Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival

The Cinemalaya, officially the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, is a film festival in the Philippines held annually during the month of August, traditionally at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, but in recent years the Festival screenings also extend to various cinemas. Its aim is the development and promotion of Filipino independent films. The film festival is organized by the Cinemalaya Foundation, Inc. with the support of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Econolink Investments, Inc.

Each year, the festival provides "seed investments" to the independent filmmakers who become the finalists of the festival's full-length category. In the beginning, the seed grant amounted to ₱500,000 (US$10,000~) per film. In 2019, it was increased to ₱1,000,000 (US$20,000~). In 2023, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) matched this amount, bringing the total to ₱2,000,000 (US$40,000~). The finalists of the short film category received a total of ₱100,000 (US$1,785~) each for their finished films. These finalists are chosen from hundreds of submissions from all over the Philippines. Their films debut at the festival along with various out-of-competition works.

The organizing committee, headed by veteran Filipino director and actress Laurice Guillen, oversees the production of the films and the festival.

In 2023, the festival was held from August 4 to August 13, at the Philippine International Convention Center and in select mall cinemas.

The Festival
The Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival is a film competition and festival that supports Fillipino filmmakers. Each year, ten new filmmakers are given a seed grant in order to create their film. These films, along with ten short films under the Short Feature Category, are then featured in the film festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) every August and compete for the Balanghai Award. An array of exhibition films are also shown at the CCP.

In addition to the screenings, the festival includes a variety of other film-related events such as book launches, talkbacks with filmmakers, and "Cinemalaya Conversations", where students and aspiring filmmakers talk to special guests about filmmaking and production. Also an integral part of the festival is the Cinemalaya Campus, a conference that looks at all aspects of independent filmmaking and distribution.

In 2010, the festival separated the full-length entries to two separate competitions: The Directors' Showcase and the New Breed section. The five feature-film entries competed under the Directors' Showcase which are presented by veteran film directors of the country. The other ten feature-film entries competed under the New Breed section, and are presented by first-time or young filmmakers. The Short Film section also had ten competing entries.

During the 2015 awards ceremony, The Cinemalaya Foundation announced that for its 12th edition there would two competitions: the main competition (Full Length Feature) and the short film features.