Filipino filmmakers pitch Pinoy stories for Sofia Coppola’s ₱1.2M short film grant

Winner to also receive mentorship and distribution support.

Several Filipino filmmakers are presenting stories rooted in immigrant identity, childhood nostalgia, and Filipino folklore for acclaimed American director Sofia Coppola’s inaugural Short Film Award.

Presented in partnership with Decentralized Pictures, the award will provide one emerging filmmaker with a $20,000 production budget (₱1.2 million), mentorship, prints and advertising support, and distribution through the upcoming indie streaming platform DCP+.

Among the more than 2,300 submissions received for the grant are award-winning filmmaker Gabriela Serrano, filmmaking couple Bettina Someros-Ching and Steven Ching, and Emmy-winning director Jemsen Yumico Bollozos.

Set in rural Texas in 2004, Serrano’s “Music Memory” follows a young Filipino girl forced to flee with her family after immigration authorities descend on their neighborhood. The coming-of-age thriller-drama explores immigrant identity through the lens of childhood innocence, and is described by Serrano as her “most personal script yet.”

Serrano made her directorial debut with the folk-thriller “Dikit,” which won Best Direction and the Special Jury Prize at the 2022 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. Among the Filipino contenders, she is the only filmmaker based in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, the Chings’ “Lil’ Mall Ratz” turns the quintessential Filipino mall into a coming-of-age story about childhood, class, and belonging. The California-based couple previously collaborated on the thriller short “20/80,” which finished among the top 15 finalists at the 2025 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge.

Bollozos’ “Gamu-Gamo” follows a student who returns home after her grandmother’s death only to uncover long-buried family secrets. The Gothic short draws from the Filipino belief that moths embody the souls of the departed.

In 2023, the Las Vegas-based Bollozos won three Emmy awards for the commercial campaign series “At the Heart of Vegas.”

Also in the running are “Family Party” by Filipino-American filmmaker Karla Castillo, and “Short Thin Lines” by Australian-Filipino director Martha Millan.

Until July 31, projects will undergo community review, with DCP members evaluating submissions based on directorial voice, visual style, and originality, before finalists advance to Coppola and the DCP Board.

“Like Sofia’s unique voice, we’re aiming to identify and celebrate a filmmaker with a distinct creative point of view, confident visual sensibility, and an instinct for storytelling that feels personal and unmistakably their own,” the DCP said in a statement.

Coppola is known for “Lost in Translation,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “Priscilla,” and “Marie Antoinette.” She is the daughter of auteur Francis Ford Coppola of “The Godfather” trilogy and “Apocalypse Now” fame.

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