John Lloyd Cruz is portrait photographer of Cinemalaya 2022

MANILA, July 21 ------ Acclaimed actor John Lloyd Cruz has joined this year’s Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, not as actor but behind the camera.

“He is official portrait photographer of the 11 filmmakers in competition,” festival director Chris Millado told reporters. Millado posted on his official Facebook account some teaser photos of Cruz with his face hidden while shooting the filmmakers in separate locations, some in what looked like inside the theaters under renovation inside the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) building. Millado said it was painter-photographer MM Yu, a 2009 recipient of the CCP’s annual 13 Artist Awards, who recommended Cruz. Millado has just recently retired as CCP’s vice president and artistic director.

On its 18th edition, Cinemalaya has 11 full-length films in competition and 12 short features. After two years of online screenings because of the pandemic, it now returns on site at the CCP and the malls, from August 5 to 14. In an earlier statement, CCP announced “the full-length films in competition were the finalists selected for 2020 and 2021 editions of the film festival. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, they could not finish their filming.”

Cruz's shoot of the 11 filmmakers was documented by photographer Rodel Valiente of the CCP Film Division.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com