Reliving the triumph of the fight for freedom of expression, Bayan Ko, Kapit sa Patalim will be shown in the opening program of the 2nd Pandayang Lino Brocka Political Film and New Media Festival. The 25th year commemorative screening of the classic film will be held on August 11, 7 pm at the UP Diliman Film Center, to be attended by its cast and crew.
Freedom of expression is enshrined in the Philippine constitution but during the dictatorship of the late Ferdinand Marcos, artists fought against its restraint. Lino Brocka, National Artist for Film, was a staunch activist for this cause.
Brocka directed the film Bayan Ko (My Country) penned by Pete Lacaba. The film used different real-life events intended to show the inherent corruption in government. The main character Turing (played by Phillip Salvador) resorts to crime because his salary as a laborer is insufficient to pay for the hospital bills of his wife, who has given birth prematurely.
The film was named after the patriotic song "Bayan Ko," which was the protest song after Ninoy Aquino's assassination in 1983. In 1984, censors found their claws on the film, delaying its showing and having all rally scenes deleted as well as the title song. Sex scenes from Manila's live shows were also ordered deleted before it was released. Brocka had to smuggle the film out of the country to bring it to the Cannes Film Festival in 1984. The film got nominated for the prestigious Palme D'Or and caused an uproar internationally when Brocka announced the film was censored back home.
But it was just one phase of his struggle for artistic expression and political participation. Coming back to the Philippines, the acclaimed filmmaker was jailed.
The litigation in the case of Bayan Ko as well as the artists and people's political participation in the time of Martial Law and after has pushed for a more progressive setup for what became our constitutional right to freedom of expression. The Board of Censors came to be the Movie Television Review and Classification Board.
In 1983, Brocka--together with his colleagues--established the Free the Artists movement and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) to carry on the campaign.
ARTISTS STILL STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. With the recent clamour of media practitioners and civil society for the Freedom of Information bill; the unabated extrajudicial killings of civilians, including journalists; the film's anniversary screening aims to relive the triumph of Lino Brocka's fight for freedom of expression, in support of recent campaigns for human rights, justice and democracy.
Cast members and crew of the film are expected to attend the screening. Carmi Martin, Rez Cortez, screenwriter Pete Lacaba and Filipino producer Tony Gonzalez are to share short messages in the screening.
The 2nd Pandayang Lino Brocka Political Film and New Media Festival opens at the University of the Philippines Film Center on August 11-12. The film fest will also screen movies that tackle the theme of human rights. The film fest will then continue in schools, communities and workplaces. Selections from the film festival will also be shown in the Focus Philippines: New York Filipino Independent Film Series in New York on October.
The 2nd edition of this film festival is presented by alternative video group Tudla Productions in cooperation with the University of the Philippines Film Center, Institute for the Leadership and Advancement of Women and the Rotary Club of Pasay Gil Puyat.