Three executive committee members of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) have resigned, Director Erik Matti announced on Facebook.
The resignations of multi-awarded screenwriter Ricky Lee, film scholar and critic Rolando Tolentino, and journalist Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala were reported on the same day the first four official entries to the MMFF 2017 were announced.
The entries are “Ang Panday” starring Coco Martin, “Almost Is Not Enough” featuring Jericho Rosales and Jennylyn Mercado, “The Revengers” starring Vice Ganda, Daniel Padilla, and Pia Wurtzbach, and “Love Traps #Family Goals” with Vic Sotto and Dawn Zulueta.
In a Facebook post (https://www.facebook.com/ricky.lee.589100/posts/1216524168470454), Lee spoke of his decision to leave the MMFF Execom.
“For those who are wondering and questioning why I resigned as a member of the executive committee of the MMFF, the simple answer is I decided to join and stay as a member if the reforms started in the MMFF 2016 will be continued. Based on the turn of events, I think that will not happen. Therefore, there is no reason for me to stay,” read Lee’s post.
Tolentino, the rules committee chairperson, echoed Lee’s sentiments on his Twitter account, noting that commercial interests trump quality of films (https://twitter.com/rolandtolentino/status/881095484898541569).
The four movies were selected based on the submitted scripts and were evaluated based on the following criteria: 40 percent artistic excellence, 40 percent commercial appeal, 10 percent promotion of Filipino cultural and historical values, and 10 percent global appeal.
Last year’s MMFF films were considered critical successes but failed to reach MMFF 2015’s commercial success of ₱1.3 billion from mainstream movies, earning only ₱400 million in comparison.
Photo Credit: Facebook, courtesy of Paolo Endrinal Tesico
