PROFILE | Arjanmar Rebeta

Arjanmar H. Rebeta is a filmmaker, writer, photographer, and advertising director whose works blur the boundaries between art, social consciousness, and visual innovation.

A recipient of the Harvest of Honors Award for Cinema from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and named Film Ambassador by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), Rebeta has established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Filipino cinema. His celebrated short film “An Sadit na Planeta” won both the NETPAC Jury Prize and Special Jury Prize at the 17th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, while his films “Palabas (A Country in Moving Pictures)” and “My Father is an Astro-Not” earned Best Short Film nominations at the 42nd and 44th Gawad Urian Awards, respectively.

As an advertising director, Rebeta’s storytelling sensibility extends beyond cinema—his campaign for the Cultural Center of the Philippines earned him the Catholic Mass Media Award, with his portfolio spanning a wide range of clients from major brands, corporations, NGOs, and government institutions.

He is also a Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature winner and a member of the Filipino Screenwriters Guild. His extensive creative formation includes prestigious programs such as the Southeast Asian Film Lab, Cinemalaya Film Lab, Ricky Lee Scriptwriting Workshop, Mindanao Screen Lab, DocsConnect Taskovski Training, and FDCP’s Creative Incubation Workshop for Scriptwriters.

Rebeta’s films often engage with social and human rights issues, finding resonance in major international festivals such as Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, InterFilm Berlin, Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, and the Prague Short Film Festival. His works have also received recognition from the Belize International Film Festival, ifva Awards (Hong Kong), Nespresso Talents Philippines, Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino, Gawad Alternatibo, Ismailia International Film Festival (Egypt), Mini Film Festival (Malaysia), and the Asia Peace Film Festival (Pakistan).

In photography, Rebeta’s visual storytelling has earned him multiple accolades from the International Photography Awards (IPA) – Philippines, including Event Photographer of the Year (2017 & 2018), Sports Photographer of the Year (2017 & 2018), Moving Image Photographer of the Year (2018), and Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year (2018). His international recognition culminated in being named a finalist at the 16th Annual Lucie Awards held in New York in 2018.

Through his multifaceted artistry, Arjanmar H. Rebeta continues to illuminate stories that bridge the poetic and the political—transforming the ordinary into the profound, and the personal into the universal.