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Calls are open for applications to this year’s Yamagata Film Criticism Workshop, which will take place during Cinema Rehiyon 2020 in Naga, Philippines. This project will provide training in writing about cinema, while offering immersion in the lively atmosphere of a unique and important film festival.

Cinema Rehiyon gathers over a hundred filmmakers from all over the country, screening a dozen full-length films and about a hundred short films that show the richness and diversity of the culture and people of the Philippines. Films are selected from the programs of approximately 20 small regional film festivals from around the country. The flagship project of the Committee on Cinema under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the festival has been held annually eleven times so far, each year in a different city.

The Film Criticism Workshop is organized in collaboration between Cinema Rehiyon and the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF). In previous years, the Yamagata Film Criticism Workshop has taken place in Yamagata, Japan; General Santos, Philippines; and Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Workshop participants will attend screenings of films in the Cinema Rehiyon program and will write short texts about the films under the guidance of two mentors who are experienced and well-known film critics. Participants will also take part in focused discussions about cinema and film criticism.

Four applicants from the Philippines, two applicants from other ASEAN countries, and two applicants from Japan will be chosen to receive funding to participate in the workshop. This funding will cover round-trip transportation and accommodation in Naga, Philippines, for the period of the workshop (February 25 to 28, 2020).

Yamagata Film Criticism Workshop at Cinema Rehiyon

[Dates]

February 25–28, 2020

[Place]

Cinema Rehiyon (Naga, Philippines)

[To apply for the workshop, you]

• Must be able to attend Cinema Rehiyon from February 25 to 28, 2020.
• Must be able to write and engage in discussions in English.
• Must commit to writing four texts to be published by Cinema Rehiyon and YIDFF: three (approximately 400 words each) during the workshop and one (approximately 1,000 words) after the workshop.

[To Apply]

Send an email including the information and materials requested below to <fcworkshop2019@gmail.com> no later than Tuesday, January 21, 2020:

• Name
• Age
• Address
• Phone number
• E-mail address
• Self-introduction (education and employment history, with emphasis on your writing experience and your involvement with cinema)
• Sample of previous writing on cinema
• Essay on the theme “The Importance of Film Criticism” (approximately 500 words)

[Result Notification]

Applicants will be notified of the result of their application by late January 2020.

[About the mentors]

• Chris Fujiwara is an American film critic and programmer, based in Japan. He has written and edited several books on cinema, has contributed to many anthologies and journals, and has lectured widely on films and film programming. Formerly Artistic Director of Edinburgh International Film Festival, he has also developed film programs for many other institutions. He is a founder of the Film Criticism Collective, in collaboration with the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, and has organized or served as a mentor for film criticism and film programming workshops at the Berlinale, Melbourne International Film Festival, the International Film Festival of Kerala, Salamindanaw Asian Film Festival, the Japan Foundation Asia Center, and elsewhere.
• Tito Genova Valiente is a Public Anthropologist, Film Critic, Film Educator. He is a member of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Critics of the Filipino Movies), the oldest critics’ group in the country. He is an outgoing member of the Executive Committee on Cinema, National Commission for Culture and the Arts Member. He is a columnist for Business Mirror, a national broadsheet. He did his post-graduate studies under the Ministry of Education Japan scholarship in Rikkyo University. He was a Research Fellow under the Japan Foundation Grant. He has co-edited with Dr. Hiroko Nagai two books: War Memories, Monuments and Media: Representations of Conflicts and Creation of Histories of World War II and Transnationalizing Culture of Japan in Asia: Dramas, Musics, Arts and Agencies. He has taught in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Japanese Studies Program in Ateneo de Manila University. With the latter, he has developed a course on Japanese Cinema and Culture for Filipino students. He has written fiction and criticisms and has served as juror in various film festivals in the country and conducted film criticism and film education workshop under the auspices of the Film Development Council of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts nationwide. In 2016, he was honored for Achievement in English Essay from the Union of Writers in the Philippines.

[Inquiries]

e-mail: fcworkshop2019@gmail.com