This year’s edition of the 22nd Far East Film Festival Industry Section will feature two Philippine films in its lineup. In a recently published press release which also discussed the Far East Film Festival’s (FEFF) move into online platforms as a response to the current challenges placed by the coronavirus pandemic, the festival revealed that Xeph Suarez’s project Dancing the Tides will be part of the festival program “Ties That Bind 2020” while Khavn Dela Cruz’s Skeleton River will be part of “FOCUS ASIA 2020.” 

Of the projects, Dancing the Tide continues its development after participating as well in two film labs organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). It was among the ten projects selected in the 2019 edition of First Cut Lab, as well as in the first Southern Voices Film Lab (SOVOLAB) which focuses on supporting and empowering Mindanaoan filmmakers.

Dancing The Tide director Xeph Suarez

Ties That Bind 2020 is the world’s sole film workshop dedicated to co-productions between Asia and Europe. In FEFF’s digital version, the workshop will be a host to webinars and roundtables that features  25 selected professionals and 10 projects. This select group will use the program’s virtual space to explore the current situation of the film industries in Europe and Asia while emphasizing future challenges and opportunities. Under Ties That Bind 202, Philippine producer Alemberg Ang, director Xeph Suarez, as well as Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) representative Agathe Vinson will participate in the workshop.

Meanwhile, the Far East Film Festival’s FOCUS ASIA program and its “All Genres Project Market” is the FEFF’s platform dedicated to projects currently in development and with potential for co-production in Europe or Asia. This year, Skeleton River was among 9 projects selected from a list of 85 submissions. Under FOCUS ASIA, these selected projects will be presented to over 200 professionals from the film industry sector. With FOCUS ASIA’s online platform, the various filmmakers will meet with the various professionals in a completely virtual setting. According to the FEFF, it hopes for these virtual meetings to preserve FOCUS’s ASIA’s characterically intimate and relaxed atmosphere.

This year’s industry section of the FEFF will hold its virtual edition from June 30 to July 2 while the entire festival runs from June 26 to July 4. The festival is based in Udine, Italy and organized by the Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche. For this year’s online edition, the festival will move to www.MYmovies.it where it completely redesigns its architecture while maintaining its primary objective of showcasing some of the Asian continent’s best mainstream film productions.