The Roots Commune: Building a Creative Community of Entrepreneurs for Local Growth and Sustainability

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Can sustainable living be, in fact, sustained? A small band of local entrepreneurs is certainly pushing to make it so.

To promote sustainability and local creativity, the Roots Collective, in partnership with the Peace
and Equity Foundation (PEF), will hold a special retail exhibit and fair at Uptown Bonifacio mall at the end of September. Called the Roots Commune, it is to showcase a wide array of ethically-made products – from farm-to-cup herbal blends to zero-waste necessities, to handcrafted accessories, to all-natural foodstuffs.

This seven-day event will also feature founders of social enterprises, as well as key members from their partner communities, who will be talking about their journeys together in building long-lasting collaborations towards a better future for the next generation.

The Roots Commune is part of the Roots Collective’s efforts to create a space where entrepreneurs can come together and work towards local growth and sustainability. Through this fair, the participating enterprises can provide greater market access and funding opportunities for their partner communities.

It will house several well-loved local brands such as Tsaa Laya, HABI Footwear and Lifestyle, Gouache[AC1] , Woven, Hiraya Chocolates, Wholly Grain, BalaiKamay, Lakan Lubi VCO and many more. Each of these enterprises collaborates with a community of skilled workers – from farmers to rural weavers to urban artisans – to create mindful and impactful yet useful and quality products. More than the bottom line, these entrepreneurs give importance to their respective social missions and their shared goals of inclusive growth.

According to Jamir Ocampo, CEO of the Roots Collective, “We realized there’s really a need for a community hub. It’s just more than a space – we help each other figure out together how to grow big. If there’s anything that this new generation of social enterprise did at Roots, it’s growing together.”

The Roots Commune will be held at the Atrium of Uptown Bonifacio mall in Taguig from September 30 to October 6, 2019. On Wednesday, October 2, the Sibol Fund Kick-Off will be held at the space, featuring development funders PEF and Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP). The Sibol Fund is a special grant facility that will enable start-ups to develop or enhance the social impact of their business for poverty alleviation and environmental conservation.

Apart from that, there will be creativity workshops, advocacy talks, and recycling drives all throughout the week.


About the Roots Collective

What began as a co-working space-cum-boutique in Katipunan has grown into a pioneering community of entrepreneurs working for the sustainable and inclusive development of the Philippines.

Instituto Cervantes’ PELÍCULA-Spanish Film Festival Kicks Off on October 3 at Greenbelt 3

Wazzup Pilipinas!

From October 3 to 13, the 18th edition of PELÍCULA-Spanish Film Festival will feature the best of contemporary Spanish cinema at Greenbelt 3. Presented by Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Spain, Turespaña, and the FDCP, the 2019 Spanish Film Festival will screen more than 20 films under the motto “18 Years advocating quality films on the Big Screen”.

Since its conception in 2002 by Instituto Cervantes, the Spanish Film Festival has been an annual attraction at Greenbelt. Following that tradition, the first leg of the Festival will be held at Greenbelt 3 Cinemas from Oct 3 to 13, and it will conclude at the Cine Adarna-UP Film Institute from October 23 to 24. The second leg will feature a selection of the programmed films, including the winner of the Audience Choice Award.

With genres ranging from comedy, drama, historical, thriller, documentary, fantasy, and even animation for adults, there is a movie for every viewer. The Festival will open with an animation film for adults, Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas (Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles), which was preselected by the Spanish Film Academy for the next Oscars. Other movies in this year’s line-up are Els dies que vindran (Carlos Marques-Marcet, 2019), Isabel Coixet’s latest film, Elisa y Marcela (2019), the biopic Yuli (Icíar Bollaín, 2018), and the multi-awarded Isaki Lacuesta’s film Entre dos aguas (2018), which bagged the Golden Shell to the Best Film at the 2018 San Sebastian Film Festival.

Dramas will be well represented in this year’s edition, with worthy works like No sé decir adiós (Lino Escalera, 2017), Quién te cantará (Carlos Vermut, 2018), and Litus, the intimate movie for which director Dani de la Orden recently received the Best Film Award at the 2019 Malaga Film Festival. Dani de la Orden doubles in PELíCULA with the comedy, El mejor verano de mi vida (2018).

From the country that produces thrillers like the world-acclaimed series La casa de papel (Money Heist), you can expect a few gripping crime and suspense movies like the multi-awarded political thriller, El Reino (Rodrigo Sorogoyen, 2018), the thriller 70 binladens (Koldo Serra, 2018), and the pseudo-documentary Apuntes para una película de atracos (Notes for a Heist Film), directed by León Siminiani in 2018.

