Rajan Karuppan, the internationally hired artistic director of Manila Film Week, resigned in a short, public letter at 23:12 on Sunday, 20 September, alleging “commercial interference” in the awards process and saying he could not preside over an event “compromised by headline deals.” The letter arrived less than 12 hours before the gala screening that was due to name the week’s big winner and nominate entries for regional distribution deals.
The resignation immediately rattled major studios, independent cinemas and LuzonPlay, the platform hosting the event’s official streams, which reported a sudden surge of viewers seeking the cancelled gala and the films in contention. Within eight hours an emergency board meeting was called and organisers announced an unprecedented public ballot and an open crowdfunding drive to finance extra screenings and independent distribution.
How the resignation unfolded
Karuppan’s note — uploaded to the event website and shared on social media by multiple staffers — accused unnamed corporate partners of insisting that the gala prioritise one big‑budget submission, a Filipino‑language reimagining titled Midnight Lotus, over smaller local works. “I will not be the face that legitimises a bought outcome,” he wrote. Organisers denied the allegation, saying in a statement that “programming decisions were collective and transparent.”
I quit because the event has been bought. I will not hand ordinary filmmakers a staged outcome.
Petras Z. Skirgaila, festival programmer
The resignation triggered a chaotic 48 hours. Seats at the Cultural Center of the Philippines sold out twice for emergency screenings within hours, independent cinemas reported unprecedented walk‑ins, and LuzonPlay registered 6.3 million plays for the low‑budget rural drama Midnight Orchard (one of the week’s underdog entries) in the space of a day. “We saw demand numbers normally reserved for international blockbusters,” said Jesse Mangal‑Veenstra, senior operations manager at LuzonPlay. “Our servers were pushed to the limit.”
Money, votes and market fallout
Sponsors including a national bank and two telecoms firms paused their scheduled ads and asked for clarity on how winners would be selected. At the same time an online campaign under the hashtag #SaveFilmWeek raised ₱85 million (about €1.3m) in 48 hours to fund extra prints, pay uncredited crew and underwrite a national theatrical roll‑out for shortlisted independents. “This is the first time I’ve seen public funding move this fast for film distribution,” said Ricardo Cronin, a cultural economist who advised the crowdfunding committee.
The Film Development Council of the Philippines said it would convene an independent review of the week’s governance but stopped short of calling for a full rebid of the artistic director role. “We want transparency and we want the public to trust that Filipino stories can compete on merit,” the agency said in a brief statement late on Monday. Critics applauded the schism as a rare grassroots pushback against corporate clout in the local screen industry.
What's next for the gala and the films
Organisers said the gala will go ahead on Tuesday evening with an expanded voting format that combines the jury, a newly formed public council and the nationwide online ballot. Midnight Lotus remains nominated but faces an unaccustomed public reckoning against Midnight Orchard and three other indie titles that now have wider theatrical and streaming windows. “This has turned into an unexpected test of whether audiences can rewrite an awards calendar overnight,” said Miriama Hrdá, a Manila‑based film critic.
For now the immediate winners are independent cinemas, crews and a handful of filmmakers who say they are finally getting distribution offers they feared would never arrive. The board must still decide whether to accept Karuppan’s resignation and who will take the reins; his supporters are calling for an internal audit and new safeguards to prevent a repeat of Sunday’s chaos.
