A short documentary by filmmaker and UE College of Fine Arts, Architecture, and Design (CFAD) graduate Elvin Jay E. Macanlalay won the Best Documentary Film award for his short documentary film ‘Between the Lines’ at the 10th MegaCity-ShortDocs Award in Paris on May 23, 2024!
What’s more, the film of this 2018 UE graduate of Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Visual Communication (née Advertising Arts) was featured at the 9th Semaine du Cinéma Positif Week (May 22 to 25, 2024) at the Festival de Cannes 2024!
This marks the first short film by someone with ties to the UE CFAD to be screened at the prestigious Festival de Cannes providing an exceptional, truly international platform, allowing Mr. Macanlalay’s film to reach a much wider audience and further establish his presence in the global film community.
‘Between The Lines’ is an advocacy film exploring the transformative power of community libraries in Caloocan. The film shows the activities in the community library including storytelling, collective learning, and self-reflection. Through his short docu, Mr. Macanlalay captured the substance of the space, which serves as a response to the educational crisis that the country is experiencing post-pandemic.
The film aims to showcase the goal of the community library. Amid the prevalence of social media and individualism, it hopes to show the purpose of community libraries, especially empowerment of children in the community to be aware of what is happening in society, not through banking them with theories and information but through reading stories that speak their language and to somehow relate their lived experience to those of other people. That and to establish a connection with individuals in the community who think critically but with empathy.
Mr. Macanlalay (shown in the fused image below of him and his film’s poster) has received relevant awards and recognitions as a filmmaker over the years. These include the Gawad Sining Biswal from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA); the Knowmad Short Film Festival award for Best Animation Film, and the Heritage Film Award for ‘Maling Akala: Ang Misteryo ng Unamuno’; and Honorable Mentions from the Knowmad Short Film Festival Germany and the DreamManila International Film Festival for his earlier documentary, ‘How the Beasts Got Hyped’.
As a young visionary, he was also a curator for the Human Rights Month issue of Yuwana Zine, an ASEAN Youth Forum project that aims to accommodate and provide Southeast Asian youth’s voices in activism and advocate their issues of concern through the zine-making process. Presented and released during International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2021, the participating youth came from eight countries: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
The UE CFAD Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Visual Communication is accredited by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP)-Academic Film School (AFS).
Congratulations and kudos, World-Class Warrior Filmmaker!
[Images and report courtesy of the UE CFAD Visual Communication Department]
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