SAN DIEGO FILIPINO CINEMA PROGRAMS

Launched in October 2021 at the Mingei International Museum and the AMC Theaters in San Diego county, San Diego Filipino Film Festival is SDFC’s centerpiece event that aims to highlight and celebrate Filipino films and filmmakers from around the world. On SDFFF’s second year in October of 2022, we showcased close to 70 films with 50+ filmmakers in attendance coming from different parts of the world, making us the home to the largest curation of Filipino films in the U.S. today. Join us again this year, and let us celebrate our unique and compelling stories on the big screen with the warmth of our community.

SDFC’s Visions & Voices Discussion Series was created to give voice to young and seasoned Filipino creatives for us to learn about their hopes and dreams, their process as artists, their struggles and fulfillment in their craft. In this program, we not only highlight Filipino filmmakers and storytellers, but also creatives in different fields such as musicians, graphic artists, DJs, etc.

“It’s such a surreal feeling to be part of a panel with all these amazing filmmakers…I had a wonderful time sharing my experiences as a Filipina woman filmmaker and my hopes for the future of filmmaking and storytelling. It was also wonderful to hear the perspectives of my fellow panelists in their experiences and just how universal our goals and challenges were. I believe events like these are so important to the community because we want to inspire others to also know that they have a voice that should be shared. Representation, especially in this time and age, is immensely important and we need more people who look like us to candidly share our stories through film and discussion. Thank you San Diego Filipino Cinema for giving filmmakers like myself a platform to have candid discussions with our community.” — Leah Lombos, San Diego filmmaker and Visions & Voices panelist

The “magic hour” in film language refers to the time just before sunset when you catch and film that magical golden light before it vanishes into dark. SDFC’s Magic Hour is a summer event where we showcase local and international Filipino musicians, filmmakers, and other creatives for the diverse communities of San Diego to commune and enjoy.

In 2019, we launched our very first Magic Hour entitled Magic Hour Fest: Film, Music, and Food Festival – Presented by TFC – The Filipino Channel, where we highlighted the Filipino culture through local Filipino food, drink and merch vendors, and short films. And to make the night even more magical, Fil-Am local R&B singer Roann Mesina and renowned San Francisco Bay Area rap artist Ruby Ibarra both gave us amazing performances that were the talk of the town for months on end.

From 2021 through 2023, Magic Hour turned into the San Diego Filipino Film Festival preview night event that aims to raise funds for the upcoming film festival. It was renamed as Magic Hour: SDFFF Preview Night Gala.

Watch out for what’s in store for everyone at the re-imagined Magic Hour in 2024! Stay tuned!

Perspective Film Series is a film screening program of hard to come by Filipino films with an accompanying Q&A with the filmmaker. We showcase compelling films in varying genres that talk about social justice issues, current and historical events, and cultural and arts preservation, all of which highlight the complexity of humanity. Perspective Film Screenings is a year-round screening of important Filipino film gems to inspire good leadership, critical thinking, creativity, and understanding of different cultures and backgrounds through cinema.

Filmmersion Filmmaking Workshop is our offering of classes about various filmmaking and storytelling techniques — from the basics of film production (learning the ropes from pre-production, principal photography to post production) to more in-depth techniques from cinematography to sound design, from script writing to film editing — we’ve got you covered.

PelikuLab [Pelikula = movie/film] aims to provide insightful discussions about the incubation of story ideas and the process of filmmaking with emerging and seasoned filmmakers. PelikuLab aims to develop the critical and creative thinking of lab participants in developing their story ideas, design, technique and process that include social commentaries and symbolisms in films so they may develop a broad understanding of humanity, environment and the art of film. The lab guides the students in producing their own short films which includes learning to pitch their film concepts for funding and creative collaboration with other filmmakers.

Cine Social is our year-round networking event where we gather local filmmakers, photographers, vloggers, entrepreneurs, and cinema lovers for a night of mingling and potential creative collaborations. Through this mixer, we’ve been able to connect creatives who are now currently working on film projects together and other creative endeavors born out of their Cine Social mixing. Join us next time and meet new collaborators and friends!

Kapihan (cap-ee-hann / root word: kape = coffee): coffee-table discussion among friends, family, or colleagues about everything under the sun. Kapihan’s literal meaning is coffee house.

Kapihan: Film Talk over Coffee was born during the pandemic lockdown where SDFC found ways to pivot its in-person programs to virtual programs. Kapihan was a casual film talk program where attendees chatted over coffee with our film creative guest to get to know the inner workings of their craft. The program was a healing place for many filmmaker attendees that yearned to reach out to other film creatives during the pandemic lockdown in 2020.