The film Yallatiw (To Transfer) by Mr. Melver Ritz Gomez, an instructor of the MMSU College of Arts and Sciences, has qualified as an official entry to the International Film Festival Manhattan (IFFM) Virtual Events. 

Featuring an old oral tradition on prayers for the dead, Gomez’ entry is among the five documentaries and 36 films that will be showcased on May 28-30.

Yallatiw is among the 10 Filipino films which made it to this year’s IFFM. Other countries that are represented in the competition are the United States, Russia, France, Canada, United Kingdom, and China.

“This documentary pictures an almost dying Ilokano tradition and the struggles of the manglualos in passing it to the future generations,” Gomez, who also works under Ylocostar Films, shared. 

He said the opportunity to document such tradition and seeing an Ilokano film in an international film festival are already a success for him, his team and for the community of manglualos.

Aside from the IFFM, Yallatiw was also selected for the IndieFEST Film Awards in California and the Diwa Filipino Film Showcase in Seattle, Washington this June 2021. 

In 2020, his other film Dagiti Tallo a Virgen won the Top Foreign Film award in the Kolkata Online International Film Festival in India. This movie is about the dilemma of choosing between passion and career. 

Now on its 11th year, the IFFM, which went digital due to the pandemic since last year, offers a quality selection of world-class films in different genres from all over the world. It gives 20 awards to winning entries every year. 

Based in Manhattan, New York City, IFFM is committed in showcasing entertaining and diverse films and in exploring all opportunities to promote artists, their works, vision, and causes during the festival. – Daniel P. Tapaoan, Jr. (StratCom)