Criminal acts: The films of Jun Raquiza

We will forget. If there’s anything you can count on, that’s it. Don’t blame the kids for this state-of-affairs either — what with the majority of older generations not too keen on reminding them anyways. (It might, after all, raise too many questions.)

With the acceleration in how information is received via technology, it’s likely that we will treat the content online as we have the print materials of the past: filed away and forgotten. The YouTube video that’s gone viral and watched by millions now will fare no better than the films that critics like Bien Lumbrera write about in their tomes. Those who are tasked by our institutions to oversee the archiving and safekeeping will probably dispense with the arduous task demanded by their mandates in a fashion least likely to interfere with their social calendars. We’ll just take their word for it that they’ve done their jobs, especially if it comes in DVDs. (It doesn’t matter that the longevity of digital storage is suspect and unstable, as even those who research on ways to improve it will tell you.) They’re shiny and round, and the kids seem quite gaga over these things anyway.

If they survive, this will likely be through the efforts of a small group like the Society of Film Archivists (or SOFIA). An eccentric bunch, they actually think these things are worth preserving. In fact, they’re holding screenings of films that they’ve dubbed “Forgotten Films, Overlooked Filmmakers” at the Tanghalang Manuel Conde at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Programmed by Teddy Co, the first screening is happening tomorrow (Aug. 14) and will show Jun Raquiza’s Krimen: Kayo ang Humatol (1974).

Raquiza is now mostly remembered for his ‘80s monster classic, Zuma, (which starred Max Laurel as the title character, Snooky Serna and the late Charlie Davao). However, the film isn’t indicative of the talents of Raquiza as a director. Released in 1974, Krimen actually won him a Best Director trophy at that year’s FAMAS Awards. The film also won nods for Best Actress, Script, and Cinematography. (The director also won for Best Director the previous year.)

The message of the festival is stated as thus: “This film series aims to reassess certain films and filmmakers, by taking a second look at their unjustly neglected bodies of work, and even restore a few reputations in the process. This will help to expand the repertoire of Philippine cinema, by going beyond the programming of the usual auteurs and masterpiece titles.”

If — as J.G. Ballard once said — “pop artists deal with the lowliest trivia of possessions and equipment that the present generation is lugging along with it on its safari into the future,” here’s hoping we’re not traveling too light lest we find ourselves to be going nowhere fast.

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Visit SOFIA’S website: www.arkivista.org. Also join their Facebook page: Society of Filipino Archivists for Film.