THREE members of the Metro Manila Film Festival’s executive committee resigned recently following the official announcement of the first four entries selected for this year’s Main Competition, and allegedly due to the failure to implement reforms in the committee.
They were Ricky Lee, an acclaimed screenwriter, former dean of the University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communication Rolando Tolentino, and journalist and documentary producer Kara Magsanoc Alikpala.
The news was earlier shared by Erik Matti on social media regarding the resignations of Lee and Tolentino.
Lee posted on Facebook early on Sunday to explain his decision to leave the committee.
“When I agreed to join, I decided to stay if the reforms which started in 2016 would continue,” Lee said.
“But in the course of what’s happening right now it looks like it will not happen, so there’s also no reason for me to stay.”
The executive committee on Friday released the list of the official entries in the Main Competition, and the films included those featuring Vice Ganda and Vic Sotto in The Revengers and Love Traps #Family Goals, respectively, along with a Panday remake and the romantic comedy Almost Is Not Enough.
Tolentino on Twitter said discussing his resignation would break a confidentiality clause.
Nevertheless, he said “The results of the script selection speak for themselves.”
Earlier this year, Tolentino said there would be no distinctions made between mainstream and independent movies in the selection process for this year’s festival, but simply that the films chosen must “come with artistic merit and come with a certain kind of popular appeal.”
In another tweet on Sunday, however, he declared, “It proves that during the MMFF script selections, there is no interest in removing the distinction between indie and mainstream. What was removed was indie.
On Sunday, he shared a photo of a folder bearing his official designation in the committee and said, “It’s not in the rules, the decision is in the implementation.”
The MMFF executive committee and the Metro Manila Development Authority have yet to release a statement regarding the resignations.
Malacañang also has yet to comment.