MEET THE SPEAKERS
Direk Joey Reyes
A known Producer, Educator, Writer, and Film and TV Director
Direk Joey Reyes is a multi-awarded director, producer and writer for film and television, known for his works Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo (2006), Loving Someone (1993) and Mga Munting Lihim (2012) among other well-known and well-loved Filipino films. He has won awards at Gawad Urian, Filipino Star Awards and Metro Manila Film Festival throughout his career.
Aside from filmmaking, Direk Joey is a professor at De La Salle University in the Department of Communication and the Chairperson of the Film Program of the School of Design and Arts of De La Salle University - College of Saint Benilde.
Prof. Sari Dalena
Filipino independent filmmaker and film educator
Sari Dalena is an independent filmmaker from the Philippines and holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Film Production from New York University. She has been the recipient of the Fulbright-Hayes scholarship, New York Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, NYU Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Fellowship, and the 13 Artists Award at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Dalena’s first feature film, the post-9/11 immigrant film Rigodon, won “Best Feature” at the Int’l Panorama of Independent Filmmakers.
Her first full-length documentary on the atrocities during the Philippine-American War, Memories of a Forgotten War (2001), screened at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Documentary Fortnight in New York City and the Int’l Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2012, her Martial Law drama, Ka Oryang was awarded “Best Picture” and “Best Director” prizes at the Cinema One Originals Film Festival. Her other notable works include Church Dog (1994), White Funeral (1997), The Guerrilla is a Poet (2013), The Women of Malolos (2013), and Dahling Nick (2015). She is Professor and former Director at the University of the Philippines Film Institute.
Direk Aleah Aliporo-Eugenio
Writer, Producer
Aleah Aliporo-Eugenio is a director, writer, producer, and now Chief Operations Officer of RedAnts Media Inc., a multimedia communications and production company working with international organizations and advocacy-driven projects.
Her passion and interest for documentary storytelling started during her days as a student in UP Diliman Film and Audio-Visual Communications, and her beginnings as a TV/reality show writer and director formed her own brand of narrative, in telling real, heartfelt stories of people.
Under her wing, her team has handled numerous projects on video, events and even IEC campaigns with organizations such as UNICEF, USAID, Habitat for Humanity Asia Pacific, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and WHO, with topics on education, sustainability, community development and most recently, COVID response and info dissemination.
Direk Arvin Belarmino
Director, Writer
Arvin Belarmino is an independent director/filmmaker born in Masbate and raised in Manila & Cavite, Philippines. His short film “Kyel” was featured in the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival in 2015. In 2017, his short film “Nakaw” bagged the Best Short Film in the Gawad Urian Awards and was shortlisted for the Oscar Qualifying Brussels Short Film Festival. “Nakaw” also won the Best Fiction Film at the 3rd Minikino Film Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia and was in competition for the Asiana International Short Film Festival in Seoul, Korea.
In 2020, his short film Tarang (Life’s Pedal) was awarded the Berlin-Brandenburg Short Award for Best Film at the 36th Interfilm Berlin Short Film Festival in 2020, earning the Philippines first-ever Best Film award from Interfilm in 36 years. Tarang (Life’s Pedal) has also been nominated for the 16th Pragueshorts Film Festival International Competition in Prague, Czech Republic — organized by Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary, the organizer of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Ms. Arlene Cuevas
Producer
Ms. Arleen graduated BA Film, Cum Laude at the University of the Philippines Diliman and finished her Masters Degree in Communications at Nanyang University, Singapore. She worked in different production companies, such as Furball, Industria, Bigfoot, Ignite Media; Bicycle Pictures and now Cinematografica.
Since 2005, she has produced over 20 feature films and documentaries, which premiered in Cannes, Toronto, Rotterdam and Busan Film Festivals. She also teaches at Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.
Mr. Arturo Cruz
ADCC Productions
Mr. Cruz of ADCC Productions is a postdoctoral researcher in heritage conservation in Allister Property Detailing P/L (a company in Australia) and an executive producer of ADCC Film Production in the Philippines.
The first full-length film he produced was “Versus” directed and written by Ralston Jover and now streaming on RAD AND KTX, starring Gabby Eigenmann and Sunshine Dizon.
MEET THE JURORS
Michael Ian T. Lomongo
Assistant Professor
Department of Humanities
College of Arts and Sciences
UP Los Baños
Member of FDCP
Chantel Garcia
Member, Film Development Council of the Philippines, a national film agency responsible for film policies and programs to ensure the economic, cultural and educational development of the Philippine Cinema.
Ana Katrina P. De Jesus
Assistant Professor
Department of Humanities
College of Arts and Sciences
UP Los Baños
Krischelo Delgado
TVC Producer
Mr. Delgado produced Philippine TV Commercials for various companies and brands including SMART, Talk ‘N Text, Jollibee, Beauty Products, Bench among others.
Arvin Zapanta
TVC Live Events Producer
Mr. Zapanta is a TVC and Live Events Producer. He is a Marketing Communications Practitioner with a solid background in Corporate Communications, Business Development and Brand Marketing as well as Events, Film, Television, and Print Production.
Direk Arvin Belarmino
Director, Writer & Producer
Li Candelaria
Writer, Producer
Li is a writer for film and television. She has written episodes for top rating ABS-CBN shows such as “Doble Kara” (2015), The Good Son (2017), “Kadenang Ginto” (2018), The General’s Daughter (2019) and Walang Hanggang Paalam (2020). She was also one of the writers of the Emmy nominated Philippine fantaserye “Super Inggo”.
Li co-wrote the screenplay for the film “Seroks” released in 2006. Li is currently one of the writers for the ongoing drama series “Huwag Kang Mangamba” aired in Kapamilya Channel.