SOROK CHAIR, THE RESPECTED WRITER GINA MARISSA TAGASA
THE Sorok Short Film Festival (SSFF) has produced multiple award-winning movies from amateur and professional filmmakers for the past six years.
The brain behind SSFF will launch its first-ever Creative Workshop Series, Likharunungan 2022.
This year's chairperson and development head is Gina Marissa Tagasa, an awardee of Gawad Francisco Balagtas by Umpil (Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas) in 2019 and was a former creative manager of ABS-CBN.
She has also written and directed for White Windows Production’s "Heaven's Cradle (Sa Kandungan ng Langit)", which was a recipient of the “Platinum Remi” award at the 2005 Houston World Film Festival and won the Best Film Feature award at the 2004 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.
Courses during the workshop include Conceptualizing and Directing Short Films, Mobile Filmmaking, Digital Art For Beginners, Spoken Word Poetry, and Children's Storybook Writing.
Likharunungan boasts a roster of internationally acclaimed directors, artists, and writers such as Arvin "Kadiboy" Belarmino, one of the top six directors at the Cinefoundation Residency 2022 in Paris, France, programmed by the prestigious Festival de Cannes. He also won the CNC Pitch Award in Cannes for his development feature film, “Ria”. His film, “Tarang,” won the Best Film award at the 36th Interfilm Berlin Short Film Festival.
One of the speakers is Arjanmar Rebeta. His short film, “An Sadit na Planeta," won the Netpac Jury prize and the Special Jury prize at the 17th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, while other short films, “Palabas (A Country in Moving Pictures)” and “My Father is an Astro-Not” were nominated for the Best Short Film award at the 42nd and 44th Gawad Urian, respectively.
Another speaker is Leandro Reyes, a semi-finalist in the Asia Pacific Lit-up Festival in Singapore and a champion in CNN Philippines’ Open Mic Competition.
Ricky Tagasa is a live online tutor on the topic, "Coloring Traditional Art Using Photoshop Filters" for Wacom Philippines.
Meanwhile, Divine Gil Reyes is co-author of a children’s book series published by Tahanan Books, which won the National Children’s Book Awards for Best Reads from 2016 to 2018.
Proceeds from the said workshop will benefit the Mangyan students of Inapawa Panaynep Elementary School and Libagon Minority School in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro—one of Sorok Uni Foundation’s beneficiaries.
SSFF is a brainchild of Sorok Uni Foundation, Inc., a humanitarian organization that started off serving the needs of persons affected with leprosy (PALs) and later extended its service to social and economic inclusion of other forgotten neighbors—the homeless urban and rural poor, and displaced Filipino families due to calamities.
SSFF was organized to raise social awareness, and served as a mode for students, amateur, and professional filmmakers, actors, and scriptwriters to exhibit their gifts, with its theme, “Kapwang Gawa—the act of reaching out to other people.”
