Full Circle Lab Philippines to push through with online edition

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Full Circle Lab Philippines, a collaboration between Film Development Council of the Philippines and Matthieu Darras, current director of Full Circle Lab and former Artistic Director of the internationally renowned Torino Film Lab will take place via an online edition. Full Circle Lab Philippines will push through with its expanded program featuring four different film labs to benefit 20 projects from the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia.

Initially scheduled for April until it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s edition of Full Circle Lab Philippine will take place from September 15 to September 30 as we celebrate the official closing of the Philippine Cinema Centennial . During this period, it will hold three film labs for projects in development across the genres of fiction, series, and animation. 16 projects will be supported through these development labs, with eight projects under fiction and four projects each under series and animation. Additionally, Full Circle Lab Philippines will hold First Cut Lab which targets feature films at the editing stage. Four projects in the editing stage will participate in this year’s edition of First Cut Lab.

Full Circle Lab held its first-ever edition in the Philippines last year in collaboration with FDCP, .

The Full Circle Lab Philippines will also be featured in online masterclasses and public sessions preceding the two-week film lab through the FDCP Film Industry Conference (FIC). The Full Circle Lab joins FIC in its aim to bring together international experts and stakeholders to share and discuss the latest trends, opportunities, platforms, and cooperation that Filipino producers and filmmakers can explore for the development, production, and distribution of their projects with the intent of crossing over beyond local borders. Scheduled from September 12 to 14, FIC will feature various mentors from Full Circle Lab as they share their areas of expertise and how the international film industry is adapting to the new normal in light of the pandemic.

Discussing the new platform and participants of FCL, FDCP Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño said, “We are proud that as a continuation of the First Cut Lab last year, the Full Circle Lab this September pursues its empowerment and development of Filipino projects and filmmakers, while also expanding the participation of Southeast Asian filmmakers as well. This is in fulfilment of our commitment to our ASEAN partners to encourage collaboration in the region among our filmmakers as supported by the government’s film commissions that would lead to stories and narratives that are proudly our region’s own and can be shared among our countries’ markets and audiences.”

“We are also grateful to the mentors of the Full Circle Lab who will be reaching a broader audience as they will participate in the FDCP Film Industry Conference masterclass and sessions so that they may share to more of our filmmakers, students, and enthusiasts the current state of the global film industry and how they envision it adapting to the new normal during and post-pandemic,” she added.

Last year's mentors with FDCP Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño

Speaking to FDCP, Full Circle Lab director Matthieu Daras discussed the program’s move to an online platform saying, “Most exciting with Full Circle Lab’s move to an online platform is the opportunity to involve a very large scope of industry advisors from different parts of the world, who would not necessarily be available in the case of a physical event. For instance, we will have the privilege to have the participation of Nashen Moodley, Sydney Film Festival director, or Mike Goodridge, artistic director of Macau FF, in the First Cut Lab for films at editing stage.”

Mentors from this year's edition of Full Circle Lab will also participate in the online edition of FDCP's Film Industry Conference.

This will be Full Circle Lab’s second year in the Philippines, where it aims to support local filmmaking talent by bringing in international film industry veterans to lead film labs meant to tap into a project’s creative potential. This year’s edition features 12 mentors across the four separate film labs. 

The mentors for the fiction lab will be script consultants Ayman El Amir and Helen Beltrame-Linne as well as producers Giovanni Pompili and Meiske Taurisia. Series lab will be led by script consultant Mmbatho Kau and producer Naomi Levari. Animation lab, by writer and script consultant Aleksandra Swierk and producer Juraj Krashonorsky. And First Cut Lab by Full Circle Lab director Matthieu Daras and editors Benjamin Mirguet, Matthieu Taponier, and Maya Maffioli.