Seymour B. Sanchez appointment as Bacolod Film Festival director upheld at the 96th Regular Session of Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod City.
An award-winning filmmaker and longtime professorial lecturer at Far Eastern University (FEU) Manila has been recently appointed by the Bacolod City Government as director of its film festival this September in select cinemas in the city.
The Bacolod Film Festival Council (BFFC), chaired by Mayor Alfredo Benitez with Councilor Em Ang as co-chairperson, has designated Seymour Sanchez as filmfest director, through Section 7 of City Ordinance 1061-2024.
Sanchez was recommended by legal consultant and film producer Atty. Josabeth Alonso to the BFFC as “the best person to oversee and manage the festival.”
The Bacolod Film Festival Ordinance, C.O. 1061-2024, authored by Ang, chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP)Committee on History, Culture and Arts, with councilors Cindy Rojas and Celia Flor as co-authors.
Sanchez currently teaches Directing and Film Production, Screenwriting, and Production Management and Film Marketing at FEU Manila under its BA Communication’s Digital Cinema track. Since 2011, he has facilitated classes in Broadcasting Principles and Practices, Digital Publishing, Documentary Production, Introduction to Film, Investigative Journalism, Introduction to Communication Media, Journalism Principles and Practices, Special Topics, Theories in Cinema, and Visual Communication, to name a few.
The Bacolod Film Festival Ordinance also provides for 10 filmmakers, whether producers, directors, or writers, who are bona fide residents of Bacolod City, to be given production grants worth P300,000 each. Ang clarified the filmmakers do not need to shoot their entire film in the city.
Sanchez signed the memorandum of agreement with the BFFC at Ang’s office last May 3. The SP, with Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran as presiding officer, has confirmed the appointment of Sanchez during its 96th Regular Session on the same day.
Sanchez’s short film “Caretaker” won second prize in the short fiction category of the 6th CAM International Festival for Short Films in Cairo, Egypt, the Golden Philippine Eagle award, and Best Actor for Rolando Inocencio in the 3rd Singkuwento International Film Festival, and the Audience Choice Award in the Active Vista International Human Rights Film Festival.
His other films have received accolades domestically.
