MANILA, Philippines – A controversy rocked the 10th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival a day before it ends.
On Saturday, August 9, filmmakers expressed their dismay on social media as it was discovered that the 2012 and 2013 Cinemalaya entries were uploaded on Youtube. The videos were also embedded on the film festival's official website.
Huh. You can watch a bunch of last year's Cinemalaya films on this page: http://t.co/YX85IiPp22
— Phil Dy (@philbertdy) August 9, 2014 According to reports, the movies were uploaded by a “technical personnel of the Cinemalaya website” on Saturday.
Both the Youtube account and the Cinemalaya website page where the films were uploaded were taken down after the online uproar.
"I sincerely hope this whole thing will be resolved and things actually change for the better for the festival," producer-filmmaker Alemberg Ang, whose film “Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa” was part of the 2011 Cinemalaya film fest, said on his Facebook page.
A number of filmmakers asked the public to refrain from downloading the film uploaded online.
Dear audiences: we devoted our careers to make films for YOU. Until the Cinemalaya films are taken down pls help us by NOT downloading them.
— Jerrold Tarog (@JerroldTarog) August 9, 2014 After the filmmaker's outrage, the #Cinemalaya films on YouTube have been taken down. But the story's not yet finished. We need answers.
— Jason Paul Laxamana (@jplaxamana) August 9, 2014 Cinemalaya, you're supposed to be on the side of the Filipino filmmaker!!! WTF???
— Jun Robles Lana (@junrobleslana) August 9, 2014 "It has been deleted, but the damage is done. Us filmmakers just hope and pray our films are still safe from the piracy world. Please naman, if you we're able to download the films, just don't share it to the world, or better yet, delete them," Gino Santos, who directed the Cinemalaya films "The Animals" and "#Y" said.
He added, "Us filmmakers, producers and everyone on that 2 hour film worked 8 months and maybe even more, with a tiny tiny budget and even had to shell out our own cash, just to be able to tell stories to you. So please have a heart."
Reports say the Cinemalaya film festival will address the controversy during its awarding ceremony on Sunday, August 10.