FDCP's national film fest goes to Baguio

The movie-going public of Baguio City is in for a big treat for three days next week. The Sineng Pambansa (National Cinema) film festival of the Film Development Council of the Philippines or FDCP, headed by its new visionary chairman Briccio Santos, brings its line-up of the finest independent as well as mainstream Filipino films to the City of Pines with free showings starting today until March 30.

The venue for the film festival will be SM Baguio’s Cinemas 1 and 2. The Sineng Barangay (Community Cinema) holds a special showing of Kung Mangarap Ka’t Magising and Don’t Give Up On Us at the Ifugao village in Asin, Benguet, while the Sineng Masa (People’s Mobile Cinema) goes to Burnham Park where it will be showing films such as Banawe, Mumbaki, Kung Mangarap Ka at Magising, Don’t Give Up on Us, Pasiyam, Friends in Love, Emir, and Agila.

 There will also be a filmmaking workshop to be held at UP Baguio today under director Mes de Guzman, on the topic “Pelikulang Homegrown: Ang Diskurso ng mga Kuwentong Nasa Gilid at Laylayan.”

The films to be shown at the SM Baguio cine houses are the following:

Kung Mangarap Ka at Magising (Mike De Leon, 1977). A light-hearted romantic film mostly shot in Baguio and Sagada. The story centers around Joey (Christopher de Leon), a “burgis” good-looking kid studying or bumming around in Baguio to escape the responsibilities of growing up. While in Baguio he meets Anna (Hilda Koronel), and there is instant attraction between the two. But Anna is married and has a kid. As it turns out, her marriage is on the verge of collapse, and she finds momentary solace, a “moment in a stolen dream,” with Joey.

Bakit Dilaw Ang Gitna Ng Bahaghari (Kidlat Tahimik, Special Jury Prize — 1994 Bombay Film Festival). A home movie — by Baguio’s celebrated multimedia artist — of three boys growing up during a colorful period in Philippine history, evolves into one filmmaker’s soul-searching voyage to lay bare the contradictions of what it is to be Filipino.

Himpapawid (Raymond Red, 2009). A lone deranged hijacker is pushed to the edge as he struggles with the oppression of surviving in modern Philippine society. The film dwells on the common story of a desperate simple man from the countryside searching for a decent means of living in the big city, Manila.

Happyland (Jim Libiran, 2009). An indie film, it tells the true story of the legendary unshod football players of Tondo, Manila. By learning a new sport they transcend poverty and realize their dream of achieving a better life. As a social project, the film aims to help popularize football in the Philippines, while changing the lives of underprivileged athletes.

Emir (Chito Roño, 2009). A full-feature Filipino musical set in a fictional emirate in the Middle East with principal photography shot in Morocco. It tells the story of a Filipina yaya, Amelia, who decides to work abroad to help her family.

Two Funerals (Gil Portes, 2010). A black comedy about a grieving mother’s journey to recover her daughter’s body after a funeral mix-up caused it to be accidentally switched with a stranger’s corpse. The journey from Tuguegarao up north to Sorsogon down south becomes a journey to the heart of the country during Holy Week in the heat of the election season.

Romeo at Juliet (Adolf Alix Jr., 2010). Two young lovers, both having sprung from toxic, abusive families, find their only hope in the freedom of a blossoming affair. But the past is never far behind, and family inevitably gets in the way.

Ang Mundo Sa Panahon Ng Yelo (Mes de Guzman, 2009). Digos, 26, and his younger brother Pempe, 14, live in Alcala, an island in southern Philippines. Orphaned, they have no choice but to live with relatives. The dramatic and heartbreaking climax shows how the brothers are inescapably bound to the sea, and how young laborers like them are doomed to lives of desperation and misfortune.

Walking the Waking Journey (Ferdinand Balanag, 2009). Seven years ago, Lama Tenzin, a young Tibetan monk, rescued children from poor living conditions in isolated villages in the Himalayan region of Nepal. He built a home for them in India where he raised and educated them, providing them with spiritual guidance with the hope that these children would return to their homes one day and do the same for their communities. In 2008, Lama Tenzin took the children he rescued on a 30-day journey back to visit their homes and families. The film documents that remarkable voyage.

