Cinemata is a platform for social and environmental films about the Asia-Pacific. Cinemata highlights essential yet underheard stories, increasing filmmakers’ reach, engagement, and impact, helping audiences discover thought-provoking videos.
With almost 5,000 films, Cinemata’s contributors and audiences include
- filmmakers and film curators
- journalists and media makers
- educators and researchers
- advocates and activists
- civil society and nonprofit organisations
Cinemata welcomes contributions in a variety of styles and genres, including documentary, fiction, animation, experimental, and more.
We regularly feature and promote great films, as well as highlight key contributors through EngageMedia’s Featured Filmmaker series.
Why "Cinemata"?
“Cinemata” comes from the combination of “cine”, which means “motion picture”, and “mata”, which means “eye” in several regional languages:
- In Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, and Filipino, the word for “eye” is “mata”
- In Tetum (East Timor), the word for “eye” is “matan”
- In Vietnamese, the word for “eye” is “mắt”
- In Thai and Lao, the word for “eye” is “ta”
“Cinemata” represents our focus on highlighting Asia-Pacific perspectives and connecting issues, films, and filmmakers in the region.
What makes Cinemata different from other video platforms?
Cinemata has most features expected in a modern video platform, including some still not found in many platforms:
- Download videos in multiple transcoding dimensions (240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p) or in h264, h265, or vp9 profiles, as well as download the original file
- Save videos in a playlist and share them online
- Upload videos in various codecs (h264, h265, mkv), including support for Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD
- Publish videos immediately once approved as a Trusted User (contact [email protected] to apply for Trusted User status)
Curated and Context-rich
While other platforms accept raw clips, Cinemata focuses on self-contained, stand-alone content. We collect and feature videos that
- focus on critical Asia-Pacific events and social and environmental issues
- are well-produced, innovative, engaging, and entertaining
- promote new and underheard stories
Engagement and Impact
More than just watching videos, we want our audiences to engage with social issues and contribute to creating impact:
- to learn more about the issues and contexts
- to share such learnings with peers and communities
- to contribute to wider campaigns and movements
- to become advocates and changemakers
Free, Open Source, and Secure
Developed by WordGames in partnership with EngageMedia, Cinemata is built on MediaCMS, “a modern, fully-featured open source video and media CMS”.
Cinemata is the result of the redevelopment of EngageMedia’s previous video site, which once hosted the videos in Cinemata today. This previous site was based on Plumi, an open source “video-sharing content management system based on Plone and produced by EngageMedia in collaboration with Unweb.me”.
If you’re interested in Cinemata’s source code, check out MediaCMS on GitHub.
Latest Videos on Cinemata
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PGP Live at DRAPAC23: Open Culture Foundationby EngageMedia on 01/12/2023
In this episode, Open Culture Foundation Programme Manager SzuHui Huang explores the intersection of open technology and digital rights in Asia, emphasizing capacity building and research within civil society organizations, while addressing resource challenges in the digital era and touching on […]
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Trailer: Tech Tales Youthby EngageMedia on 01/12/2023
A short film collection from the Philippines and Thailand that explores digital labor, new money, platform accountability, internet access for marginalized groups, doxxing on women, data privacy, and disinformation's role in historical revisionism.
