CALL FOR ENTRIES: Environmental and Cultural Documentaries about the Philippines

As long as there are stories and issues that need to be told about our country, then the film industry has a significant role in brining attention to them. Filmmakers are in for another chance to highlight their documentaries in another film festival on Philippine environment and culture. For its third year in 2007, the Moonrise Film Festival, the only film festival on Philippine environment and culture, is once again calling for entries for documentaries that reveal the country's rich and multi-faceted culture and environment on the brink of disappearance. Many of
these stories are abstract or have never been documented and what better way to translate and impart them, than to record and display the stories through film. With the success of films like An Inconvenient Truth, which alarmed viewers about climate change, documentaries that bring attention to environmental concerns are not far from box office acclaim.

Dedicated sponsor Ford Motor Environmental and Conservation Grants, will once again host the Best Documentary Award for the film festival with a One Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php 100,000) prize. Ford Motor is one of the world's largest environmental and conservation grant efforts and continues to support environmental education initiatives by the film fest organizer, the Center for Environmental Awareness and Education (CEAE). The Best Documentary
award goes to the film that has effectively revealed and conveyed issues about the country's environment and culture. The films are meant to fast-track environmental education. Subsequently, they extend and sustain this mission if filmmakers have the capacities to do so.

Last year's winner, Boyette Rimban, recalls how the award for his organic farming and fair trade film Wala Nang Tiempos Muertos (No More Dead Season) has gone a long way after the festival. "Awards like this help filmmakers continue and develop their craft and encourage the cause further," says Rimban who later invested his prize for a new film project, jumpstart new research, and invest on film equipment. He is now planning on working on two more environmental and cultural documentaries. Indeed, by supporting documentary filmmakers,
award hosts like Ford Motor extend their environmental advocacy to more opportunities.

More distinctions and prizes are at stake for better production and stories about the Philippines - a country of more than 170 spoken languages and different ethnic groups, the largest concentration of coral reefs and marine life in the world, and with various conservation and environmental initiatives from individuals, communities and organizations. This is our country. Tell our story.

For more information regarding the 2007 Moonrise Film Festival, visit
www.moonrisefilmfes t.com , or contact CEAE at telephone number 721-7360, fax number 533-3712, and email email@ceae.org . Deadline for entries is on June 30, 2007. Non- documentary formats can be entered as an exhibiting film.

FOR PRESS RELEASE PLEASE
Sarah Queblatin

Center for Environmental Awareness and Education
7217360 / 09178579489/ 09272197282
sarah@ceae.org