MANILA, PHILIPPINES, MARCH 2, 2021 — In its aim to encourage the industry to comply with the government’s prescribed minimum health standards, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), through its Safe Filming Program, organized the free Training for Basic Occupational Safety and Health (BOSH) for Safety Officer II (SO2).

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, FEBRUARY 9, 2021 — September is extra special for Philippine Cinema because it was on September 12, 1919 when the first Filipino-produced and -directed feature film was shown, “Dalagang Bukid” by Jose Nepomuceno.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, MAY 18, 2021 — After its successful first run last April with a total of 45 graduates, the Safe Filming Program of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment – Occupational Safety and Health Center (DOLE-OSHC), is now accepting participants for the 2nd Safety and Health Officers Training Seminar (SHOTS). 

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, MAY 27, 2021 — Before proceeding with the production of their respective projects and in line with the Film Development Council of the Philippines’ (FDCP) promotion of health and safety guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 10 finalists of the Sine Kabataan 4 Short Film Competition underwent the Safe Filming Lab to be oriented on the government’s prescribed safety and health protocols for production shoots amid the pandemic.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, JUNE 8, 2021 — Film and audiovisual (AV) workers can now register with their respective local government units (LGUs) for their vaccination after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) simplified and expanded the A4 Priority Group for the country’s vaccination plan to cover private sector workers and freelancers who work outside their homes.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, JULY 14, 2021 — Full Circle Lab Philippines, organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) in partnership with Tatino Films, will have another virtual edition from September 20 to October 1 as the capacity-building program led by international industry experts continues to support Filipino and Southeast Asian filmmakers in enhancing their projects to become globally competitive. 

Production Health & Safety isn’t meant to be scary. The point of having sensible H&S measures in place is to keep everyone safe. After all we are filmmakers, not special forces soldiers (the sleep deprivation can be similar). The consequences of not taking it seriously can be scary though.

CANNES, FRANCE: As one of the world's top three most important film festivals and film markets, the global industry has always looked to Cannes for the trends and future of festivals and the market for films. Indeed, "Cannes is Cannes" as every year, it sets the tone, direction and vision for the world's players.

The Philippines has never been short of film artistry, but more can be done to broaden the diversity of our stories. There's always a center of filming and arts in a country such as Hollywood in the United States, Mumbai in India, and in our case, Metro Manila. But we can't deny that there are also rich and promising narratives in the fringes.

They say that life begins at 40. If you asked me in the past, this means having a celebration that's bigger than my usual ones. So before the pandemic, I had originally planned on something big to mark this milestone.