Ricky Lee did not submit scripts for this year’s edition of the Metro Manila Film Festival.
Lee clarified a report by Pep.ph that quoted MMFF Executive Committee member and spokesperson Noel Ferrer as saying that one of the reasons the award-winning screenwriter resigned from the Execom was because he had submitted scripts to the festival that did not make it to the first batch of four official entries. Ferrer later denied saying this.
“That’s not true. Originally Cineko Productions wanted to submit a script I co-wrote with two of my workshoppers but in the end they did not push through with the plan. I was able to convince them not to submit it,” Lee told InterAksyon in an interview.
Lee, the movie industry’s most accomplished scriptwriter, added that he had considered resigning even before scripts were submitted to the festival.
“[W]ay, way before that, immediately after our first meeting at the Execom, I was already planning to resign because i was worried even then about certain concerns regarding the vision and directions the MMFF was pursuing,” he pointed out.
“I was just prevailed upon to stay and I mistakenly thought that maybe I could still help make things work. But I realized that it wasn’t going to happen. So I resigned.”
Lee was among three Execom members whose resignations were made public on Saturday, after the first four official entries were announced. Academician Rolando Tolentino and broadcast journalist Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala were the other two.
Lee, however, stressed that his resignation had nothing to do with the final choices of the scripts.
“I have only respect for the people connected with those scripts. It has more to do with a fusion of visions in the MMFF which I thought wasn’t going to work, and where my participation anyway wouldn’t be needed anymore,” he concluded.
