Sherad is a graduate of AB Communications at Ateneo De Manila University. Even as an undergrad student, his films have premiered, screened, and won awards at numerous local & international Festivals. Before graduating, he made his second feature that not only won him International and local awards but gained notoriety because of controversial censorship. Sherad went on to make 3 more feature films, selected in hundreds of International Festivals and gaining further recognition through dozens of international awards.
He has served for 8 years as part of a selection committee for grants and projects of Cinema One Originals that produced and discovered prominent Filipino Filmmakers practicing today, merited him a presidential award, he has already mentored more than 250 feature Films all over Southeast Asia
He has also lectured and given workshops in various institutions all over the world.
Jason del Rosario is a climate activist currently engaged as the Multimedia and Campaigns Staff for the Asian Peoples’ Movement and Development’s Climate Justice program. His work is focused on the amplification of the struggles of diverse peoples’ organizations and communities into a solidified campaign for Climate Justice.
He has been a fellow of the Academy of Political Management of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in 2017 and an alumnus of the Political Management Training program of SocDemAsia, a program for trans-national solidarity and action amongst young Asian political leaders.
While he mainly works in Climate-related arenas recently, he is in various fields of political work such as youth and students’ rights, human rights, labor, and energy justice. He likes to think he has free time and spends what he has of it with his partner and their three dogs and two cats.
John is an independent filmmaker, musician and writer. He co-runs Los Otros, a Manila-based space, film lab, and platform committed to the intersections of film and art, with a focus on process over product. He directed and produced five feature films, including Todo Todo Teros (Dragons & Tigers Award, Vancouver IFF 2006; NETPAC/FICRESCI awards, Singapore IFF 2006), Years When I was a Child Outside (Berlinale Forum Expanded 2008), and Lukas The Strange (Art of the Real,Film at Lincoln Center, 2013). He has made more than a dozen short films, including, We Still Have to Close Our Eyes (Wavelengths, Toronto IFF 2019). His work fictionalizes and reworks personal and found documentations of love, family relations, and memory in relation to current events, hearsays, myth, and folklore. He produced Shireen Seno’s Nervous Translation (NETPAC award, Tiger Competition, Rotterdam 2018), a project that was developed through Venice’s Biennale College Cinema, Bangkok Produire au Sud, IFP, and Cinemart. A special focus of his works was shown at the Viennale in 2013.
Baby Ruth Villarama is a documentary filmmaker involved in international co-production producing socially-relevant films on migration, independence and self-empowerment, children and climate justice.
She’s a co-founder of Voyage Film Studios that bridges Philippine-based stories for international broadcast and film festivals.
She earned her master’s degree in film business as a Chevening scholar in the UK, where she won the British Council Global Alumni Award for social impact in influencing conversations towards policy improvements through her films. She is the director behind the Sunday Beauty Queen, the first documentary that won Best Picture in the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival and was instrumental in creating a dedicated Department for Migrant Workers in the country.
She’s also part of the executive board of the Director’s Guild of the Philippines, a co-founder of Filipino Documentary Society, which brought us Daang Dokyu, a celebration of 100 years of Philippine documentaries.
Jai works in the nexus of environment and development. She’s currently a climate change officer at the Asian Development Bank trying to find the queue for the chocolate crinkles and operationalizing the bank’s agenda on just transition, long-term greenhouse gas strategy development, and Paris Agreement alignment.
When she feels particularly industrious, she is also a lecturer and researcher at Ateneo de Manila University. She gets bored easily so she picked climate change as her idiomatic windmill to tilt at. You can lure her with food and cats.
Chuck Baclagon, is a climate justice advocate based in Quezon City, he has two decades of experience in environmental and social justice advocacy. He presently serves as the Regional Finance Campaigner for 350.org in Asia. Previously, he spent a decade strengthening Greenpeace Southeast Asia’s online campaigning capabilities. His primary focus within advocacy lies in leveraging digital tools for campaigns and organizational endeavors, striving to instigate tangible social change.
Maya Quirino is the advocacy coordinator of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), which is the Philippines chapter of Friends of the Earth International. LRC provides free legal services to indigenous peoples (IPs), and crafts and advocates for policies on environmental conservation and the rights of IPs and rural communities. Maya is concurrently the national coordinator of the SOS Yamang Bayan Network, a group pushing for the overhaul of the mining industry. Maya is also a policy adviser at the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia (ISEA).
