The UP Film Institute congratulates alumnus Cha Escala her documentary Untitled Project was shortlisted as Feature Category Finalist for the Sinesaysay Documentary Lab and Showcase.

The SineSaysay Documentary Film Lab and Showcase is a project of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) that aims to empower documentary filmmaking and filmmakers in the country. With the words sine (film) and saysay (meaning), the program combines the power and beauty of filmmaking with meaningful and real stories of our people, society, and the world. For the 2018 edition, FDCP is in partnership with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) to showcase creative documentary films focusing on often unvisited events in our history that helped shape our country to what it is today.

SineSaysay has two categories: the Bagong Sibol Documentary Lab and the Feature Documentary Showcase.

Now more than ever, we need documentaries that reflect our actual stories and their many facets and perspectives. The tradition of documentaries made by brave filmmakers is a tradition of truth and acceptance of reality. This format is as moving and thoughtful as it is informative and educational and the Filipino audience could certainly benefit from a widening of perspective of this type of filmmaking. Through the Feature Documentary Showcase, FDCP and NHCP hope to bring documentary filmmaking closer to the Filipino people by tapping our top local documentary filmmakers and broadening their application of not just craft, but of the stories that they tell.

Once again congratulations, Cha.