First four MMFF films for 2025 announced

THE Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) has announced the first four films in its lineup for this year.

At the grand launch on July 8 at Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City, the film’s titles and respective creative teams were unveiled. They are:

• Jun Robles Lana’s Call Me Mother, starring Vice Ganda and Nadine Lustre;

• Rae Red’s Manila’s Finest, starring Piolo Pascual;

• Jade Castro’s Rekonek, starring Carmina Villaroel, Gloria Diaz, Alexa Miro, Gerald Anderson, and Zoren Legaspi; and

• Shugo Praico, Joey De Guzman, and Ian Loreños’ Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Evil Origins, starring an ensemble cast made up of Ivana Alawi, Fyang Smith, Loisa Andallo, Ashley Ortega, Ysabel Ortega, Elijah Alejo, Carla Abellana, Marilyn Reynes, Janice de Belen, Francine Diaz, Kaila Estrada, Richard Gutierrez, Ryan Bang, Seth Fedelin, JM Ibarra, and Dustin Yu.

This year sees the film festival’s 51^st edition, which has the theme “A New Era for Philippine Cinema.” While the movies will be screened in physical theaters nationwide, it will mark the first time that the host city for the MMFF is Makati.

The final four films that will complete this year’s lineup will be announced on Sept. 30, which means there will only be eight entries this year and not the usual 10. The Parade of Stars will be on Dec. 19, also to be held in Makati.

The MMFF opens on Dec. 25 and will run for two weeks. No foreign films are screened in theaters for the duration of the film festival. — Brontë H. Lacsamana