Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival was modified into a digital event.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced on November 24, 2020, that the film festival would go digital due to the government implemented community quarantine classifications in the Metro area, in partnership with Upstream and GMovies, a streaming provider and ticket provider respectively, to stream the official entries.
[2] The Parade of Stars and the Gabi ng Parangal (Awards Night), both part of the annual MMFF, was also streamed online in compliance with health and safety protocols for COVID-19.
[3] The Parade of the Stars, the film festival's traditional float motorcade, was also modified due to the pandemic.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the temporary closure of cinemas in the country, the film festival was modified and all entries were streamed online instead.
[12] The Parade of Stars was held as a virtual event prior to the film festival's official opening day.
The cast and director of each of the MMFF's ten official entry films answered questions from the audience and select members of the media.
[4][14] The official entries for the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival were not screened in cinemas, which were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[14][16] The awards night was hosted by Marco Gumabao and Kylie Verzosa from Globe Telecom's Project Space studio in Makati.