By Prinz Magtulis
Aug. 6, 2025
Unlike other film festivals, MMFF is spearheaded by the government
through the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). The filmfest
was created by the Marcos Sr.-era
Proclamation No. 1459, supposedly to “encourage quality film production both in substance
and in form”. After all, the filmfest hands down awards to
participating movies every year.
However, in fine print and reality, the festival was conceived by law
as a "fund-raising campaign," both for the movie industry and the
government. For Nico Quejano, a film critic and member of the Society
of Filipino Film Reviewers, this is where the problem lies. "It [MMFF]
was intended to raise money," he said.
"And as such, it doesn't matter whether the film is good or bad, but
as long as it brings the fan to the theater, that's what important."
This "commercial bent" on the MMFF has become more obvious in the type
of festival films in recent decades, said Rolando Tolentino, a
professor of film at the University of the Philippines Film Institute
and member of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino. "Thus, tried and
tested formula films targeting the general public have been the
regular fare of the annual festival," he said.
This formula, Quejano said, relies heavily on "bankable movie stars."
In the early new millennium, those included Vic Sotto and Ai-ai de las
Alas. Both actors had multiple MMFF movies and followed a specific
comedy and family-oriented movie franchise from 2004 to 2011.
By the turn of the decade, Vice Ganda joined the mix through
Sisterakas in 2012 with de las Alas and Kris Aquino. Ramon "Bong"
Revilla Jr. was also a fixture of the filmfest, starring in fantasy
films such as the Agimat series and Resiklo in the early 2000s.
Directors with the most number of filmfest entries
Multiple entries to the MMFF in a single year
With Marlon Rivera
and Joyce Bernal
Same movies, same actors, same directors. Sotto entrusted all his
Enteng Kabisote movies to Tony Y. Reyes. The late Wenn Deramas topped
the decade from 2010 with the most MMFF movies, thanks to de las Alas'
Ang Tanging Ina franchise, and Ganda's films. Even Joel Lamangan, who
produced the most MMFF movies in history, based on our tally, had a
franchise series to thank for: Regal Films' Mano Po.
Quejano said franchises are easy blockbusters in the MMFF. "This is
tradition. You have kids and families watching together, who are very
familiar with these characters they see every year. Plus, it's less
effort for the studio to produce them," he explained.
Government data showed that half of MMFF movies since 2010 were rated
in need of parental guidance, which fits perfectly with family
viewing. Meanwhile, around 15% of the films were deemed fit for all
audiences by state regulators.
Speaking of local movie franchises, nothing is probably more
successful than the horror movie, Shake, Rattle and Roll, which just
concluded its sixteenth installment. The film, an anthology of three
horror stories packed into a single movie, does not fall squarely to a
family movie, but Laurence Marvin Castillo, another member of the
Manunuri, pointed out that the Regal Films classic is a class of its
own.
"It will never go out of style because it's able to flesh out horrific
narratives across various historical and social contexts. Maybe that
explains its success – the adaptability to changing times," Castillo
said.
These familiar movie themes drive patrons to theaters, while also
lowering production costs for mainstream producers. From a financial
standpoint, that makes the MMFF an annual opportunity to do good
business by offering time-tested box office winners. Six of Ganda's
festival movies, for example, are among the 10 biggest box office
earners in Philippine cinema.
"From the filmmaker's perspective, MMFF is an important opportunity,"
said Skilty Labastilla, a professor at Ateneo de Manila University's
interdisciplinary studies department, who specializes in film.
"Because the filmfest is where you get a big audience to watch your
film. It is a vehicle for you to get known and hopefully get you more
projects in the future," Labastilla said in Filipino.
Majority of filmfest entries since 2010 are rated PG, G
Striking a balance between a film's quality and commercial viability
remains to be a persistent challenge however, and for Manunuri's
Tolentino, the MMFF has sacrificed one over another. "The organizers
have not lifted the quality of film taste and preferences over the
nearly 50-year period of the MMFF," he said.
Castillo, for his part, recalled how the MMFF showcased some of
the country's finest films in the '70s and '80s. Movies like Lino
Brocka's Insiang and Ishmael Bernal's Himala remain relevant to this
day. "The '70s and '80s were also the era of the so-called New
Cinema, in which politically courageous and aesthetically innovative
films came out from Filipino auteurs," he said.
