For the first time, we won’t be lining up in the halls of the Cultural Center of the Philippines to get our first dibs on our target Cinemalaya film. The pandemic has rattled yearly gatherings, and returning to the usual cycle is a shot in the dark.

But our storytellers try to remain unbothered. After the launch of different virtual film alternatives like Lockdown Cinema Club and The Distance Between Us Film Festival, Cinemalaya Film Festival’s short film festival is going online, too.

On an Instagram post today, Cinemalaya announced that their online short film fest and contest will be happening on Aug. 14 to 23, 2020. “Because we believe that no pandemic can break the Filipino spirit, creativity and its film community, Cinemalaya continues to sail on its 16th year,” they said. No further details have been put out just yet, but we’re keeping our tabs open for a fresh lineup of voices taking over our screen time. Could we have Animal Crossing Cinemalaya merch, too?

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Because we believe that no pandemic can break the Filipino spirit, creativity, and its film community, Cinemalaya continues to sail online on its 16th year. Watch out as we continue to bring you new stories at your fingertips in our ?????? ????? ???? ???????? ??? ??????????? ?? ?????? ??-??, ????.??? ?

A post shared by Cinemalaya Official (@cinemalayaofficial) on May 18, 2020 at 7:02pm PDT

Read more:
You can now stream Petersen Vargas’ Cinemalaya short film
Cinemalaya 2019’s ‘Edward’ reveals the sorry state of public healthcare

Still from “Heist School” (2019)