Elvert Bañares is a filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist based in both Manila, Philippines who usually shoots his films independently. 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 20 countries 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 special segment for GMA 7; and worked on NCCA productions for then ABC 5, NET 25 and IBC 13 television networks and many institutional clients around Asia.

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, a Philippine film critics group), he has represented the country as a Philippine delegate in Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver, Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Qingdao and Prague.

His recent short films were selected more than 50 film festivals combined including countries like the Portugal, United Kingdom, Panama, Belgium, Spain, Mexico, Cyprus, South Africa, USA, Canada, Indonesia, France, Italy, Pakistan and the Philippines.