Bryan Brazil, executive producer of GMA News and Public Affairs’ groundbreaking digital newscast Stand for Truth, recently brought honor to the Philippines by receiving the World Vision Award at the prestigious EBS International Documentary Festival (EIDF) held in South Korea.
Brazil won the World Vision citation for My Little Dancing Shoes, his directorial film about the underprivileged Cebuano kids who chase their dreams of becoming dance sports world champions, learning about survival, defeat, and victory in the process.
The Stand for Truth executive producer admitted that he actually did not expect to win. “I was shocked when they called my name. I felt like I was floating on air. All of the films in the competition are well crafted and the directors are from Europe, Asia, and America and they are already known in the industry. It’s been more than a decade since the country won in this prestigious festival for documentary and that makes me prouder as a Filipino,” Brazil said.
While Brazil already has two short documentary films under his belt, My Little Dancing Shoes is his first feature-length film. “In 2016, my producer and I talked about producing a documentary that will not center only on poverty but rather showcasing the unique abilities of the Filipino kids and how they follow their dreams,” Brazil said. “In 2017, we flew to Tokyo to get support from an international documentary forum – which we received.”
Held from Aug. 17 to 25, the EBS International Documentary Festival featured world-class documentary films from around the globe. Brazil’s win is the second EIDF award for the Philippines, making it the only ASEAN country to have won two awards in the history of the festival. Documentary director Ditsi Carolino first bagged an award for her film Bunso in 2005.
As executive producer, Brazil is one of the people behind the weeknight online newscast which has been transforming local broadcast media through mobile journalism. Produced and reported by the young, for the young, Stand for Truth is headlined by Atom Araullo with Richard Heydarian and Joyce Pring together with a pool of millennial reporters who went through rigorous training before they were deployed on the field. Using their mobile phones, the anchors and young reporters gather video and news data, produce it into short news segments, and deliver it to Kapuso viewers.
The 15-minute news program is livestreamed from Monday to Friday, 8:30 p.m. via GMA News Facebook page and GMA Public Affairs YouTube channel with delayed telecast airing on leading local news channel GMA News TV at 10:15 p.m.
Launched in 2004, the EBS International Documentary Festival is the only documentary festival in the world with TV broadcasting and cinema screening. With the theme “Documentary, Lighting the World!”, this year’s EBS International Documentary Festival reflects upon the importance of documentaries that “deliver a light to illuminate the dark corners of society, thereby further communicating with viewers and audiences.”
