Climate change and its impacts are felt and seen in our daily lives – from the quantity and quality of food we consume to the frequency and intensity of storms that pummel our cities and provinces. It has a huge effect on our livelihoods, our health, and our future. Given the enormity of risks and impacts, is it possible to tell a compelling climate story in three minutes with just a mobile phone?

In October 2022, the OML Center launched its Mga Kwento ng Klima (MKK) Short Film competition for Filipino independent and professional filmmakers. 

As an extension of the Center and ABS-CBN DocuCentral’s 60-minute documentary “Mga Kwento ng Klima” that features how climate has shaped Filipino culture and identity, the MKK Short Film competition seeks to generate climate stories highlighting the unique climate realities and notions of resilience in local languages. MKK Short Films must only be three minutes long, including opening and closing credits, and shot entirely using mobile phones.

With just one month to produce films, the Center received 11 short films. Among these, eight garnered enough points to become finalists. Final screening was done by climate and film experts.  These are:

• Screenwriter Honee Alipio who won the Ecumenical Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival for the film “Taklub”. Alipio is also the screenwriter of the film “Mindanao” which was nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2019 Metro Manila Film Festival. 

• Jag Garcia, founding chair of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s Digital Filmmaking Program. Garcia is also the former Vice Head of the National Committee on Cinema of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. 

• Rounding out the panel of judges is OML Center Executive Director Dr. Rodel D. Lasco. Dr. Lasco is a multi-awarded scientist, an IPCC auhtor since 1999, 2007 co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a member of the National Academy of Science and Technology in the Philippines.

The short film ‘Dalaw’, directed by Eljay Deldoc of Underwater Playground, won Best Film. ‘Dalaw’ is about an unwanted ‘guest’ that visits a kid’s home every Day of the Dead and Christmas Season. Instead of gifts, the ‘guest’ submerges the place in problems. The Bulacan-based filmmaker was awarded a cash prize of Php 50,000.

Second place went to ‘Those who were drowned and missing’. Director Dexter Paul De Jesus of Antipara Films received a cash prize of PhP 30,000.

Short films ‘Groot Chat’, co-directed by Gian Arre and Rea Robles of Gyoza Films, and ‘Pungsod Sang Lawod’ directed by Arsen Carl Vargas by Ocean Trekkers, tied for third place. Each received a cash prize of Php 20,000.

The four remaining finalists, listed below, each received a consolation cash prize of Php 10,000:

• Baga by PLM Independent Film and Arts 
• Entalpi by Asimov Cascade Productions
• Pagpatak ng Ulan by Sinag Production
• There’s No Summer in the Philippines by Sakto Films

The trailers of all eight finalists are available on the YouTube channel of the OML Center: https://bit.ly/MKKShorts2022Trailers. In the next few months, the films will be available for free on iWant TFC.

The MKK Short Films is a film competition for independent and professional filmmakers that features three (3)-minute short fiction films shot using mobile phones. The MKK aims to increase awareness and understanding of Philippine climate change towards national resilience building by capturing the unique Filipino experience of climate change and highlighting the urgent need for climate action.
For more information about MKK Short Films, visit https://www.omlopezcenter.org/balangay-film-mkk-short-films-page/.