Armi Rae Cacanindin is one of the most active producers doing international co-productions in the country. She focuses on a select number of high-quality film projects both fiction and documentaries, from filmmakers with distinct voices. Her films have premiered in top-tier film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, Toronto, Sundance, Shanghai, Busan among others.
Her last three productions and co-productions involving Asia are the Venice FIPRESCI winner and Indonesia’s entry to the Oscars, Autobiography, debut feature of Makbul Mubarak, which won the Best Asian Film and Best Director Award in QCinema last year. Autobiography is a co-production among Indonesia, France, Germany, Poland, Singapore, Qatar and the Philippines. Another film, Thai youth political dramedy, Arnold is a Model Student by Sorayos Prapapan, is a co-production among Thailand, Singapore, France, Netherlands, and Philippines. Last is the critically-acclaimed epic first feature of Carlo Francisco Manatad, Kun Maupay Man It Panahon, (Whether the Weather is Fine) that won the Youth Jury Award in Locarno 2021 and is a co-production among Philippines, France, Germany, Singapore, Indonesia and Qatar.
The last documentary she produced is the multi-awarded creative documentary on the drug war, Aswang, by Alyx Arumpac, that made history by being the first documentary that got both the Best Documenatry and Best Picture Award at FAMAS 2020 and Gawad Urian 2021, and was eligible for the Oscars in 2021. It is a Philippine, France, Norway, Germany, Qatar co-production.
Currently she is in post -production for The Garden of Earthly Delights, a Dutch – Philippine – Belgian feature shot entirely in the Philippines and is in pre-production for another Indonesian co-production entitled, Tale of the Land.
Arjay “Jing” Barrios hails from Romblon and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree of Political Science in the Romblon State University. Jing was a Journalism and Leadership awardee and a staunch advocate of the environment and indigenous peoples’ rights for the past five years.
He is a member of Dakila Artists Collective and currently taking up his 5th year of law in the Arellano University School of Law in Pasay. He is currently the advocacy officer for paralegal and local communities engagement of the Living Laudato Si’ Philippines, a catholic organization focusing on the campaign related to climate justice.
Matikas Santos was in the journalism industry for 10 years before moving to the environmental advocacy Non-profit WWF-Philippines. He started as an INQUIRER.net reporter in 2011 and later moved to Philstar.com in 2017 as an editor and social media manager. He has reported on major issues in the country including the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, Janet Napoles pork barrel scam scandal, and the Philippines’ arbitration case against China over the West Philippine Sea. He is currently the Senior Communications Officer of WWF-Philippines where he handles the communications of projects on climate change and habitat and biodiversity conservation.
Leni is the Co-founder and Secretary General of DAKILA and concurrently, the Executive Director of its Active Vista Center. She currently serves as part of the Global Governance Circle of the Innovation for Change (I4C), an international network of organizations and advocates working to protect civic spaces and overcome restrictions to basic freedoms. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Albay Arts Foundation (AAF) and the Women Working for Women Philippines (WWW.Ph).
She has been a fellow of the Equitas Human Rights Training Program in Montreal, the Summer School of Cinema Human Rights Advocacy in Venice, the Release Southeast Asia Fellowship on Drug Reform Policy in London, and the FNF International Academy for Leadership in Germany. Recently, she was a visiting fellow at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s Democracy and Freedom Conference in Brussels. In 2018, she was nominated for Most Distinguished Human Rights Defender at the Ignite Awards of Amnesty International.
Her activism journey started at the University of the Philippines Manila where she took up Organizational Communication and became a student leader of the National Federation of Student Councils. Leni is always in the middle of the hullaballoo in marrying art and activism and in innovating civic engagement in social movement building. When she finds time, she spoils her cat, Zvezky.
Alex is the Program Director for Outreach and Partnerships of Active Vista. As an independent film producer, her body of work has been screened and awarded in international film festivals such as the Locarno Film Festival, Fantasporto Film Festival, and the ASEAN International Film Festival & Awards. She has trained as a creative producer for both fiction and documentary in notable training labs such as Asiadocs, Docs by the Sea, Produire Au Sud, Full Circle Lab, and at the ASEAN-ROK: Film Leaders Incubator where she became the recipient of the Busan Bank Scholarship.
