Nespresso Vertical Shorts 2018: A Celebration Of Innovation, Passion, And Excellence In Filmmaking

This year’s 14th Cinemalaya saw Nespresso taking an aggressive sponsorship role, and launching their Nespresso Vertical Shorts 2018 Competition. It’s initiative into the creative arts, this actually follows a global direction that has seen Nespresso actively participate in such festivals as Cannes, Berlin, and Tribeca. It is in fact a natural fit, as Patrick Pesengco, Managing Director of Novateur Coffee Concepts Inc, was ready to offer. “Like a great cup of coffee, these films become an all-sensory experience that allow you to reflect, think deep, and encourage others to do something different and amazing. We wanted to create an avenue where the Filipino’s talent for storytelling can be celebrated and shared with everyone.”

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A celebration of innovation, passion and excellence in filmmaking, the competition was open to three minute videos created on a mobile phone, and filmed in a vertical orientation. Some 40 entries were submitted in this Nespresso Vertical Shorts maiden voyage, and 12 finalists were chosen. For the panel of judges, Pesengco was joined by the likes of director Chris Martinez, and Unitel CEO Madonna Tarrayo. 

The videos submitted were asked to revolve around the theme of pagmamalasakit; three Grand Winners will be announced during this Sunday’s awards Night, with Top prize earning the filmmaker P50,000. There’s P30,000 and P20,000 respectively for the 2nd and 3rd placer. Further to the cash prize, the winners take home a Nespresso machine, and coffee capsule packages.

It’s hoped that in the years to come, budding filmmakers will see this as a starting point, or a golden opportunity, to showcase their creativity commercially and be duly recognised by an award giving entity. I watched this year’s batch of 12 finalists and saw one or two treatments that showed true promise. 

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It is a non-traditional medium, your mobile phone—but if Steven Soderbergh could shoot his feature film Unsane solely on an iPhone, the possibilities are obviously there.