By Reymundo Salao
Year after year, the Metro Manila Film Festival does nothing but promote the lousy and dark side of Philippine Cinema. And it should not be patronized.
In the Philippines, the Philippine Film Industry is divided into two major divisions; First is the indie (independent) film industry composed of indie film-makers and producers which are generally not part of the major studio system. It is not too often literal to use the term “independent” because companies like Unitel & Unico are a big production company, yet they are the company that helps in the release of indie films or comes to the aid of independent projects, and in addition, they also produce movies with indie film sensibilities. And then you also have companies like Cinema One, which is actually part of the entire ABS-CBN company, yet, it has its own sense of division and independence from the other company like Star Cinema The second division of the Film Industry is the Mainstream Film Industry. Or if we compare it to politics, these may be referred to as the TRAPOS, the same old scums that never really introduce any good new change. The Mainstream Film Industry is composed of the big names, Viva Films, Rgeal Films, Seiko Films, M-Zet, LVN, Imus Productions, GMA Films, Star Cinema, and all the prominent film industries you hear about it in noontime variety shows and gossip news. These are the productions companies that make the same old garbage; projects that are lazy imitations and are devoid of any creativity. They have long been so skilled in the art of taking the mass audience for fools. Many of the best movies they could come up are actually copycats of already-established prominent movies. Movies like “Mano Po”, “Ang Darling kong Aswang”, and “the 2009 Ang Panday” among many other big Tagalog movies have been mere copies, products that prove a lack of originality, products that make us conclude that there is a great irony going on: these movies are made by the richest film outfits in the country, yet they could not afford to hire production teams, writers, and directors with ACTUAL Brains that can brew the imagination of a real filmmaker. Shame on them.
In contrast, Pinoy indie filmmakers can make marvelous movies on a shoestring budget, and they even manage to be triumphant as champions in international film festivals. Films like “Kubrador”, “Ilusyon”, “Yanggaw”, and “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” have been champion films. But they are never hailed locally. The masses are never familiar with them. Their fame is drowned by the publicity of really bad Pinoy movies like the cheesy romance stories that have been done over and over again without a glint of originality. And indeed, many do flock to these rotten garbage movies, while we see that the really good Pinoy movies manage to attract a handful of audiences. Who’s fault is this? Well, the big production companies of course. THEY have the power; THEY have the money. Yet they continue to breed the culture of dumb film appreciation among the masses. THEY have the power to influence maturity among the movie-going public, yet they choose to continue riding on garbage. And they would do it over and over and over again for as long as the production companies continue to be morons.
This year, the popularity of YANGGAW proved that the masses can appreciate movies that are decent in form and quality. Pinoy Filmgoers are not idiots. But the mainstream film-makers would want it to be that way. You want to support the Philippine movie industry? Watch good Filipino movies. Watching BAD Tagalog movies really isn’t helping; in fact, it destroys the Philippine movie industry by breeding and cultivating bad filmmaking and promoting bad film taste among the masses. The Metro Manila Film Festival is the festival that celebrates the mainstream film industry. If it’s successful, then you prolong the destruction of Philippine Cinema. Mainstream Film Industry must be crushed first before we can cure Philippine Cinema. Remember that a body cannot be healthy if it tolerates an existing virus inside it....you must kill it first before becoming healthy. Pila subong ang cine? 100 per person? Spend time with your family. Buy a DVD movie instead