Strengthening her work in intersecting filmmaking and human rights, she took part at the 2019 Summer School of Cinema and Human Rights in Venice and participated as a Jury for the Dutch Movies Matter program of the Movies that Matter Film Festival in 2022. Recently, she also became a member of the Global Impact Producers Alliance as she delves deeper into impact film production and distribution.
In 2021, Alex took over as the Festival Director of the Active Vista International Human Rights Festival.
Dodo Dayao is the writer and director of Violator (2014), If You Leave (2016), Best Before; (2017), Nephilim (2017), Destroy Everything You Touch (2020) and Midnight In A Perfect World (2021). He lives in Quezon City and is currently working on his next film, his first book of nonfiction and his first book of fiction.
Kristoffer Brugada is an independent documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, and professional lecturer. As a documentary director and producer, Kristoffer has over a decade of experience in Philippine local media and has led several TV documentary productions that have won awards from local and international award-giving bodies such as the George Foster Peabody Award, the New York Festivals, and Japan Prize. A Film graduate of the University of the Philippines-Diliman, Kristoffer is currently a scholar at the Tisch School for Film and Television at Tel Aviv University pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Cinema. His first feature documentary, An Elegy to Forgetting, had its World Premiere at the 2020 Shanghai International Film Festival, while his short documentary film Bullet-Laced Dreams, recently won the UNICEF Prize at the 2021 Japan Prize.
Kristine Kintana has worked in almost all aspects of cinema since she started in 2006.
She has collaborated with some of the best Filipino filmmakers like Monster Jimenez, Moira Lang, Ramona Diaz, Martika Escobar, Sherad Sanchez, Raya Martin, Roxlee, Lav Diaz, and Khavn, as costume designer, actress, translator, production manager, and line producer.
Films that she has been part of have won prizes in Venice International Film Festival, Berlinale International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and the Academy Awards.
She is one of the founding members of the Active Vista Human Rights Festival, which aims to mainstream Human Rights, and also sits on the Board of Directors of the Active Vista Center, where she is corporate secretary. She is also part of the Board of Directors of the QC Film Foundation, which supports the local film industry via labs, grants, and institutional fundings.
Since 2014, she has been part of the selection committee of QCinema International Film Festival for short, feature, and documentary film grants, selecting and supporting some of the best films that have come out of Philippine Cinema in recent history.
She is also part of Emerging Producers 2024, the Industry Program of Ji.hlava International Documentary Festival, which promotes the up and coming producers from Europe and Asia, with sessions in Jihlava, Czech Republic, and Berlin, Germany.
Cha Escala is a documentary film producer, director, and editor. One of her recent films is the full-length documentary “Remnants of a Revolution,” which garnered support from various production grants and premiered at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in 2020.
In her documentary “Bullet-laced Dreams,” Cha sheds light on the challenges faced by
indigenous children displaced by armed conflicts in their region. The film’s poignant narrative earned it the Unicef Prize at the Japan Prize 2021.
Another remarkable work in Cha’s portfolio is the film “Nick and Chai” (2014). This film
competed in international festivals such as IDFA and Busan and won the Audience Choice at New Caledonia, Best Film at QCinema and the Young Critics Circle in 2014.
Jade Castro is a Filipino film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for writing and directing Endo (2007) which won the 2007 Cinemalaya Special Jury Prize and the 2008 Gawad Urian for Best Screenplay. Zombadings 1: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington (2011), and LSS (2019). He also directed Juana Change The Movie, written by Rody Vera, screened just before the 2013 Philippine National Elections.
Castro was co-producer of the indie film Sarong Banggi, and was part of the creative team behind Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros.
Pam Miras (b.1978) is a director and screenwriter for film and television. She graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in Film & Audiovisual Communication where her thesis film Reyna ng Kadiliman (1999), was awarded Best Thesis and went on to win a Gawad Urian award for best short film in 2000. Her feature debut, Pascalina (2012), won Best Picture at the 2012 Cinema One Originals film festival. Her short films have won several local awards and have screened and competed in international festivals. She is based in Manila and is currently employed as a director for local TV dramas.