For some, having movies that resemble that era is what the MMFF of
today is lacking. But there is no shortage of efforts to at least
reform the filmfest to create a more diverse set of films, although
only a few of them have succeeded.
The biggest changes failed the test of business. In 2013, Quezon City,
which sits in the
Metro Manila Council
governing the MMDA, passed a resolution calling for the agency to
transfer the MMFF to the Film Academy of the Philippines, an agency
that works directly with the movie industry.
In 2016, the committee that screens MMFF movies reformed the criteria
to emphasize story and technical excellence over "commercial appeal."
That year saw the documentary film, Sunday Beauty Queen, win Best
Picture, and the first time in years that movies starring Sotto and
Ganda were not qualified to compete.
Both reforms did not gain traction, and particularly in 2016, ticket
sales plummeted soon after new rules were enforced. That year, only
about P300 million was raised, significantly down from over P1 billion
the prior year, government data showed. After the pandemic, the
filmfest recovered and hit a record P1.07 billion in gross receipts in
2023.
MMFF gross earnings have started to recover from the pandemic
Criteria revised to focus on story and technical qualities
Criteria revised to focus on story and technical qualities
Note: Earnings are based on the two-week exclusive run of the movies
in local cinemas. 2020, 2023 and 2024 are estimates based on news
reports because MMDA declined to provide more recent data upon
request.
On the flip side, the filmfest has opened its doors to more
independent films, giving movies produced by smaller studios and at a
low budget a much-needed exposure. The so-called "new wave" category
under the filmfest started in 2010, and years after, short films were
likewise invited to participate. Both categories are still ongoing,
although they compete separately from mainstream movies.
For Castillo however, the biggest gain from having "indie" at the MMFF
is influence. "I think the rise of indie films created some shift in
audience sensibility," he said.
"While there is an enduring perception that Filipino audiences still
look for more entertaining, mainstream fare, indie cinema broadened
the possibilities of producing and consuming films that diverge from
these generic conventions," he explained.
Slowly, it appears that the broader MMFF is responding. Over the past
two years, our analysis showed a more diverse set of filmfest entries
that diverge from the typical comedy and family genres.
One metric where this is easily obvious is on the length of films. The
formulaic approach to the MMFF has limited a movie's runtime to just
over an hour and 30 minutes, on average. John Tawasil, also of the
Society of Filipino Film Reviewers, said this is still likely a
business decision as shorter films allow cinemas to accommodate more
screenings in a day, driving up ticket sales.
Recent films are breaking from the average, with some being the usual
suspects like the biopic GomBurZa, the story of the three Filipino
priests who were garrotted by the Spaniards and became heroes. The
movie runs for an hour and 50 minutes. Data showed that historical
films tend to have longer runtimes than average: Marilu Diaz-Abaya's
Jose Rizal, which is MMFF's most awarded film, winning 18 of 19 awards
in 1999, was the longest on record at a runtime of nearly three hours.
Filmfest movies have gotten shorter
MMFF movies, by runtime
Note: Only movies with available runtime data are included.
Some however literally went out of the mold. Last year, Sotto's The
Kingdom and Ganda's And the Breadwinner Is… broke the two-hour
runtime, joining the musical, Isang Himala, as the longest MMFF
movies. What's more, the themes of Sotto's and Ganda's latest films
have tried to break away from their previous comedy films.
Castillo said: "My feeling is that there's a sense that lengthening
the runtime can make the audiences feel that their return to cinemas
-- especially after the pandemic -- is worth their while."
Tawasil was more cautious: "This is good, but it's too early to say if
this will continue. We'll see if it's just a blip over the next
filmfest," he said in Filipino.
Methodology
The Data Dictionary scraped the main data on MMFF movies from
Letterboxd, collecting information on title, director, runtime,
studio, and genre. The data, which is not exhaustive, was cleaned
and processed, and additional research was conducted to fill in
missing information. Data for those were collated mainly from IMDB
and TDB websites.
Sources
Letterboxd, IMDB, TDB, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority,
Movie and Television Review and Classification Board
Copyright 2025 - The
Data Dictionary
Project