Watch a Film, Save a Life with Lockdown Cinema Club and GIFF

Here's that binge-watch opportunity you were looking for

 

 

There have been a number of Twitter posts predicting how we’re going to tell future generations about the coronavirus and the crisis it brought along with it. While often swathed in a layer of good-natured comedy, it’s admittedly a little terrifying. Fear has been especially tangible. It lives in the news reports we see every day. It’s painted across our front doors and the military checkpoints outside. It thrives in the minds of those who can only wonder what tomorrow tastes like.

 

As elusive as hope might be in the thick of things, we’ve seen little windows of it in the efforts of volunteers who’ve come forward to protect those in their communities. One such window: Lockdown Cinema Club, an initiative by independent filmmakers to support their fellow film workers—electricians, camera grips, caretakers, clappers, utility personnel, carpenters, crowd control and the film industry's other unsung heroes—tide the worst of the pandemic over. 

 

Joining forces with filmmakers from across Southeast Asia, the minds behind Lockdown Cinema Club serve up a library of short films from Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines. In exchange, they have a simple request: a donation of any amount.

 

Here’s how it works.

 

Skim through their catalog of films (which features work from the likes of Lav Diaz, Jerold Tarog, Samantha Lee, Quark Henares and JP Habac, among others). Craft your binge-list. Enjoy watching your picks, then wire your donation via Ticket2Me, GCash, BDO or BPI. Lockdown Cinema Club then pools donations and distributes them via GCash for the film workers to collect.

 

Expanding Lockdown Cinema Club's reach and roster is the GIFF Festival of New Cinema. As a platform that puts promising filmmakers, videographers and storytellers on the map, GIFF stepping in to help support the most vulnerable in the film industry is just one of those things that makes perfect sense. Kicking off the relaunch is an online film gallery. Click through to view short films by the filmmakers who joined the GIFF competition in late 2019—and make a donation via GCash while you're at it!

 

Give your Netflix subscription a breather. Discover more about Lockdown Cinema Club here.

 

 

Banner Image Lockdown Cinema Club

Art Alex Lara