PELÍCULA will also show Latin American cinema, with one feature film from Colombia, El piedra (Rafael Martínez Moreno, 2018), and three Argentine-Spanish co-productions: El Ángel (Luis Ortega, 2018), Mi obra maestra (Gastón Duprat, 2018), and maestro Juan José Campanella’s latest work, the black comedy El cuento de las comadrejas (The Weasels’ Tale).

A Tribute to Filipino Cinema

The Filipino word “pelikula”, derived from the Spanish word “película”, echoes the cultural ties shared by the Philippines and Spain. In line with this, since its first editions the Festival has aimed to offer joint Filipino-Spanish programs. This year, declared the Centennial Year of the Filipino Cinema by a Presidential Proclamation, PELíCULA did not want to let the opportunity pass to pay tribute to the rich history of Philippine film industry. On October 12, at 2pm, film historian Nick Deocampo will deliver a talk on the origins of cinema in the Philippines. The same day, at 4:30pm, PELÍCULA, in collaboration with TBA Studios, will screen Habambuhay (2019), presented by its director Clodualdo del Mundo. Habambuhay is a documentary that commemorates the lives and efforts of the people behind and in front of the camera who shaped the Philippine Movie Industry. It features archival footage, clips and photos, as well as exclusive interviews with screen legends like Anita Linda, Eddie Mesa, Rosemarie Gil, and Eddie Garcia, in the actor’s last in-depth interview before his passing.


Audience Choice Award

Last but not least, film buffs should not miss the yearly “Audience Choice” Award. The audience will be given stubs where they can rate the movies they have seen. For every five movies, members of the audience qualify to join the raffle where they get a chance to win free dinners in five of the best Spanish restaurants in town –namely La Pícara, Barcino, Bar Pintxos, Tapella, and Pablo Bistro. The winning movie will be re-shown on October 13, 7pm, at Greenbelt 3, and on October 24 at Cine Adarna (UP Diliman).

Presented by Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Spain–AECID, TurEspaña, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, PELÍCULA is made possible by Ayala Cinemas, Rustan’s and The PTC Group of Companies, in collaboration with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in The Philippines-La Cámara, UP Film Institute Intramuros Administration, Nettflix, TBA Studios, Restaurante La Pícara, Barcino, Bar Pintxos, Tapella and Pablo Bistro.

For the schedule, film details and further information on the Festival, please visit https://manila.cervantes.es or the Facebook page of Instituto Cervantes: www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila

MaSci Holds Film Seminar-Workshop

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Manila Science High School conducted a seminar-workshop on filmmaking for junior high school students at Barotilla Hall last September 18. This was held in preparation for Cinemascian 2019.

Cinemascian is an an annual film competition which aims to showcase students’ skills and creativity in the art of filmmaking, to allow them to express their views and insights on social issues surrounding them as youth through film, and to use film as a tool for social awareness and effecting change.

This year, the silver jubilarians, MSHS Batch 1994, offered their support by holding free sessions on filmmaking and video production for all Grade 10 Humanities classes under Mr. Richard Bautista.

Photographer and videographer Gelbert Aplal, advertising and content producer Dexter Manalo and advocacy filmmaker and film educator Seymour B. Sanchez, all from Batch 1994, conducted the talks.

Aplal gave practical tips on using the camera and other video production equipment. Manalo explained how the production process is carried out from ideation to final video output while Sanchez discussed ways on making the story more visual, writing the script and planning the shoot.

Students from 10-Einstein and 10-Newton attended the first session. The second session had 10-Faraday and 10-Roentgen while the last session had 10-Copernicus, 10-Lawrence and 10-Moseley.

Each section is required to submit a short film as their entry to Cinemascian this year. All entries will be judged based on storytelling and message, 40 percent; technical quality, 40 percent (10 percent each for cinematography, production design, editing and audio/music/sound effects); and acting, 20 percent.

With the approval of Principal Maria Eva Nacion and in cooperation with the Science Department led by Mark Gil Tabor, MSHS Batch 1994 is also organizing the “Agham: Kaakibat sa Kaunlaran ng Lipunan at Ekonomiya” (AKKLE) program. Patterned after the alternative classroom learning experience or ACLE, it will be held at Alzona Hall and in eight classrooms at the Science and Maceda Buildings on October 11, Friday, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon.

The talks are part of the silver jubilarian’s series of activities, which was launched at Alzona Hall last July 12 with the Google talks on innovation led by Rikki Macolor and Amante Alvaran. The event, which will be held in line with the MSHS Foundation Week, is envisioned to establish a channel to introduce alumni and their respective fields of expertise to the current students as speakers.