With a 19,000 square meter campus in Mactan, Cebu, IAFT serves as Bigfoot Entertainment's professional training institution for aspiring filmmakers. It offers a comprehensive curriculum under the direction of mentors who are industry professionals from Hollywood and other film capitals of the world. The program, which consists of five 9-week terms, includes courses on cinematography, editing, directing, screenwriting, producing, filmmaking, sound design, etc, plus a professional show reel upon the completion of the student's final project. Students are also offered a unique internship program with IAFT's institutional partners, affiliate television network Fashion TV, and parent company Bigfoot Entertainment.
This August, IAFT ushers in fresh students who come from as far as Sweden. Equally anticipated is the brim-over of incoming mentors. "We are pleased to announce a new group of highly talented filmmakers from various parts of the world, to teach and offer insight to our students," says Kacy Andrews, CEO of Bigfoot Entertainment.
The following are the incoming mentors of IAFT:
Frederick Bailey, a prize-winning playwright; this screenwriter-director has directed over 100 stage plays in New York City and in various regional, repertory and stock theatres. His writing credits include the 1997 film, Goodbye America; Vasilios "Billy" Bliumis, Greek producer and director whose experimental feature film 13th God received several awards in the 5th Thessaloniki Independent Festival; Fiorella Glave, a New York-based Peruvian filmmaker who is proficient in editing, as well as camera and lighting equipment; Douglas Evan Hersh, whose decades of experience in film and digital video production include the movies Dune (1984), Blue Velvet (1986) and Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn. Currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership, this award-winning director was chosen to represent Singapore in festivals such as The New York Film Festival as the Best Singaporean Director in 2000.
Volker Langhoff, this German cinematographer and cameraman served Director of Photography for the films B-52 (2001) and Estelle (1993), as well as a special internship in photography for the Oscar-winner As Good as it Gets.
IAFT also proudly announces the return of the following mentors:
Roy Eisenstein, a method actor with almost 3 decades of experience as writer, director and producer. Eisenstein has directed shows for NBC and the SciFi Network;
Mark Gary has worked as both director and Director of Photography for TV commercials, with corporate clients such as Sprite, Wrigley, Sara Lee and Unilever; Roberto Minervini, Italian-born filmmaker and photographer who gained international recognition in 2001 for the experimental short film To Be a Woman; and, Brian Tyree, a former child actor for theatre whose credits include House of Mouse (Mickey Mouse Works) and the 1996 picture The Midville Pirates.
Topping the list is also a tuition fee that is only a quarter to a third of the cost of film school rates in Western countries. While similar programs in the United States charge between US$25,000 and US$30,000, the IAFT One-Year Immersion fee is at an incredible US$8,000 for international students and US$5,000 for local Filipino students.
They will join resident mentors Timothy Doolen and Fritz Kohle. IAFT also provides on-campus housing and amenities at its 68-room Casablanca Gardens, a 2-minute walk away, for both foreign and local students. Scholarship grants are also extended to financially-challenged yet deserving students. The August class will also see the launch of international scholarship programs for foreign students.
The IAFT, with its continuous enrolment program, also accepts a new intake every 2 months since its inauguration in January this year. The last quarter marked a surge in inquiries, doubling in the period of April to June, with 45% of the total coming from foreign countries as far-flung as Ghana, Puerto Rico, France, and the USA.
For more information, please call +63-32-342-8889 or 1-866-300-7207 (toll-free from U.S.).
Email register@filmschool.ph or visit www.filmschool.ph