Philippine Movie is Dead...
And whatever happened to it
on its way to the cinema?
Stv's Celebrity Chronicle
December 1999
Los Angeles * San Bernardino * Riverside * San Diego *
San Francisco * Las Vegas * Chicago * New York * Manila
Cover Story
By: Celso Ad Castillo
Director Peque Gallaga considers him the greatest Filipino director of his generation. Probably the most versatile actor-director in Philipine cinema, Celso Ad. Castillo, also known by his nickname Celso Kid, has directed more than 50 films to date, winning 6 Best Director Awards along the way together with 2 Best Screenplay awards, 1 Best Story award, and 1 Best Supporting Award.
His film has been considered trendsetters and trailblazers of the Philippine cinema. His films have aspired towards thematic originality that range from small town perversion, incest, political and period gangsterism, family conflicts, politics of domination action and even comedy. In addition, they have seen participation in international competitions such as the Venice Film Festival, and the Cannes Film Festival. He is in pre-production on "Prosti", his first team up with the only superstar of Philippine movies, Ms. Nora Aunor and also negotiations to direct his first American film.
What went wrong with the Philippine movies and why?
It is overtaxed. It is heavily censored. However, when the censors became lenient, it became pornographic.
Why again?
It is inferior in quality. It has no value for excellence. Its vision is only confined fnr regional consumption. It seems it has no point of direction.It is unmindful of the changes that are sweeping the map of the world.
Competition is too tight for small markets like Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao when the new world order has the entire universe for the taking. Man, the vision is too narrow. It has a wrong concept for being beautiful
than being creative. Producers are dictated by bookers and theatrical owners as to what kind of movies to be done to get hack their investments. Moreover, art being the last thing to cross their minds their intuition suggests that big stars are the safest investments. Not art. Not creativity. Just big stars.Just pure baloney,
They have been putting out the same kind of crap or tested formulas, which had been commercialized and accepted, and warned out by the passage of time. In addition, they think it is still effective. And since the superstars are the demigods then naturally they become the moving force, come hell or high water, by the Philippine movie industry. The producers became the blind slaves and the moviegoing public their victims for mediocrity. Alas, we have a film industry that has been identified by international film distributors as 99% bad.The director's salary, the writer's and the scriptwriter's compared to gargantuan fees of the super-stars are like a poor man's diet to a glutton. The stars aside from 3-5 million-peso fees, courtesy of suckers producers and bookers, also gets ancillary rights of the film. Ancillary rights cover P2.5 million for TV rights, 300 grand for cable TV and another 300 grand for video rights. Now do you wonder why they can afford to finance a political campaign? The writers? The minimum they get is 40 thousand and the maximum is 130 thousand. The directors? I have not heard of anyone who had been paid a cool million yet. Now they blame the writers why they cannot come up with a sensible story material for a movie.
The film begins with the story. These writers need a break. They need to he inspired to be creative. They deserve a decent lifestyle like that of the stars. The producers still underestimate the intellect of the present crop of moviegoers where in fact they have outgrown the film industry itself. The cable and video technology has created a new breed of sophisticated Filipino movie audiences. The industry seems to ignore that reality. Since the producer's vision is not global, the industry is forever enslaved by shoestring budgets. The director's creativity has become inutile, no space to flex its grey matter. Little pains, small gains.
What is right with the Philippine movie industry?
It produces effective politicians. Second, the Philippines being westernized(and colonized by Hollywood after the Spaniards) are the only race in Asia adoptive to the American way of filmmaking. We have the gut feel, the instinct, and the spontaneity to reflect the American filmic psyche into our movies. Unlike the rest of Asia which had been influenced by Indian and Chinese movies (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand) and. French (Cambodia, Vietnam), the Filipinos' early staple of films were hollywoodian types from film maestros like Elias Kazan, John Ford, Henry Hathaway, Howard Hawks, John Sturgess, Vincente Minnelli, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, etc.
What is the root cause of the industry's problems?
When there is no creative freedom from a filmmaker from doing what he wants, then there is a big problem in the industry. Why? Because the film begins and ends with the director. He is the industry. The actor's medium is the stage; the director is the film. The producer? They are financiers. It all started with the big four major studios during the 50's like LVN, Premiere, Sampaguita and Lebran. They were followed by the so-called independent studios which later became majors too; Tagalog llang-Ilang Productions, Larry Santiago Productions, Magna-East, Bulaklak Pictures, Mundial Productions, etc. These independent producers produced superstars which became producers themselves; FPJ Productions (Fernando Foe Jr.), JE (Joseph Estrada), Rosas Productions (Susan Roces), AM Productions (Amalia Fuentes), Sotang Bastos (Chiquito), RVQ (Dolphy), etc. The directors were left behind. Movies' quality remained stagnant. The creator was always behind the created. it was always the song and not the singer. What needs to be done? Individually, by each member of the industry? As a team? Go global. Be serious with this art. Be professional. Be ambitious, loyal and dedicated. Filipino directors have reached the point where they no longer have any more reason to complain. We must make movies not for the Philippines alone but for the international community. They say Japanese movies are dead, and the French and the Germans, when in fact it is not. It simply suggests that Japanese, Germans, French, Italians, Filipinos and the rest of the global citizens must be making movies not for their own respective countries but for communities of the entire world. American films have become the barometer and the measure of international standard by the international film communities. What are the aspects and/or practices in the Philippine movie industry that need to be corrected? Enhanced or improved? Encouraged? The booking system. Local movies are only given one week for first-run theatrical exhibition in Metro Manila area theatrical circuits. If one is talking about a 50 million peso investment in a local film then you are talking about goliath for a foe. One week is not enough, or say even 2 or 3 weeks, to recoup an investment for a local film that has been fashioned for international dressing.
