Indie Flourishing at the Center of the Philippines

I find it nice to hear about indie festivals - film and dance, not just music - helping to fill concert halls with newly excited and involved youth, so figured I’d quickly share this. Check out the Cultural Center of the Philippines:

Never before have so many youths filled all the cavernous spaces of CCP. The recent Cinemalaya Independent Filipino Film Festival illustrated both the vibrancy and the challenges that face the 39-year old institution. Many of the venues were jam packed and sold out. The youth are hungry for the arts again. These were not mere students bussed in for school requirements clutching pre-sold tickets and trudging along obligatorily in school uniform.

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Other annual indie art events fostered by CCP duplicate this success. The Wi-Fi Body Independent Contemporary Dance Festival where the best dance choreographers perform, collaborate and discuss their art and the Virgin Labfest Theater Festival where promising playwrights premiere their works draw the same young bohemian crowd as the Cinemalaya.

from the Manila Times

Here’s a short film finalist from Cinemalaya, to whet your appetite for more: