Should we come
out boldly to announce that the country is on the verge of another golden age
of cinema, we are certain of the snickers and whispers that will confront us.
Given the dismal performance of Filipino movies in the past half decade, this
is a fair enough expectation. However, those sensitive to the changing nature
of the global community, and aware of the speed at which these changes are
being executed, will agree that it may not be such a farfetched idea after all.
Everyone will agree that man by nature gives out his best performance on any forum when pressured, with his back against the wall. Life has not been easy for the citizens of our country; doubly so for its artists. But it is in times of strife that the creative spirit reigns freest. That was so during the rebellious years under the Spaniards, and again under during the second World War, and now again when the simplest task of surviving is part of a daily grind.
Gone are the days of plenty when a family had enough for daily needs, education, and leisure. We remember how going to the movies was almost like going to church, religiously observed weekly. The domestic industry was healthy and thriving. There were even years, we recall, that the foreign films were being clobbered at the tills by local movies. Slowly, however, the picture reversed itself. The industry that churned out as many as 200 films a year was suddenly without our noticing down to 40. This was when the average family no longer could afford the luxury of watching a movie a week. That, together with censorship, plus competition from pirated DVDs, television and other leisure time activities was when the countdown for the death of Philippine cinema began.
Slowly, surreptitiously, a new movement rose to the challenge. This was the independent movie—the indies, as they are called worldwide, produced on low budget, through personal funding, with a personal vision, usually utilizing the cheaper digital format. The indie was soon being hailed as the new savior for Philippine movies. It would revive the moribund industry. It would bring back the golden age of Philippine cinema when Filipino creativity was recognized internationally.
This "new" movement, however, was by no means new. From the ‘70s, film practitioners had already been searching for formats away from the traditional. The appearance of a Brillante "Dante" Mendoza on the firmament did not happen overnight. There were years of gestation, filmmakers working privately without promise of recognition. People like Ben Pinga, known as the father of the documentary; Eric de Guia aka Kidlat Tahimik whose Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare) won the Critics' Award at the Berlin Film Festival of 1977-78; the scholars of the UP Film Institute then under Ms. Virgie Moreno whose most brilliant product is Tikoy Aguiluz, founder of the CineManila International Film Festival; Raymond Red who won the ONLY award so far for the Philippines at the Cannes Film Festival of 2000 with his short Anino.
FILIPINO IN CANNES. When news broke out that Dante Mendoza's Serbis
was competing at this year's Cannes Film Festival 30 years after Lino Brocka
became the first Filipino to be invited to Cannes, it was quite a revelation
that few actually knew the filmmaker. It was because he is not a mainstream director.
He is on the fringes—an indie filmmaker. He had been active only for the past
three years and although his works Masahista, Kaleldo, Manoro (The Teacher),
Foster Child, and Tirador are familiar to festival programmers and
foreign audiences, they are hardly known in his own country.
Blame it all on the totally understandable mass audience's patronage of the
star system, the influence and love for melodrama, and the general preference
for escapist material as balm and succor for their problems.
To top it all, when Serbis got panned by some foreign critics, the local
press picked up the negative reviews totally ignoring the positive, and went to
town lambasting the film which had yet to be shown.
This was most disconcerting to say the least. We had come this far, only to be received negatively in our own backyard! Director Mendoza is disappointed, to say the least. Few will understand that his achievement for the country is nothing to be ignored, much less assaulted with negative reactions. Just like other independent filmmakers, Mendoza has quietly and without fanfare been doing a lot on his own to put back the country on the international map.
Evelyn Vargas-Knaebel, Consultant for Philippine Cinema in Switzerland whom we met at Cannes could not have put it better:
"The mere fact that Brillante Mendoza's SERBIS was selected officially at the main competition in Cannes means he is good. This is my 11th year at Cannes and since 1997 people have been asking me what happened to Philippine Cinema. Never did I say anything to disgrace our own filmmakers nor our own cinema. How can our films be distributed all over the world if we ourselves do not believe in our product? Can we just stop and give support at this point in time to our films, be they independent or mainstream?
"Thanks to people like Wouter Barendrecht of Fortissimo, Martial Knaebel, former director artistic of Fribourg IFF and now Visionssudest, Jean Pierre Garcia of Amiens IFF, Aruna Vasudev of Cinemaya and Cinefan, Philip Chea of Singapore IFF, (both of NETPAC), Ulrich Gregor of Berlin IFF, Dorothy Weener of Berlinale, Alan and Philip Jaladeu of Nantes IFF, Sandra Denhammer of Rotterdam and the late David Overby of Toronto IFF who have helped in bringing Filipino films and/or giving tribute thru a Panorama of Philippine Cinema in their respective festivals before the proliferation of digital/independent cinema.
