National Geographic and a French TV crew to cover Sinulog festival 2011

Sinulog will gain more international exposure this year, with a French TV news team and a National Geographic writer documenting the grand parade and other religious activities.

Photographers from Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and other countries also have joined some 1,800 participants of the Sinulog photo contest.

Sinulog Festival 2011

For the first time, the National Geographic will feature the Sinulog in its magazine, which is distributed worldwide.

Writer Paul Christy from the National Geographic office in New York was only supposed to document the grand parade on Sunday, Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) Executive Director Ricky Ballesteros said.

”But when we sent them the program, they found the other activities interesting so he decided to document Sinulog from the beginning, including the dawn procession. This is good for us because slowly, we are getting international exposure and we are now able to promote the Sinulog in the global arena, which is what we have always wanted,” he said.

A crew from TV France 3 also arrived in Tangub City and will document Tribu Sinanduloy’s participation in the Sinulog, starting from their trip to Cebu, their performance during the grand parade on Sunday and up to the awarding ceremony the following day.

Tribu Sinanduloy, the contingent form Tangub, is a consistent winner in the Sinulog-based category and is closely watched by judges and revelers because of their superb performance year after year.

Ballesteros said he also expects other foreign media and photographers to cover the Sinulog, which is known to be the grandest and the biggest religious festival in the country, with the many contingents in draws every year.

In the photography contest, some 1,800 IDs have been sold by the SFI.