LAST Monday, I introduced to you The PSNFIFF, the three-minute, silent, international film festival sponsored by The Peter Solis Nery Foundation for Hiligaynon Literature and the Arts, Inc.
This is also the pathway to the coveted 2019 Peter’s Prize for Film.
If you haven’t read my Monday’s column, go back and read it.
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On our debut year, The PSNFIFF will be focusing on very short films.
Exactly 3 minutes maximum.
That means exactly 180 seconds running time at the longest, and not a second longer.
You go 3 minutes and 1 second, you are disqualified.
I mean, if you cannot follow the rules of the game, why would I even let you play?
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You can, of course, enter the competition with a one-minute film.
But it better be earthshaking because I have seen a lot of good one-minute films in my lifetime.
I’m setting the three-minute limit (to include the credits) because I believe that that will allow filmmakers a good playing field.
I bet people can tell a better story within three minutes rather than just sixty seconds.
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I’m setting the three-minute limit because I’ve seen a lot of weakness in storytelling by filmmakers who like to jerk off with their films.
(Jerk off to their films?)
I like to challenge filmmakers and train people to tell beautiful stories in less time.
I don’t want the audience to be bored.
Or be punished by films that are painful to watch (and listen to).
I want the audience to want more after the last frame.
I want the audience to think more.
Not spoonfed.
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I’m setting the three-minute limit because I know how expensive it is to make films.
I want to motivate people, and create that “I can do that” attitude.
I want to promote the spirit of If-it’s-just-three-minutes-I-can-do-it.
I mean, I want people with filmmaking dreams to start somewhere.
If they end up making movies that are eight hours long three years from now, that would be great.
Good luck.
But for now, I just want someone with a camera, or even just a smart phone, and a big dream of becoming a filmmaker, to have a first shot to glory.
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I’m setting the three-minute limit because I don’t have much money to give away as cash prize.
Now on its seventh year, The Peter Solis Nery Foundation is, and has always been, personally funded by myself.
That’s why I can demand things regarding the operation of the Foundation, and the Peter’s Prize.
That’s why I can maintain our integrity and dignity.
That’s why no one can put me, and my Foundation, down.
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My Foundation may be poor and struggling, but I’m not mismanaging and misappropriating public funds.
I am not hustling anyone.
I am not conning anyone.
And I am not spending the taxpayers’ money!
The PSN Foundation may be poor, but it has remained blameless and respectable.
That cannot be said of most of our politicians.
Or those appointees in government art and culture agencies.
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But I have the artistic and creative vision.
And the mission to develop literature, arts, and culture in this country.
So, with what little personal money I have, the Foundation will survive.
And its banner project, The Peter’s Prize, will continue to provide an incentive for writers, artists, and cultural workers to create and make things happen.
For the 2019 Peter’s Prize for Film, it will be a P10,000 winner-take-all competition.
No other cash prizes will be given.
Sure, maybe certificates for finalists; not no consolation prizes, no runner-up awards.
We will select only one grand winner for the film contest.
And the grand winner will receive the coveted Peter’s Prize medallion, and also the title as the (first) PSN Foundation Ambassador for Film.
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Anyone can join the film competition.
Veterans, amateurs, beginners, and wannabes—everyone is welcome!
As in the competitive literary categories of the Peter’s Prize, the film competition does not distinguish the “maturity” level of the artist-filmmaker.
The Peter’s Prize judges the work, not the maker.
If a film is great, it does not matter whether it is done by a 60-year-old, or a 6-year-old.
It does not matter if it is done by a multi-awarded veteran filmmaker, or someone who just picked up a camera (or a smartphone with a camera) for the first time.
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It does not matter that someone studied film and filmmaking, or not.
Because the judges of the Peter’s Prize competitions have always been a composite of a broad spectrum of society.
Sure, there are a few scholars; there are artists themselves, but there are also art patrons, or just plain art consumers.
For example, in a Peter’s Prize literary contest in the past, we did well with judges who are visual artists, previous Peter’s Prize winners, a chef, and a domestic helper based abroad.
They voted for a unanimous winner!
Which only proved my theory that if a work is great, it will be great whether the reader/decoder is a lavandera or a university professor.
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So yeah, welcome to the 2019 Peter’s Prize for Film.
And welcome to the inaugural PSNFIFF—The Peter Solis Nery Foundation International Film Festival.
Follow me here on Panay News, and on Facebook, for more details and updates./PN