"It makes me sad reading this kind of negative criticism. It took me 16 years since 1993 to pick up some films (including Escapo) and promote Philippine Cinema in the international film community particularly here in Europe. I was then at Mowelfund Film Institute, NETPAC and NCCA. It took 25 years after Cannes picked up another Filipino film in the main competition. We should be thankful to this new development for our filmmakers and our own Philippine Cinema. We should be thankful to filmmakers like Mendoza, Martin, Diaz, De Guzman, de la Cruz, Torres and many other young and talented filmmakers for their new works that are making the world once again look at our cinema.
"We are fortunate enough that we have our own Cinemanila IFF, Cinemalaya, and Cinema One continuously realizing the goal for a better future of Philippine cinema.
"And if I may add what Lino once said: ‘I am not here to revolutionize Filipino movies. That is something we cannot achieve with one picture, I am only hoping to pave the way for revolutionizing. But we are still way, way behind, and it will take perhaps the next generation to realize that. It is the talented youth of today, whom we are preparing by training, who are expected to carry on the work we are starting today to its full realization'—Lino Brocka, Philippine National Artist for Film."
Closer to home, the Philippine Daily Inquirer carried an editorial on June 7, 2008 that reads:
"MANILA, Philippines—Despite receiving generally testy reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, the movie Serbis, directed by Brillante Mendoza, should give the nation cause for pride and rejoicing. It is the first Filipino film in almost a quarter of a century to be shown in competition at the world's largest and most important film festival. The last time a Filipino film was accepted as competition entry to Cannes was in 1985, when Lino Brocka's Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim was shown. (Four years back, Brocka's Jaguar had been shown also in competition, the first for the Philippines in Cannes history.) Bayan Ko also didn't win an award, but the following year, the British Film Institute named it best film. Perhaps, Serbis would enjoy the same reversal.
Not that Serbis is a disappointment. To be included in the Cannes competition is already an honor; getting positive reviews and winning an award are just icing on the cake. To be sure, Serbis consolidates the reputation of Philippine cinema as the most exciting in Southeast Asia. Other cinemas in the region can't lay claim to having been screened thrice in competition at Cannes.
The two golden ages of Philippine cinema (the ‘50s and ‘70s) should belie claims that the Cannes date of Serbis was a fluke. That a competition movie is lambasted by critics should not embarrass Filipinos so used to accolades easily heaped from abroad on the likes of Charice Pempengco and Madonna Decena. To be included in the Cannes competition means that a film is worthy to be numbered among the notables of world cinema. One recalls the boos that greeted the 1960 showing in Cannes of Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura, now considered one of the greatest and most influential films in history and one realizes that to be savaged by critics and audiences is a compliment, not an affront.
The same low regard for a Filipino film making it to Cannes is evinced in the oft-repeated complaint about why no Filipino film has made it to the Oscars' best foreign language film derby. The complaint shows a blind faith in everything Hollywood and betrays ignorance of the Oscars and most award-giving schemes as basically a marketing gimmickry. Simply put: No Filipino movie has made it to the Oscars because no Filipino movie has the deep pockets to launch a credible and well-oiled marketing campaign to be nominated, much less to win. In 1999, the lightweight Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture over the trenchant Saving Private Ryan because Miramax had spent more to sell the former to Oscar voters than what Steven Spielberg spent to promote the award prospects of the latter.
Therefore, let us appreciate the achievement of Mendoza and Serbis. Mendoza, his great cast and his production company got to Cannes on a low-budget movie done courageously according to the true tradition of Philippine neo-realist cinema. And while we're at it, let's warn that it may take another quarter of a century for a Filipino film to compete in Cannes if the local film industry continues to be taxed mercilessly, censors continue to wield their scissors out of ignorance and complete lack of taste, and the Metro Manila Film Festival continues to be run by politicians in cahoots with greedy producers who have made the event (which produced some of our most brilliant cinematic gems) into nothing but a showcase of tawdry fantasy films aping the worst productions of the Hollywood theme-park entertainment complex."
The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board had initially classified Serbis together with its trailer and all advertising material with an X, meaning it couldn't be shown. A tamer version (in its sex scenes) eventually made viewing possible in the Philippines. The film was given a rating of R-18 and was screened in select theaters in June 2008.
Significantly, however, not all government agencies are unsupportive of the burgeoning film efforts. When the film Serbis of Dante Mendoza was chosen as a film in competition in Cannes, and Now Showing by Raya Martin for the directors' Fortnight, the participation of both films were supported by the FDCP (Film Development Council of the Philippines) chaired by Rolando S. Atienza with cash, subtitling, per diem for the delegation, and with the Philippine Embassy under Ambassador Joe Abeto Zaide providing logistical support.
What then, does this portend for the future of Philippine Cinema? Being the
cock-eyed optimist that we are, we now feel more than ever before that the
third Golden Age of Philippine Cinema is certainly upon us just around the
corner.