Profile

Seymour Barros Sanchez is an advocacy filmmaker, communication and film lecturer, freelance writer, content and creative producer, creative and technical consultant, and a former producer for news and current affairs programs.

Sanchez helped launch the weekend news programs of CNN Philippines as their first producer. He also used to produce the morning news and feature stories for Solar News Channel. Prior to CNN Philippines and Solar News, he worked as segment producer and led one of the production teams for TV5’s investigative program USI: Under Special Investigation, segment producer for TV5’s news satire The WeakEnd News, and competition officer for ABC 5’s Dokyu: Ang Bagong Mata ng Pinoy Documentaries.

Sanchez’s short film Caretaker won second prize in the short fiction category of the sixth CAM International Festival for Short Films in Cairo, Egypt as well as the Golden Philippine Eagle award and Best Actor for Rolando Inocencio at the third Singkuwento International Film Festival in Manila. It also bagged the Audience Choice Award in the Active Vista International Human Rights Film Festival. He was given the Film Ambassador Award by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) for his creativity and the global achievement of his film. He also received the Maningning Outstanding Direction for the same film in the CineSB Film Festival: Special Edition. A shorter version of the film entitled Katiwala won the People’s Choice Award at the Freedom Mov_E Film Festival in 2018.

His first short film Lababo (Kitchen Sink) won the grand prize in the 2007 Viva – Pinoy Box Office (PBO) Digitales. It also competed in Bilbao, Spain and in Athens, Greece. In addition, it was exhibited in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Bangkok, Thailand. His second short film Pagbugtaw (Waking Up) was shown on ABC 5 and Robinson’s Galleria Indie Sine, along with the works of Kidlat Tahimik and 14 other independent filmmakers, as part of the Guimaras: Short Films from the Oil Spill. It won second prize in the First Pambujan Pelikula Para sa Publiko (PPPP) National Short Film Festival and Competition.

His first script for a full-length film Handumanan (Remembrance) was selected to the 3rd Produire au Sud Film Workshop. The film had its international premiere at the 7th WFF Bangkok and was also screened at the Filipino International Film Festival in Los Angeles, California and the 5th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, where it competed for the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Prize. His second full-length screenplay Hiwaga (Mystery), co-written with Christian Lacuesta, won the grand prize in the 59th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.

His first documentary Sinulog for Beginners won second place at the 2006 Sinulog Video Documentary Competition. His third short film Shorts placed third in the Viva-PBO Digitales 2. His project Patron ng Laging Saklolo (Patronage Politics), which was produced through a grant from Focus on the Global South, competed at the Montreal Film Festival in Canada and the International Film Festival of Patras City in Greece and was also part of a special program at the Tampere Film Festival in Finland. It also became part of To Differ, Digitally: Calls for Change Through New Media, the first digital art exhibit hosted by the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Center for Campus Art and the New Media Cluster faculty from the DLS-CSB School of Design and Arts, in 2017.

He has two projects featured in the online art exhibition To Differ, Digitally 2: Love and Dissent in the Time of Pandemic, the second installment of the collaboration between the by DLS-CSB CCA and NMC. He wrote and directed Maria Leonor, a short documentary in the form of an open letter addressed to Vice President Leni Robredo.

The epistolary documentary, which focuses on the Office of the Vice President’s pandemic response efforts as it tries to probe into the Filipino voter’s psyche, won a Special Mention award for its screenplay at the 3rd Dreamanila International Film Festival. It is an offshoot of the full-length project Leading Lady funded by the Centre for Global Business of the Monash Business School in Australia.

Aside from Maria Leonor, he also produced the short infotainment video Double Pandemic, Deadly Combination, which talks about the danger of trans fatty acids or trans fats, especially in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was originally made through a grant from the (Un)Covering Trans Fats Media Training and Fellowship Program Cycle 3 by Probe Media Foundation, Inc. and ImagineLaw.

He has served as speaker and judge in various film and journalism competitions nationwide, including the National Schools Press Conference, National Training of Trainers on Campus Journalism, Indie-Siyensya Filmmaking Competition (organized by the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute), Planting Seeds Workshops on Filmmaking, SanayGuro Trainors’ Training, MBC Short Film Festival, SINEliksik Bulacan Docufest, Kingwagisnan Film Festival, CineMapúa, Sinepiyu, and CineMascian, among others. He also sat as a member of the selection committee of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, Cinestudyante and Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival for Health.

Sanchez is a fellow of the 17th Lopez Jaena Community Journalism Workshop (organized by the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication), 21st Iligan National Writers Workshop (organized by the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology) and 9th Palihang Rogelio Sicat (organized by the UP Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas). He is also a graduate of the 3rd Produire au Sud during the 6th World Film Festival of Bangkok, 14th Ricky Lee scriptwriting workshop, first Brillante Mendoza directing class and the first Active Vista film and media for human rights advocacy workshop. He is the younger brother of the late filmmaker, actor, and writer Sigfreid Barros-Sanchez and nephew of poet Wilfredo Pascua Sanchez.