Ilongga filmmaker Myra Angeline Soriaso, who is a sophomore Communication and Media Studies student from the University of the Philippines Visayas has won Best Pitch and P200,000 seed grant among other prizes from Globe Prepaid’s GoWATCH Film Lab.

She was one of the eight finalists of The Greenlight Pitch Day where they had to face a panel of judges to present their plans for their respective short films. The panel was composed of the following: actor-producer Paulo Avelino; directors Mihk Vergara and Sigrid Andrea Bernardo; and Kroma Entertainment’s Office-in-Charge for ANIMA, Eileen Borromeo.

Globe Prepaid and production company ANIMA gave aspiring Filipino filmmakers a rare proposition —a shot at making their dream short films come true through a learning program that concluded in The Greenlight.

Last May, Globe Prepaid and ANIMA invited cinephiles and emerging creatives to sign up and attend the Globe Virtual Hangouts GoWATCH Film Lab master classes with directors Jade Castro, JP Habac, Antoinette Jadaone and Erik Matti. For four full days last June, the Film Lab students gained valuable knowledge on concepts such as finding stories to tell, protecting directorial vision during micro-budget shoots, mise-en-scene, and decision-making during the post-production stage.

The attendees were encouraged to submit project proposals for short films. From among over 40 submissions, eight were shortlisted. Each director-mentor chose two promising entries whose proponents they further coached for the aforementioned contest wherein big prizes were at stake.

Antoinette Jadaone chose Myra Angeline Soriaso’s A Catholic Schoolgirl and Mark John Manaligod’s Ang Regalo Ko Kay Papa

Erik Matti took on Kent Michael Cadungog’s Hosanna and Tyra Alvarade’s Si Maria’t Si Lucia.

Jade Castro picked JT Trinidad’s Sa Ilog na Hindi Nagtatapos and Lester Cristal’s #bagets rider FREE HD.

JP Habac selected John Peter Chua’s Huling Araw ng Reyna and Trishtan Perez’s I Didn’t Want to Say Hello.

Armed with their carefully crafted presentations and spiels, the eight GoWATCH Film Lab graduates faced Mihk, Sigrid, Paulo and Ms. Borromeo. The finalists were given a few minutes each to talk about their project’s merits and also answer questions from the panel.

Ms. Givielle Florida, Head of Globe Prepaid says, “Our GoWATCH series aims to empower the youth to live their best lives and pursue their passions. After GoESPORTS Game On, GoHUSTLE Boss Up, and GoJAM On Stage, the GoWATCH Film Lab is our fourth learning program under our Virtual Hangouts platform. With this, we can assure young people we will continue to make their dreams more possible.”