Elvert Bañares is an independent film director, live events director, multidisciplinary artist, producer and former educator from Iloilo City and currently based in Manila, Philippines who usually shoots his films independently, acting as his own cinematographer, editor and production designer. His film "Banal" (Holy) is the first short film from Western Visayas region of the Philippines to win the Regional Entry Gawad CCP (Award) for Film given by the Cultural Center of the Philippines . He started making underground experimental films and video art since 1993 and has moved on to direct narrative shorts and documentaries starting from 2008. He has exhibited his art & screened his films in more than 35 countries and more than 150 film festivals in Asia, The Americas, Australia, Africa and Europe. For TV, he did production design for "Maalaala Mo Kaya", the Philippines' longest running and most awarded TV series (ABS-CBN 2); directed a segment for GMA 7; and worked on NCCA productions for ABC 5, NET 25 and IBC 13 television networks. 

Elvert has worked on multimedia and print projects for clients like Asian Development Bank, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Miss Earth, Bonifacio Global City, Department of Tourism,, Miss Silka and the United Nations to name a few. He has maintained close collaborations with the Negros Cultural Foundation, the Musicological Society of the Philippines, Baglan Initiatives, Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc, Printwiz and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.  
 

An Art Association of the Philippines winner; three-time CCP Award winner for Independent Film; recipient of the Garbo sa Bisaya Award for Film & Visual Arts at the VIVA Excon Biennale 2016; producer of two URIAN Awards nominated films and a two-time URIAN Awards nominee himself (given by the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino), he has represented the country as a Philippine delegate in Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver, Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Qingdao and Prague. During the pandemic alone, his films were selected in 52 international film festivals and have won him 10 international awards and 8 nominations including wins for the film "Sa Paglupad Ka Banog", the first film in Philippine history to have been given consent by the Panay Bukidnon Elders to do a cinematic translation of portions of the indigenous Sugidanon Epics. The same film won the Top Prize (Golden Kinabalu Award) at the 13th Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival; 7 Awards at FACINE 29 (USA) and selected in 30 international film festivals.

Elvert has participated in festivals like 42nd FANTASPORTO International Film Festival (Portugal), 39th BOGOCINE Festival de Cine de Bogota (Colombia), 21st DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival (USA), 16th Wairoa Maori Film Festival and 9th Maoriland Film Festival (both in New Zealand), 16th Native Spirit Film Festival (UK), 34th Tokyo International Film Festival, (Japan), 15th Festival de Cine Global de Santo Domingo, (Dominican Republic), 6th Hanoi Internatiobal Film Festival (Vietnam), 26th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival and the 2011 Prague Quadrennial (both in Czech Republic), Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (Indonesia), Antimatter Underground Film Festival / Media Art (Canada), 50th CURTAS - Festival do Imaxinario (Spain), 33rd São Paulo International Short Film Festival (Brazil), 31st Croatian One-Minute International Film Festival (Croatia) and the 38th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (USA) among others.