bakunawafilmfest

BAKUNAWA FEST [Fantastic Film, Art + Music] - (formerly Bakunawa Young Cinema) - is the first fantastic & genre-based film, art & music festival based in The Philippines currently presented by Negros Museum and E Unlimited; and ran by volunteer filmmakers and artists. Bakunawa is a dragon-like creature in Philippine mythology that devoured moons. Because we are a genre-bending film fest, we want to flip the Bakunawa's role and we want it to instead symbolize the creative monsters inside us.

Bakunawa Fest runs annually in one season - spread in fourth months - which became a hybrid festival resulting from the pandemic lockdowns. Bakunawa Fest starts with a film camp which includes a series of film workshops for first time young filmmakers that culminates into a competition - their final works are mostly genre films (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, folk, noir, folk, etc). Bakunawa Fest is an online and in-person festival (with competitive and curated sections), screening local and international films all making their Philippine Premiere. Bakunawa Fest ends its season run with Primetime Philippine Cable TV airing and Awards Show.

The basic idea of Bakunawa is new visions, new voices. We program young promising filmmakers, artists & musicians who either have no access to expensive workshops and may not have the name/recognition to be programmed in festivals. Since our third edition, we have included a section that screens curated local and international selected films mainly for educational purposes. Most of our Bakunawa Fest's film camps are done as outreach programs/workshops (they're mostly free and our participants are scholars paid for by the festival) and are hosted by different cities in the Philippines.

During the pandemic years and lockdowns from 2020-2022, we have temporarily migrated to mostly online screenings but, in 2023, we will conduct more live screenings following health protocols. For our tenth edition, we will do a semi-hybrid festival wherein we screen more films in live venues and do a limited program online. 

We also continue our partnership with SolarFlix TV wherein we show curated film programs on Philippine Primtime TV, screening to Filipino audiences all over the Philippines reaching to millions of viewers.

Visit our website at https://www.bakunawafestival.com/