by: Steffi Dawn Ilagan
Seventy five participants completed a film-making workshop conducted by the MSU-IIT Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM). The workshop which provided basic knowledge about Mindanao and the concept of peace, using these as subjects for film, prefaced the celebration of the Mindanao Week of Peace from November 29 – December 6 tagging the theme “Challenging the Challenges”.
High school and college students came from the Suarez National High School, Iligan City East High School (Sta. Felomina and Hinaplanon campuses), MSU College of Medicine, and the MSU-IIT’s College of Arts and Social Sciences and School of Computer Studies.
Setting the groundwork were Civil Peace Service Adviser Esther Scharf and History Prof. Juvanni A. Caballero who facilitated the first-day sessions on conflict-sensitivity, Mindanao history, and the MILF- GPH Peace Process.
The components of filmmaking, specifically scriptwriting, directing, and editing, occupied the 2 nd day sessions capped by a lecture on creativity and the use of the imagination in writing a script and/or story by poet Prof. German V. Gervacio. Gervacio encouraged the participants to tell their stories, real stories of Mindanao that are stories of peace (“Ang kwento natin ay kwento ng kapayapaan”).
Short film director Yvette Marie Sabellona discussed Directing and the role of the Director, sharing her experience as a short film maker and sampling her lecture with her latest film, Dedangerz.
Jeremy Ancog, a freelance graphic artist and video editor, discussed basic editing showing students the importance of editing and the taking of film shots and pictures.
The two-day workshop held last November 9-10, 2012 at the Kalinaw Hall, IPDM, MSU-IIT was conducted for the 2012 Peace Film Festival.
Topics : ipdm