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UAE Pinoys keen on indie filmmaking

DUBAI: Some 100 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) across Abu Dhabi recently underwent a seminar on the techniques of filmmaking with the end in view of producing a short film of their own. The participants learned the basic know-hows about film development such as the production process (pre-production, production proper, post-production), how to make a screenplay and the techniques of cinematography.

“Basically… they will apply what they’ve learned from the workshop and make their own short film. We will start from writing the synopsis, then screenplay and the last stage will be the actual shooting of the film,” said renowned Filipino film maker, John Maranon, the event’s resource person.

“Tinuruan ko sila kung paano gumawa ng script, pagli-label, paano yung cinematography shots, parts of production and its development and also the crew. Yung mga kinakailangan for an independent film,” Maranon said explaining the activities they had during the seminar.

In Dubai, 24 high school students from United International Private School (UIPS) Dubai, The Philippine School (TPS) Dubai, and Far Eastern Private School (FEPS) Sharjah are currently participating the first Photography and Film Making Workshop for Filipino students of Dubai and the Northern Emirates, which started on September 23, at the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) Dubai’s Rizal Hall.

The six-week or 10-session workshop was conceptualized and organized by Mme. Yasmin Cortes of Filipino Ladies of Dubai, under the auspices of the Philippine Consulate, which aims to develop the talents of the students in photography and advance their knowledge in videography, cinematography and film making.

Renowned Filipino photographer Mr. Eros Goze and Mr. Raul Gabat, managing director of Canon Middle East, provide the technical expertise for the student participants. After two weeks of training, the students will exhibit their works at the consulate’s main exhibit gallery.

The list of participants will then be trimmed down to 10, who will then continue on to take up the film making module. Part of their output and target is to join the 48-hour Film Project, a contest for independent and budding filmmakers in which teams are assigned a genre, a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue, and have 48 hours to create a short film containing those elements.

Shortly after the 48 hours of filmmaking, the films from each city are then screened at a theater in that city. Meanwhile, Maranon said the film students are currently in the midst of their homework – the story writing exercises that they need to accomplish prior to the deadline they set during the event. Maranon said he saw how big the interest of Filipinos are in independent filmmaking during the event.

He said the participants requested for another right after the event, adding that he is now preparing one and targeting to have it by the first week of October. An award ceremony will be conducted after completing all the parts of the short films. The participants were from Al Ain, Al Falah, Al Wahda, Khalidiya, M. Zayed, Hamdan, Mussaffa, TCA, Navy Gate and Ruwais attended the event.

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