Since its inception in 2005, Cinemalaya has grown in size and impact to become synonymous with the independent filmmaking movement in the Philippines. With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, its effect on the arts led many to question whether Cinemalaya could maintain its status as an entertainment industry trailblazer. Yet through skillful navigation of the latest technology, the team behind Cinemalaya proved unwavering in their resolve, harnessing the digital platform so the show could go on as it must.

Cinemalaya and the 2020 challenge

With a vision of bringing to light the works of Filipino filmmakers who boldly articulate and freely interpret the Philippine experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival was born in 2005 under the care of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). More than just a competition, the festival offers a seed grant every year to ten fresh Filipino talents to create their films. These ten full-length films along with ten short films under the Short Feature Category compete for the festival’s top awards. Aside from the competing films, a well-curated list of old, new and restored films are also shown in exhibition in addition to the multitude of film-related activities such as talkback sessions with filmmakers, seminars and mini conferences. All these make up the exciting lineup of Cinemalaya activities traditionally held in CCP every August.

However, the arrival of Covid-19 in 2020 and a strict Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) enforced in March through May, brought about a halt in film and video production. And despite the lifting of the ECQ in May, there remained restrictions for film production as well as a strict limit on the number of people who may be present on the set. Thus, the daunting challenges involved with mounting a full-length film production endured, and the question arose whether Cinemalaya could continue to invigorate audiences in a whirlwind year.

Quick turnaround to shift viewing to digital

To ensure that the 2020 festival would not be canceled completely, it was imperative for the Cinemalaya team to think quickly and strategically. Luckily, they had a reference to work from: the Virgin Labfest had previously gone digital via Vimeo to great success, indicating that following suit with an online Cinemalaya could create similar magic, even amidst the fragmented internet viewing and Video on Demand industry. With a source of inspiration – and the proposed launch date for the festival only a few weeks away – the Cinemalaya team decided to give the go signal. The team began compiling movies both from submissions and partners alike, gradually shifting their focus to short films for the festival’s competition and diversifying sections sourced by Cinemalaya’s Programming Team.

Building on an existing strong brand legacy

The team was initially unsure on how to price their offering given the highly competitive VOD market. Comparisons to Netflix were abundant and the shorter time period of the festival seemed to put it at a disadvantage. But given the strong brand legacy of Cinemalaya, not just among cinephiles but also from a strong following among students and Filipino moviegoers of all ages that has been built across the years because of the quality content they churn out, Cinemalaya definitely had a place in the market and pockets of its fans and fulfilled a demand that can’t be filled by other festivals or movie platforms.

Tiering their offerings allowed flexibility for the film buffs considering their different budgets and viewing appetite. This strategy was successful as evidenced by the most expensive tier being availed the most by viewers, backed by their strong content offering.

Taking advantage of the Cinemalaya Library of Content

On top of building on their strong brand legacy, Cinemalaya 2020 also took advantage of the wide library of content they already had, coming from the previous 15 years of the successful staging of the festival. Cinemalaya frequently receives requests for reruns of its most famous and well-loved movies, adding these to the available content for viewing this year under the “Retrospective” section and making these accessible to Premium subscribers gave audiences a more compelling reason to pay and subscribe.

Movies like Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros and Ang Babae sa Septic Tank, which were so successful in penetrating the movie viewing Filipino audience were once again available for fans and new festival-goers to view at their own time.

Maximizing partnerships to bring content to more Filipinos

With only a short time to prepare due to unforeseen circumstances, it would have been quite a challenge for any organization to quickly build up its own infrastructure. However, Cinemalaya was able to pull it off with the right partners. Taking off from the success of Virgin Labfest, Cinemalaya and CCP took the learnings that they had gained and continued their partnership with Vimeo to bring the festival to life.

Having faced the common challenges of signing-up and payment during the Virgin Labfest, the Cinemalaya team knew the types of content and responses that they had to be ready with to ensure greater success and a higher conversion rate.

Aside from Vimeo, Cinemalaya’s openness also resulted in a partnership with Kumu and iWant TFC that brought the festival to Filipinos and fans everywhere. Cinemalaya had already started to reach the provinces in previous editions with various mall partnerships but going digital allowed them to reach even more fans from abroad and those from smaller cities outside Metro Manila. The additional partnerships also lengthened the time available for fans, both old and new, to view the festival’s content. The initial festival was available exclusively on Vimeo while the iWant TFC partnership sustained the interest and allowed Cinemalaya to gain additional exposure and revenue even post-festival.

The partnerships were not limited to only platform partners but included the network of film organizations within Asia and beyond, allowing them to screen foreign films under the section Visions of Asia curated by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC). This added further value and made the subscription packages even more enticing.

Targeting future filmmakers, Cinemalaya also leveraged its existing relationships with directors for Talkback sessions and even held a Masterclass hosted by renowned screenwriter Ricky Lee, thus further adding value to the online experience and making sure that the festival lived up to its full potential.

With all these combined, Cinemalaya is now ready for 2021 whatever the situation may be. They are currently considering a hybrid model if the situation allows for both on-ground viewing in CCP and partner movie cinemas to happen simultaneously with the digital screenings where they have had a lot of learnings, but they also recognize the possibility of having everything still on digital with the confidence that Cinemalaya will surely be able to surpass its unprecedented success in 2020.