CIIT MMA Capstone

To all Capstone takers for the coming 2nd Term, AY 2025–2026, please refer to the schedule below as your guide for enlistment.

If you already have a partner or are part of a group, make sure that all members enlist in the same class schedule.

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ATTENTION, BMMA CAPSTONE KIDS!
Capstone 1 & Capstone 2 Orientation is happening!

Let’s start the term aligned, guided, and goal-driven para smooth sailing ang buong Capstone journey niyo next term.

Capstone 1 Orientation: December 12 / 10am - 2pm

Capstone 2 Orientation
December 15 / 1pm - 3pm

For the meeting links, see comment section.

Huge congratulations to Kinwa Sy and the team behind Aurora Waves (3T24-25) for being named an official finalist at the 2025 Know Your North Film Festival.

Your work carries that quiet power that comes from listening closely to place, people, and memory. Seeing it stand alongside films that honor Filipino identity and cultural imagination feels right.

This recognition is well earned. Keep riding that momentum and making work that moves with intention and heart.

Congratulations to our students Ezra Jimenez and Rogue Balualua, directors of Alingasngás (2T24-25) and Teacher Olym (3T24-25) , for making it into the 17th Pandayang Lino Brocka. Your work speaks with heart and courage, and seeing both films recognized in a festival rooted in people’s stories is something to be proud of.

CIIT is celebrating with you. Keep creating work that moves communities and carries truth forward.

CIIT’S “UNDERCURRENT” CAPSTONE EXHIBITION NAMES FOUR OUTSTANDING PROJECTS, WITH PANGIMATON HA KALANGITAN LEADING THE FIRST TERM 25-26 BATCH

The Multimedia Arts community gathered on November 27 and 28, 2025 for the Capstone 2 Exhibition and Presentation, transforming the Interweave Building into a quiet, reflective space where student works revealed the stories that shaped them long before they reached the gallery walls. Titled Undercurrent, the event asked a simple but piercing question: What stays beneath the work long before anyone sees it?

The exhibition answered through projects that carried the emotional and cultural depths students often do not say aloud but always channel in their craft. Pieces emerged from places of grief, heritage, identity, sound, community, and resilience. Each one offered a different way of listening to history, memory, and the subtle forces that guide young artists from the inside out.

From this strong lineup, four capstones rose to the top, with Pangimaton ha Kalangitan securing the highest distinction of the batch.

Pangimaton ha Kalangitan
Ed Lester Ascaño, Ryan Christian De Roxas, Angel Gatmaitan, Nathaniel John Vizconde

A Webtoon on the Ethnoastronomy of the Ayta-Sambal in Botolan, Zambales
Top Score: 95.31

Leading this year’s roster, Pangimaton ha Kalangitan captured the jury with its lyrical storytelling and cultural grounding. The project interprets Ayta-Sambal constellations and celestial beliefs through a webtoon format, bridging indigenous astronomy with contemporary visual narrative. It stood out not only for its craft but for the honesty and respect with which it handled community knowledge.

Agkulol
Desiree Acio, Raven Ang, Jazzelene Vidal

Documenting the Natural Dyeing Tradition of the Itneg-Illaud through an Experiential Website for Filipino Youth
Score: 92.86

Agkulol unfolds as a digital encounter with tradition. Through visuals, interactivity, and archival work, the project introduces Filipino youth to the intricate, land-rooted dyeing practices of the Itneg-Illaud. The exhibit piece highlighted how heritage survives in colors, textures, and the hands that keep them alive.

Kusyapi
Mikhail Solas

An Ethnomusicological Archive and Experimental Cross-Media Art Campaign Documenting Palawan’s Indigenous Sonic Heritage
Score: 92.63

In Kusyapi, sound becomes a vessel for memory. Developed through collaboration with the Palaw'an community, the project builds an experimental installation and archive that preserves indigenous sonic identity. The piece allowed viewers to feel the landscape through resonance, rhythm, and the delicate tone of a tradition at risk of being forgotten.