Victor Villanueva is a filmmaker who comes from cebu, known for his comedies like Patay na si Hesus, Kusina Kings, kidnap for romance, i am not big bird, to name a few. Occasionally dabbles on branded content and commercials. He does all this to pay for his video games.
Che Tagyamon is a director, editor, and animator from Manila, Philippines.
Her previous works often address the subjects of diaspora, class, and memory in relation to women’s psyche. Her hybrid short film “Judy Free” was developed at Berlinale Talents Short Form Station in 2019 and was among the grantees of the first edition of Southeast Asian Short Film Grant. She is an alumna of Busan Asian Film Academy, SGIFF SEALab, and Asean ROK’s FLY Film Lab among others.
She recently won the Jury Prize for her animated short film, “tumatawa, umiiyak”
Film producer Gale Osorio is a Busan Asian Film School, Berlinale Talents, and TFL ScriptLab Story Editor alumni. She produced ISKALAWAGS 2013, LILY 2016, and A SHORT HISTORY OF A FEW BAD THINGS 2018. Her short films BABYLON 2017 and IT’S RAINING FROGS OUTSIDE 2021 both had their international premieres at the Berlinale International Film Festival shorts competition. She is currently producing AFA Alumni Zurich Chan’s second film CANGREJOS (SEAFIC Lab 2019, HAFF 2020) and Demie Dangla’s documentary Magnetic Letters (Berlinale Docs Station 2023, DMZ Development Grant, Purin Pictures Grant 2022). Recent project in development PLEASE BEAR WITH ME directed by Gabriela Serrano has won awards at SGIFF Southeast Asian Film Lab 2022, BIFAN It Project Market 2023, and FNC Nouveau Marche 2023. In between producing films, she helps run the annual Binisaya Film Festival in Cebu City.
Dwein, first and foremost, is a mother, who has a love- hate relationship with writing and still dreams of becoming a theater actress. Currently, Baltazar writes and directs for mini-series and movies. Her debut film, “Mamay Umeng” (2012) took home the Best Picture prize at the 14th Jeonju International Film Festival held in South Korea. Baltazar’s sophomore feature, “Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus” is set to have its international premiere at Busan International Film Festival this October 2018. She recently directed the film “Third World Romance.”
Demie Dangla is a film producer and director based in Manila. She works on documentary, experimental and long-term multimedia projects.
She previously worked as a researcher and segment producer for an award-winning television documentary show “Mukha” on ABS-CBN News Channel, and as associate producer and assistant production manager for an independent production company. For more than five years, she also worked with collective media groups documenting marginalized and grassroots sectors and screening their films in communities. In 2017, she was a recipient of the National Geographic Young Explorer Grant.
Currently, she works as the impact producer for Tech Tales Youth Film Collection, and as an engagement coordinator for EngageMedia.
Sherad is a graduate of AB Communications at Ateneo De Manila University. Even as an undergrad student, his films have premiered, screened, and won awards at numerous local & international Festivals. Before graduating, he made his second feature that not only won him International and local awards but gained notoriety because of controversial censorship. Sherad went on to make 3 more feature films, selected in hundreds of International Festivals and gaining further recognition through dozens of international awards.
He has served for 8 years as part of a selection committee for grants and projects of Cinema One Originals that produced and discovered prominent Filipino Filmmakers practicing today, merited him a presidential award, he has already mentored more than 250 feature Films all over Southeast Asia
He has also lectured and given workshops in various institutions all over the world.
Filipino filmmaker Carl Chavez is a freelance filmmaker and content marketer. His breakthrough short film Sorry for the Inconvenience (2017) is a coming-of-age story set in the oppressive patriarchy of downtown Manila. The film has been recognized by the country′s most prestigious award-giving bodies, including the FAMAS and URIAN, and has been screened at film festivals like Cinemalaya, Cinema One Originals and the Shanghai Queer Film Festival.
He is one of the founders of Lockdown Cinema Club which gave financial aid to more than 1,500 below the line film workers during the onset of the pandemic.
Marlon Rivera is currently the President of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA).
As a pillar in the advertising industry, he is the former President and Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Manila. Marlon is also known as the film director of blockbuster works including “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank series”.
He completed a degree course in Communication Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1987 and taught in the Visual Communication program of the University of the Philippines’ College of Fine Arts for seven years.