The organizers of the first-ever Summer Metro Manila Manila Film Festival (MMFF) announced yesterday that the event will be postponed due to the city’s monthlong lockdown — or “community quarantine,” to borrow the government’s much more pleasant-sounding term of art.
In a Facebook post today, the MMFF said, “Following the President’s pronouncements regarding community quarantine in Metro Manila, the Summer Metro Manila Film Festival is postponed.”
The festival was supposed to run from April 11 to 21, and screen movies like the horror film The Missing, the rom-com Love the Way You Lie, and the action thriller A Hard Day. The organizers did not mention the new dates for the film fest.
Read: ‘Waitress’ is a heart-warming show that even people who hate musicals will enjoy
The event is actually a spin-off of the original film fest, which runs from Christmas Day until January. The summer version was organized to encourage local producers to create more Filipino films.
Separately, all scheduled shows of the musicals The Band’s Visit and Oliver! have been canceled by their producer, Atlantis Theatrical Group.
In a statement sent to Coconuts Manila yesterday, Atlantis said, “We simply cannot work as closely with each other as we need to or, more importantly, ask audiences to gather to watch us.”
“We are compelled by this continuing public health emergency to cancel all performances of The Band’s Visit this March and Oliver! in June. Our ticketing partner, TicketWorld, will work out the details of ticket refunds,” Atlantis added.
