GMANews.tv, the official website of the GMA news and public affairs featured the Quisumbing Escandor Film Festival for Health in its online article entitled "Film fest tries to put a face on RP health woes".

Film fest tries to put a face on RP health woes

The First Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival for Health will showcase from February 18 to 20 the works of amateur filmmakers aimed at sharpening awareness of the health situation in the Philippines.

At least 37 films – documentary, experimental, or narrative in form – have been submitted to the organizers and will be shown on the said dates at the Cine Adarna of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, and the College of Medicine Lecture Theaters of the UP campus in Manila for free.

With the theme Malayo sa Bituka, the film festival is a nationwide contest organized by the Mu Sigma Phi fraternity of the UP College of Medicine and Health Futures Foundation Inc.

The contest is supported by the Ayala Business Club, Ayala Young Leaders, the Department of Health, the World Health Organization, Kenny Rogers Roasters, and Studio Graphics.

The film festival seeks to explore the interactions between the socio-economic, cultural, environmental, and political factors of health and the general well-being of Filipinos.

"It will also celebrate the efforts of the Department of Health and other nationalistic doctors and institutions – the triumphs they have achieved, and the strategies they have devised to deal with the problems we encounter," the organizers said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

Professional film makers will be invited at the event to present their works as feature presentations. The videos will be used as eye-openers for medical professionals, in particular, and the general pubic, in general. The films aim to serve a reminders that every health statistic on mortality, death, morbidity, disease prevalence, and poverty are real people who are suffering and neglected.

"It is precisely the interplay of these factors that we wish to be displayed," the statement said."By giving a face anjavascript:jceFunctions.toggleEditor('fulltext');d a story to all these issues, the film maker can cover their importance more provocatively rather than the conventional informative videos. Let us put back the humanity in these issues through the entries. We may not all have the medical training, but we all have a story to tell." The grand prize is P100,000, while those adjuged as Best in Documentary, Best in Short Narrative, and Best in Experimental Film will be awarded P50,000 each. Each winner will also get a trophy which was designed by National Artist Napoleon Abueva. Minor awards such as Best Script, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Direction will also be given.

"It must be emphasized that the film festival is not just a contest, but a crusade for better health awareness for all," the organizers said. - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV

Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/80270/Film-fest-tries-to-put-a-face-on-RP-health-woes, written by Amita Legaspi

---