FACINE founder Mauro Tumbocon receives Jefferson Award for Public Service
Bay Area-based KPIX Channel 5 has selected FACINE founder and artistic director, Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr., as one of this year’s recipients of the Jefferson Award for Public Service for his dedication and commitment to promote Filipino cinema in the United States.
FACINE — or the Filipino Arts & Cinema International — is a community-based media arts organization which holds the annual Filipino international cine festival and competition in San Francisco for the past 30 years.
The Jefferson Award for Public Service is given by a national organization, Multiplying Good, to an individual who is making a positive impact in the community. KPIX Channel 5, a CBS affiliate, has been its media partner since 2005. Each new year, the awards committee invites all recipients to a ceremony to be presented with the Bronze medal. Five winners will be chosen as Silver medalists to be considered for the national award by Multiplying Good: the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for Outstanding Service Benefitting Local Communities.
“This is totally unexpected, this honor belongs to many volunteers, as we are all volunteers, who form the core of FACINE to make the annual festival of Filipino films, both from the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora, possible in the U.S. in all these 30 years, as well as the numerous filmmakers, producers, distributors who are generous enough to share with us their films,” Tumbocon said in a statement.
Tumbocon, according to the FACINE website, is a cultural worker and writer/journalist, who has written extensively on Filipino cinema and popular culture for more than two decades, both here in the United States and in the Philippines. His critical essays have been published in film journals and book anthologies in Europe and Asia.
He is the founder and current director of FACINE that aims to promote and develop transnational Filipino cinemas. He is also a member of Asian Writers Institute, a California-based organization that advocates for the interests of Asian writers and journalists, a cause that includes professionalism of the Asian American ethnic press, in the U.S.
He was a member of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino Film Critics Group), 1986-1989; and founded the interdisciplinary critics groups, the Young Critics Circle, 1990; and Kritika, 1992 in Manila.
Film critic and professor of cultural studies Joel David said FACINE holds the distinction of “recognizing the overlooked accomplishments of…filmmakers Raymond Red and Elwood Perez, regional actress-producer Gloria Sevilla, historian Nick Deocampo, and the late crossover performer Bernardo Bernardo.”
The interview with the awardees will be aired over KPIX 5 News.
FACINE 30, the 30th annual Filipino international cine festival and competition for feature length films runs October 18-22 in multiple venues in San Francisco; the short films competition will be streamed on FACINE YouTube channel within the same period. For information on schedule and tickets purchase, please check: www.facine.org.
