A 'High-Caliber' 50th MMFF Lineup,

For its Golden Edition, the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) presents one of the "best collections of films," but not a few have noticed the absence of the quintessential family or child-friendly entry.

- By Nathalie M. Tomada

MMFF chairman, lawyer Romando Artes, acknowledged this observation while pointing out the overall variety of the film-fest's offerings this year.

"Siempre, iba't ibang genres naman," Artes explained. "May mga dark like I understand 'Topakk' and 'Uninvited,' then the usual, yung dalawang horror - 'pag horror dark talaga yan," he told The STAR in a recent interview.

"But I think we have a good balance of movies. It's just that siguro ang missing talaga ngayon ay yung talagang pambata. The problem kasi, wala kaming na-receive na entry na medyo fantasy or yung masasabi mong pambata. Wala talaga. Na-surprise kami, yes."

Artes, however, doesn't see this affecting the box-office results of this year's MMFF, stressing that there are still films in the lineup that families can enjoy together.

"Hindi naman siguro. Meron namang movies na pam-pamilya na pwedeng panoorin ng mga bata kasi marami naman PG-rated na pwede rin sa bata. Or more likely young adults. Pero pwede pa rin naman sa pambata," he said.

As per Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), only Regal Entertainment's "My Future You" earned a G rating, making it suitable for all audiences. Directed by Crisanto Aquino, the romantic-comedy is about two young adults - played by Seth Fedelin and Francine Diaz - who meet via a dating app despite living in different timelines with a 15-year gap.