November 15, 2025 | 9:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The CinePanalo Film Festival has become student filmmakers’ portal to Philippine entertainment.
Aiming to uplift the industry’s brightest young talents, CinePanalo has carved a path for young aspirng creatives to ply their craft.
The festival’s annual student shorts category offers significant production grants as well as opportunities to produce noteworthy work at a professional level.
CinePanalo also goes the extra mile by providing the right breaks to these young contenders over and beyond the confines of the festival.
It’s produced the likes of Dizelle Masilungan and Lloyd Garciano who took over the “For You Pages” on TikTok with digital series, “Got My Eyes on You.”
Festival chair and Puregold senior marking manager Ivy Hayagan-Piedad praised the two young filmmakers for participating and excelling in the first edition of the festival’s student shorts category.
Masilungan took home the Best Director award for his film “Kung Nag-aatubili” while Garciano did the cinematography for “Smokey Journey,” which received recognition for its ensemble cast and original score.
Both are lending their respective crafts to “Got My Eyes on You” which has proven to be an excellent addition to the boys love genre or BL.
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Starring Esteban Mara and Mikoy Morales, the series follows two employees at a luxury resort striving for the general manager’s post, only to find themselves falling in love.
“Got My Eyes on You” tackles serious issues on office romance in the precarious search for work-life balance.
More CinePanalo alumni make up the show’s editing team: Jenievive B. Adame worked with Garciano on “Smokey Journey” while Anton Acosta was the director of photography on Masilungan’s “Kung Nag-aatubili.”
For both Masilungan and Garciano, the opportunity to bring “Got My Eyes on You” to life is a direct result of their success at the festival.
Masilungan thanked the festival for its steadfast belief in emerging Filipino storytellers like him and Garciano as well as giving them a platform to share their voices.
“This opportunity is not only an incredible experience but also a huge stepping stone toward achieving my dream of telling stories that matter,” Masilungan added.
Garciano echoed the sentiments,”This is me speaking on behalf of all the young cinematographers and filmmakers you’ve helped. The opportunities provided here, from showcasing our early work to connecting with known names in our industry, have been invaluable in turning our passion into a profession.”
CinePanalo recently announced their final line up of films in the next edition’s full-length category, meanwhile applications for the student shorts category are still open.
All films in the festival will screen next year at the Gateway Cineplex 18, as well as select Ayala Cinemas.
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