SA PASALAMAT KAG SA PAGLAUM

By Raymund Salao

(The author is the Festival Director of the ICFest  held during the Ilonggo Cinema Festival)

The first year of the ICFest has concluded yesterday October 26, 2025. It has been a vibrant three days of cinematic spectacle that Ilonggo audiences enjoyed. I thank the Iloilo City Government, our main festival organizers, organizing circles, the people from the MICE Center, The IFFI, The Iloilo City Local Culture and Arts Council, the office of Jay Treñas, Megaworld Iloilo, along with The ILOMOCA and the Megaworld Iloilo Business Park, which is our Arts and Culture hub, most especially the Filmmakers and the film workers who embody our festival, MADAMO GID NGA SALAMAT! Kag aton ipadayon ang iduso ang kausa sang Ilonggo Cinema, sa tanan nga mga film festivals, film organizations, campus film organizations, tanan suportaran ta, para sa Ilonggo Cinema!

The following is the Opening Speech I delivered during the Opening Ceremony of the ICFest, The Ilonggo Cinema Festival, last October 24, 2025 at the Festive Walk Cinema.

WE ALL WANT TO TELL A STORY

Most Filmmakers do. All Filmmakers do. Most Filmmakers want to tell stories to entertain, to scare, to thrill. Many Filmmakers want to tell stories that inspire and champion a cause or advocacy. Other Filmmakers want to tell stories that inform, expose and reveal hidden truths. Whether you tell your story with profound magnificence, our you tell your story in a manner that does not impress most people. Either way, nobody should tell you that you have no right to tell your story.

ILONGGO CINEMA has so many champions. In these recent post-pandemic years, it seems like there has always been two or more Ilonggo Filmmakers in Cinemalaya. Two Ilonggo full length films in 2022, “Batsoy” by Ronald Espinosa Batallones and “Kargo” by TM Malones. One Ilonggo full length film in 2023, “Bulawan Nga Usa” by Kenneth De La Cruz. Two Ilonggo full length films in 2024, which both became huge successes, “Love Child” by Jonathan Jurilla and “Tumandok” by Richard Salvadico and Kat Sumagaysay. This year’s Cinemalaya Best Short Film is also Ilonggo, “Hasang” by Daniel De la Cruz, who proudly came from Bantayan Film Festival of Guimbal. In 2022 Kevin Pison Piamonte’s short film “Solo” won the 2022 FAMAS Award. And early this year, two Ilonggo Films; “Tigkiliwi” by Tara Illenberger and “Salum” by TM Malones dominated in the Cinepanalo Film Festival. And then weeks ago, “Tumandok” gained high recognition as its directors Richard Salvadico and Kat Sumagaysay won Best Director at the 48th Gawad Urian.

Ilonggo Cinema is best defined not only by its prestigious filmmakers, but also by the many other filmmakers that continue to tell stories. ILONGGO CINEMA must not limit itself to a selective standard, but it must be inclusive to all who wish to tell their stories. That is why we must rejoice when all these Film Festivals emerge.

It reminds people that we exist. It reminds people that this artform is celebrated frequently. That Cinema is as equally important as Music, Visual Arts, and Dance. Cinema is an amalgamation of various forms of Art. In addition, it could never be denied that cinema is also an industry made up of talented craftsmen, designers, make-up artists, choreographers, and many more. This thriving industry built on talented manpower is the very reason why recently there have been many television and streaming media productions that have easily come to Iloilo to shoot their movies and teleseryes here. Not only because of the tourism, but also because the manpower is already skilled, educated by Iloilo’s Filmmaking community.

But there is still much to be done. We are now thankful that our city government is acknowledging Ilonggo Cinema. This one small step is a giant leap that we hope will lead in furthering the development of Ilonggo Cinema.

In this, our first year of ICFest, we have chosen three filmmakers who will be awarded Short Film Grants for projects that will be spotlighted in next year’s ICFest.

We may have a humble start (today), but our ambitions for the Ilonggo Filmmaking Community break through borders of the horizon. Our ambitious aim is to make Filmmaking a sustainable Artform, in such a manner that, our filmmakers will no longer feel heavily obliged to fly to Manila just to have the opportunity to tell their stories. Many think that this is an impossible dream. But instead of just sitting on your buttocks and tirelessly and viciously mocking each other in petty little squabbles, be it in politics, beliefs, and even in Art… Let’s do something productive that encourages the fires of artistry to continue burning radiantly.