Pawpaw, ’Wag Ka Munang Pumanaw!
Maia Catarina Baja, Kristia Quismundo, Karla Gonser and Qianna Leigh Therese

A Narrative Film on the Lived Experiences of Bereaved Filipino Pet Owners
Score: 90.25

This narrative film brought a different kind of depth, tracing the quiet grief of pet owners learning to live with loss. The work stood out for its sincerity, its intimate framing of mourning, and its sensitive portrayal of how love continues to echo after death.

The Capstone 2 showcase for Term 1, A.Y. 2025–2026 closed with pride and reflection, honoring a cohort that created from depth rather than spectacle. These four top projects stand as proof that when students follow the pull of their own undercurrents, they produce work that resonates far beyond the exhibit halls.

Congratulations, Team ATROS-1316 for bagging the Student Film Assistance Program grant of the Film Development Council of the Philippines for 2025!

Good luck on your short animated film capstone bound for Summer 2026 defense!

What stays beneath the work long before anyone sees it?

What memories, emotions, and quiet truths shape a project from below?

This is where “Undercurrent” begins. It lives in the deep, steady forces that young artists carry with them. This batch creates from places most people rarely name:

grief, heritage, identity, sound, community, and resilience. Their works rise from those inner currents, steady and honest, felt even before they are understood.

This Capstone exhibit gathers the milestone projects of CIIT’s Multimedia Arts students, each one tracing a different path through the unseen. Some pieces hold memory. Others unravel tension. Others search for belonging or healing. Together, they reveal the spaces where meaning forms quietly and with intention.

Here, creativity becomes a form of listening. It becomes a way of paying attention to history, to the self, and to the subtle places where stories begin. The exhibition invites viewers to slow down, to sit with what is layered and understated, and to sense what might otherwise stay hidden.

Capstone 2 Defense and Exhibit
November 27 to 28, 2025
Interweave Building, Rooms 401, 402, 403 and 5F Lobby
Term 1 A.Y. 2025 to 2026

Congratulations to Director Velocity Lumen and Team Meow Meow for winning the Audience Choice Award Animahenasyon: The Philippine Animation Festival!

Super proud of you guys !

LOOKING BACK AT AY 2024–2025

As we close another academic year, we celebrate the creativity, commitment, and cultural insight that CIIT students have poured into their capstone projects.

BEST THESIS AWARDEES
Recognized during the recently-concluded 2025 graduation for earning the highest cumulative weighted grades in both Capstone 1 and Capstone 2:

Best Animation Thesis: Sa Humba Nimo
A touching animated film about the intergenerational linguistic gap between Bisaya grandparents and their Manila-raised grandchildren.

Best Film and Video Production Thesis: Si Tes at Si Anggo
A heartfelt short documentary about a family’s experience caring for a loved one with breast cancer.

Best Graphic Design Thesis: Lods!
A bold and playful 3D cross-platform game teaching Filipino children about consent and bodily autonomy.

BEST CAPSTONE PROJECTS
Outstanding works from each term of AY 24-25 that exemplified artistic rigor, narrative clarity, and design excellence, during their respective project presentations.

First Term 2024–2025: Eve Before the War
A VR walking simulator reconstructing the lost built heritage of pre-World War II Plaza Calderón de la Barca.

Second Term 2024–2025: Manipud Ditoy Agingga Idiay
A multimedia exhibition and book series weaving stories of indigenous textile heritage from Northern Luzon.

Third Term 2024–2025: Hinubog sa Dilim
A concept art book exploring the evolution of monsters and creatures in Philippine fantasy cinema.

Congratulations again to all our creators, storytellers, and designers. May your work continue to inspire others to take your lead and push creative expression further.

Sharing good news from Capstone and Animation!

Meow Meow Meow Meow: The Meowsical (1st Term 2024–2025 Top Capstone) has made it to the Top 10 Finalists of Animahenasyon 2025, the country’s leading animation festival celebrating the brilliance of Filipino animators and storytellers.
This year’s finalists represent the best of local animation: bold ideas, heartfelt stories, and distinct artistry that push the boundaries of imagination.

Let’s cheer on our CIIT talents as they take the stage among the nation’s finest!