Film Academy makes history

upon FAP director general Leo Martinez, Philippine Motion Picture Directors Association (PMPDA) president William Mayo with director Joe Carreon, and Production Designers Guild of the Philippines (PDGP) president Manny Morfe huddled together at their Movie Workers Welfare Foundation (Mowelfund) home ground at Rosario Drive in Cubao. Their discussion was for another daunting event for the industry workers scheduled toward the end of the same week – the two-day Film Workers Summit at the University of the Philippines Film Center.

Martinez, in keeping with the aim of the groundbreaking summit together with his board members, had to gather around 500 film workers from various sectors of the movie industry – actors, producers, directors, technical workers, production and creative staff – to come together for the unprecedented event.

Spearheaded and supported by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) headed by Liza Diño, the turnout on the first day was overwhelming as expected. It primarily launched two banner projects of the FDCP, namely the National Registry of Film Workers and the Magna Carta for Film Workers.

The series of roundtable discussions were put into a formal resolution aimed at providing solutions to the pressing problems of the industry’s self-employed workers including those out of jobs without

Present at the historic summit were FAP officers and members coming from PMPDA, Directors Guild of the Philippines, Katipunan ng mga Artistang Pilipino sa Pelikula at Telebisyon, Screenwriters Guild of the Philippines, Filipino Society of Cinematographers, Pilipino Musical Directors Association, Motion Picture Audio Society of the Philippines, United Film Editors Guild for Motion Pictures, Assistant Directors, Production Managers Association for Motion Picture and Mowelfund.