Two million bucks is spent to promote a movie, which is intended only for the first day crowd. The first day crowd takes over through word-of-mouth publicity. This film is on its own on the second day, which means it dies when it is not good. Now, this does not apply to major producers. They have resources to pull the trick on the first day showing to attract crowds. What about the independents? They will only rely on the word-of-mouth stunt the
film may be generating. However, by the time it is picking up on its first week the movie is meeting its deadline in the theatres.
What can artists do, to help save the industry?
Be serious and professional with their jobs so the others, the next generation, may emulate the kind of discipline needed to elevate this industry to a higher level of artisanship in the Philippines.
What can moviegoers do to help save the industry?
Nobody can force anyone to eat food that he abhors. Movies remain to be the cheapest form of entertainment. People see movies to be entertained, to be informed, to escape from reality and see the reflection of himself. Give them good movies to save the industry.
However, nature is taking its course. The art of film is being perfected by destiny. Video technology has fathered a new generation of moviegoers through videotapes, the lasers, digital, and the likes. Through videotapes, easily accessible like donuts and burgers and available for random viewership by the entire household, moviegoers have learned to draw boundaries between a good film to a bad one. It is constant viewing that elevates
man's level of comprehension on the aesthetics of film. Eventually, the demands for better films will force the industry to save its neck.
What laws/actions/sanctions are needed to help the industry?
To limit the influx of foreign films by sanctions is to limit the scope of growth of Filipinos as world-class artisans. We need to learn from other experiences. The new world order is globalization. Limiting our visions is depleting the air of our extreme creative tolerance. Pushing back enemy line is only an excuse for becoming inferior tacticians.
We need to cut down taxes. The tax rebate incentives are only tantamount to giving candies to crying children. What we need is support for serious, professional, legitimate filmmakers. They make the movies not the producers or the superstars. The directors command filmmaking as a science of continuing experimentations, i.e., Federico Fellini of Italy, Satyajit Ray of India, Werner Herzog and Fassbinder of Germany, Ingmar Bergmanof Sweden, Luis Bunuel of Spain, Kurosawa of Japan...
Directors need a film foundation that will finance their creativily and give them responsibilities to become producers themselves, You arm the warriorswhen they go to war and nol the emperors who just do commands,
What is the idea of a good Filipino film?
Not necessarily a cultural film. That is the common, flawed, and in fact, worst perception. History is a thing of the past.
What good is a film when it is not seen?
The purpose of a film is to communicate and communication is impossible if the other party is disinterested. "Romeo and Juliet" of Franco Zeffirelli was great but was no box-office draw. Ditto with Gerard Depardieu's "Cyrano De Bergerac."
A good Filipino film must be at par, technically, with foreign films. Color processing and sound quality are priorities here. Filipino films must convey human emotions regardless of race or creed. The world audience does not care about Filipinos in the Philippines bQt they do care about how Filipinos as human beings react and confront real-life, down-to-earth, natural element catharsis. People ask me all the time if I believe that critical acclaim and commercial success can ever be achieved at the same time in one film.
Yes, " Burlesk Queen " did it starring Vilma Santos during the 1977 Metro Manila Film Festival where
it garnered 10 out of 11 awards and outgrossed all participating film entries. It shattered the myth in Philippine movies that good movies do not make money. In addition, commercially accepted movies do not get awards. It has become a symbol of a beautiful marriage between commercialism and artistry.
What can be done to help the film industry achieve recognition in the international market?
Pull the best artistic minds in town and organize a panel, which will decide what films, deemed the best for the year, should go to festivals abroad. Actually, they are doing it here already. However, the screening committee is composed of the best connected ones and not the best artistic
minds.
What about Hollywood 2000? Is it possible for local films to beat Hollywood movies in their own game?
Hollywood by the year 2000 is all chips and cyberspace, digitals and virtual realities. There will no longer be tapes and disks but minute computer chips which when hook, wherever you are, will get magnified on your wall-size HDTV (high definition television). The best of foreign
films will be merged along with mainstream Hollywood cinematic fares. Consider the latest "conquistadores" of American movies; John Woo, Jacky Chan, Tsui Hark, Wong Kar Wai, etc. Consider the great films that have been integrated such as The Red Lantern, Scent of Green Papaya, Shall We Dance, Fallen Angels, etc.
There is no reason to beat Hollywood in the next century. We shall by then be a part of Hollywood because the only reason we think otherwise is because we let our minds defeat our visions.
