Elvert Bañares

Elvert Bañares is a film director, producer and multidisciplinary artist who shoots his films independently, acting as his own cinematographer, editor and production designer. He started making underground experimental films and video art since 1993 and has moved on to direct narrative shorts and documentaries starting from 2008 onward.

He is an Urian Award Winner and a three-time Urian Award nominee (given by the Maunuri, the Philippines' longest-running Critics' Group); three time Cultural Center of the Philippines Winner for Independent Film; and, winner of 13 international awards during the pandemic years in Copenhagen, Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ontario. He has won Top Film Awards at the 13th Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (Malaysia), 13th Encuentro Cinéfagos - Festival De Cinearte En La Frontera (Venezuela); 11th Wasteland Film Festival (USA); 10th La Paz International Film Festival (Bolivia); and 5th Ojo Móvil Fest 2023 (Peru). His films and art have been selected in more than 200 international film and art festivals in 35+ countries across 6 continents.

His film "Sa Paglupad Ka Banog" is the first film in Philippine history to have been given consent by the Panay Bukidnon Elders to do a cinematic translation of portions of the indigenous Sugidanon Epics. Elvert has participated in festivals like 42nd Fantasporto International Film Festival (Portugal), 39th Bogocine Festival de Cine de Bogota (Colombia), 21st Dc Asian Pacific American Film Festival (USA), 16th Wairoa Maori Film Festival and 9th Maoriland Film Festival (both in New Zealand), 16th Native Spirit Film Festival (UK), 34th Tokyo International Film Festival, (Japan), 15th Festival de Cine Global de Santo Domingo, (Dominican Republic), 6th Hanoi Internatiobal Film Festival (Vietnam), 26th Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival and the 2011 Prague Quadrennial (both in Czech Republic), Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (Indonesia), Antimatter Underground Film Festival / Media Art (Canada), 50th Curtas Festival do Imaxinario (Spain), 33rd São Paulo International Short Film Festival (Brazil), 31st Croatian One-Minute International Film Festival (Croatia), 15th International Documentary & Short Film Festival Kerala (India), 19th Festival Transterritorial de Cine Underground (Argentina), 17th Festival de Cine Ecuatoriano Kunturñawi (Colombia) and the Academy Award Qualifying 38th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (USA) among others.