Cut Lab, an international project development and editing Lab for local producers and filmmakers. International mentors and trainers will come in April to help them develop projects for the right market and improve post-production.

At the end of this month, there will be a Film Industry Conference that will offer workshops and in depth training on filmmaking conducted by local and foreign experts to be held in Dumaguete City on February 23-24, then 26-27. FDCP will also push for a National Registry, a database to monitor, protect and provide services to film workers nationwide.

They also plan to have a Box Office Online System and Tracker, something like Box Office Mojo in the U.S.A. that keeps track of the earnings of movies that open each week. Here’s praying Liza will get the cooperation of local producers who usually keep the exact earnings of their movies a big secret.

“This is the soul of the success of the Korean Film Industry because all the data they get will help to guide them to determine which kinds of films people really love to watch,” Liza adds.

The FDCP also partnered with other agencies for various film projects, like the Food and Drug Administration, MTRCB, Optical Media Board and Dept. of Labor and Employment or DOLE. They’ve also started putting up their own Philippine Film Archive Heritage Building equipped with the latest technology in archiving. They’ve also started their own film restoration projects, media library and film museum.

To Liza, here’s wishing the success of all your endeavors for the local film industry, especially the creation of a National Film Commission in coordination with Sen. Tito Sotto who aims to present the bill creating it by July this year.

About her plan to have her own child with Ice Seguerra, Ice’s eggs have been harvested and they have chosen a Caucasian donor from a catalogue who looks like Liam Helmsworth. “The plan is to do it in December in Malaysia, with me carrying the babies in my womb dahil two eggs ang kinuha sa kanya. But I’m now 37 and it might be a high risk pregnancy, so kung hindi pupuede sa’kin, Ice is willing na siya ang magbuntis and maging mother ng babies namin.”