Pacquiao wants Metro Manila Film Festival renamed

A bill seeking to rename the Metro Manila Film Festival has been filed by Senator Manny Pacquiao in the Senate earlier this week to address the issue of "exclusivity."

Senate Bill No. 2017 seeks to rebrand the annual event as the Philippine Film Festival.

"Despite MMFF’s commitments to enrich Philippine culture, to deepen our awareness of our historical heritage and traditional values, and to refurbish native arts, the event’s nomenclature depicts exclusivity," Pacquiao said in the explanatory note of the measure.

"The 'Metro Manila' in the Metro Manila Film Festival conveys exclusiveness of the illustrious tradition and celebration of local film production to the country’s capital," he added.

According to the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the MMFF is held in Metro Manila every December 25 to the first week of January in the following year.

"During the course of the festival, only films approved by the jurors of the MMFF are shown in movie theaters. No foreign movies are shown except in 3D theaters and IMAX theaters," the FDCP said on its official website.

The MMFF is being supervised by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman and key members of the film industry.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the MMFF 2020 pushed through, not in cinemas, but online. -NB, GMA News