DATE: January 30, 2005
Sa may bandang Bilibid sa Muntinlupa. Kinunan noong pangalawang araw ng shoot ng “Piring“, thesis short film nina Dianne Sibal at Ranina Sanglap, mga orgmates ko sa UP CAST (Cinema Arts Society). Ang eksenang ‘to ay kinatatampukan ni Sarah Gacer bilang “diwata” habang nagdidilig ng halaman sa kanyang bakuran. [Rate this picture]
In-interview ako kanina ni Iris Cruz ng GMA 7 tungkol sa blog ko. After almost five years of keeping my blog a secret from my parents and relatives, I have to admit to having one. Better that than bigla na lang nila akong makikita sa 24 Oras nang walang abiso. Hehe. Ang tangi ko lang namang ipinapangamba ngayon ay baka mapahamak ako o ang pamilya ko nang dahil sa mga pinagsusulat kong opinyon laban kay Gloria Arroyo. Baka bigla na lang i-hack ng gobyerno website ko o kaya ipa-kidnap ako o kaya tangglin sa trabaho si Papa. 
Ngek, it’s not as if I’m that influential. Pero ‘yon… nakakakaba rin. Sana walang ganong mangyari.
[Post-Scipt, 19:18] Haha. Ang OA ko naman. ‘Kala ko kung anong mainly-Gloriagate related ‘yung story ni Ms. Iris. At least, hindi na ‘ko masyadong kakabahan?
Dadating rin ang araw natin. Let’s just keep our focus and ignore whatever noise there is. May tatlong taon pa tayo.
[Post-Script. July 22, 2005, 17:17] People, I’m not talking about national politics here.
I watched Pepot Artista at the Cine Adarna with some blockmates last night. It apparently bested all the other films in the Cinemalaya roster for the best picture award. Ang daming tao. Sana magkaroon ng panahon na hindi lang mga fim enthusiasts, film snobs at mga estudyanteng required manood ang tumangkilik sa mga independent films.
Kanina sa Geog 1 we had an amazing race sort of activity kaugnay sa aming diskusyon tungkol sa geographic maps. Binigyan ang bawat grupo ng mapa ng UP tapos ng isang clue na nagturo sa amin sa isa pang clue na maguturo sa isa pang clue sa iba’t ibang lugar sa loob ng UP (well, acad oval lang). Nakakapagod! Kakatapos pa lang nga ng ulan noon kaya puro putik ang dinaanan namin. Nakakapagod pero nakakaaliw. My group didn’t finish first pero ayos lang. Ang sarap tumakbo-takbo, mawala, mainis at makatapos din sa huli!
Most film students in the department were present at last Friday’s Cinemalaya Independent Film Congress. I missed the morning session though. I was afraid I’d miss a quiz or something for Bio 1 so I attended the class in the morning. Anyway, I went to CCP with Celeni, who’s a really noisy commuting company. It’s apparently her first time to go inside the CCP so maybe that’s why she was too… annoyingly perky on the way there. It took us two hours and a lot of walking. When we got there, the congress was on lunch break. We went to Jollibee to meet my blockmates and have lunch, then it’s on to the second half of the congress’ first day.
There were two topics, one on the “independence” of independent films and the other on the diffrence between using film stock and digital media in shooting movies. Anyway, the former was more interesting for me. Kidlat Tahimik, Nick de Ocampo, Erik Matti and Jeffrey Jeturian were the panelists during that discussion.
This may not be entirely related to how the discourse actually transpired, but here is my opinion…
One of the panelists (I forgot), suggested that people sometimes attach to “independent films” a notion that they must be profound or malalim, artsy or cool. Cool raw kasi film makers are sudenly becoming the new rock stars young people want to become. Well, yeah, sometimes it bothers me when people attach the word astig to being a film maker, parang it’s just the ‘in’ and novel thing to do these days.
Anyway, Erik Matti conveyed one point, it’s not enough that the independent films are shown in week long film festivals like Cinemalaya or distributed among film enthusiasts. Tayo-tayo lang rin magkakaintindihan. If your film is good, then the attempt to have it shown to more people should be made. It has to be seen! Independent films for me can be used to usher in a deeper understanding of cinema among people, down to the masses. I’d also like to see independent films to be exhibited in mainstream theaters for ‘ordinary movie watchers’ to experience. For me, it’s rather elitist when some people would rather reject the idea. I don’t get the point of making a film and yet not wanting to have it seen by too many people. Bakit? Baka ba mawala ang pagka-cool o pagka-novelty nito?
I don’t have a problem with small entrepreneurs and film makers starting off as ‘independents’ but are aiming to reach mainstream level. Why do we even pit against each other independent films and mainstream films? Why do some “artsy” people hold “mainstream” in contempt? Why do we box independent cinema in such an “arsty, profound, anti-mainstream, anti-profit” and such an “film enthusiasts-exclusive” confinement? Why do some people think it’s so cool to profess love for “art films” that not a lot of people have seen? That is a rather immature way of looking at film. But of course one can use the fad to garner support for small film makers too. But to shun or disallow the movement from spreading from serious film enthusiasts to to ordinary folks for fear of “commercialization” or whatnot? For me, it’s film elitism.