Itim (Mike De Leon, 1976). De Leon’s directorial debut. The film was different from other films of the time in that it didn’t have an angry, radical social message. Although the story focused on paranormal themes, such as ghosts and spiritual possession, still the theme of justice and retribution comes through in a stirring climax involving the revenge exacted by a spirit for injustices inflicted on her when she was still among the living.

A National Cinema for the Philippines

Bring cinema to the people, to the masses, as a tool for education, raising cultural awareness, and reinforcing nationalist values — this is one of the new mandates for the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), as envisioned by its new chairman, Briccio Santos.

The appointment of Santos to the post by the president last year was hailed by all sectors of the film industry — including the independent or indie filmmakers — as an inspired move that could shake up the industry long beset by decreasing output of quality films as well as the deluge of foreign productions.

 The new chairman of the FDCP is an award-winning filmmaker, visual artist, photographer, cinematographer, production designer, and information technology expert (this last an important qualification for the task he faces of creating a database and MIS for the archiving of precious old films). He also has links with other film professionals and organizations abroad, which will definitely facilitate the country’s participation in various international film festivals where he wants to maintain and even improve the country’s harvest of recognition and awards.

As reported in The Philippine STAR shortly after his appointment to the post late last year, his master plan and advocacy include a priority campaign with four objectives: creating a Sineng Pambansa (National Cinema), the Sineng Barangay (Community Cinema) and the mobile Sine ng Masa (People’s Cinema), establishing a national archives arm, strengthening the film distribution infrastructure, and broadening the Council’s mandate to include all other bodies that involve audio-visual creative productions.

It can hardly be denied that much of the current crop of film production — Filipino, Hollywood, Bollywood, and the rest of the world — is focused on ephemeral entertainment and escapist fare. The biggest film companies capitalize on high-tech wizardry and the fantasy genre to create blockbusters that generate global receipts in billions of dollars. The Philippine film industry, meanwhile, has been languishing in the doldrums and seems to come alive only during the Christmas film festival season, with slapstick comedy, formulaic horror and costume fantasy usually dominant.

Santos bewails the fact that about 95 percent of films currently in our cinemas are foreign, mostly Hollywood, and only five percent are local Filipino productions. But there is much more to the filmic arts than entertainment and economics. Film can be a powerful medium in promoting cultural nationalism and creating a stronger sense of Filipino identity, according to chairman Briccio Santos. We are suffering from a dilution syndrome, he is saying in effect: we think we are globalized due to technology and because foreign cultural products have permeated our society, but in effect we are losing our grip on our cultural heritage and Filipino values.

In some third-world countries, film has taken an active role in nation-building. As early as 1959, one of the first laws on culture passed by the new revolutionary government in Cuba declared: “Film is the most powerful and provocative form of artistic expression, and the most direct and widespread vehicle for education and bringing ideas to the public.” What came out of this pronouncement was the golden age of Cuban cinema, with Lucia and Memories of Underdevelopment and several others among the most celebrated films in contemporary times.

Instead of bewailing the dearth in quality of Filipino films and the reduced output, let us welcome the light at the end of the tunnel. We do have excellent films, and these are either the recent ones being created on limited budgets by our independent or indie filmmakers, as well as the classic ones that have been rescued from rot and ruin and are slated to be turned over to the FDCP from the national archives, and hopefully too from archives and collections abroad, so that they could be restored, digitized, and made available to the public.

The idea of a National Cinema or Sineng Pambansa is to bring back film to the people, to the masses, not only within our national borders but also to the widespread Filipino communities abroad. If the two well-attended film festivals held in Iloilo in January and in Zamboanga last February — which drew tens of thousands of viewers —are any indication, the third staging to be held in Baguio next week should prove to be another crowd-drawer. This would be the template for the planned showing of outstanding Filipino films not only in international festivals, but also in Filipino migrant communities.