Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, on Tuesday, January 24, 2017, listens to Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto as he discusses Senate Resolution 257, recommending the creation of a film festival exclusively for independent films during the semestral break. Sotto, who authored the resolution, said that while independent films are considered by some as a “breath of fresh air from the usual funny, fantastical storylines,” most of the regular Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) moviegoers are still looking for the kinds of films screened in the previous MMFFs – movies that give them a good laugh. “Independent films must be given its well-deserved spotlight—separate from the mainstream films that can take or divide the attention from them—from the public in general.” (PRIB Photo by Albert Calvelo/24 January 2017)