FDCP scriptwriting tilt still on

MANILA, Philippines - The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) announces that its kaSAYSAYan: A Historical Scriptwriting Contest launched in February has received good feedback from Filipino writers worldwide. FDCP still accepts entries of full-length scripts until May 20. Winners will be announced on June 12.

FDCP chair Rolando Atienza said that when his office launched the contest, it extended the invitation to join the historical scriptwriting contest to Philippine service posts worldwide because it is also open to Filipino writers based overseas. He also added the contest is open to writers of Filipino descent.

“Since its initial launch, the Philippine Foreign Service posts in Prague and the Czech Republic, France, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Toronto, United States, Sweden, Greece, Italy and Myanmar, among others, have endorsed the contest to Filipino communities abroad, and the response from interested contestants has been encouraging,” said Christine Dayrit, kaSAYSAYan project leader. Dayrit is also chairman of the Cinema Evaluation Board, under FDCP.

Atienza added that the binding theme of kaSAYSAYan is historical non-fiction where contestants embrace orthodox and unorthodox approaches in narrating our history. Stories should be unique and not popularly known.

“The subject matters can delve on the unsung heroes of the Philippines or little known events in the history of the country,” said Dayrit.

She added that if participants depict the lives of known heroes like Rizal and Bonifacio, they must present something new about them that have not yet been discussed in the textbook. She emphasized that each entry should have historical accuracy.

First prize winner will get P350,000; the second prize winner, P250,000 and the third prize winner, P150,000.

For details, call 634-6984 or 638-2739, or log on to www.filmdevcoun-cilphil.org.