Black Comedy
aagbayani@theguidon.com
I didn’t really mind the disqualification of MNL 143 at this year’s Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival at first.
Festivals supposedly have the right to deny entries if they don’t adhere to the organizing committee’s requests. Cinemalaya, in particular, helps fund the entries, so the committee should have a say.
Once I saw the film, though, it became evident that disqualifying it was a terrible mistake. I’d go as far as to say that it was better than a number of the festival’s actual entries.
It had been disqualified in February when director Emerson Reyes stood his ground over the casting of leads Allan Paule and Joy Viado when the committee asked to have them replaced.
The film, which Reyes produced without Cinemalaya’s funding, was excellent. MNL 143 bridged existential questions with the pedestrian stories of passengers going in and out of an FX. To add, Paule’s powerful performance as FX driver Ramil was central to the film’s success as a whole.
Put in the same position as Reyes, many filmmakers would simply give way. The funding and exposure that the festival affords you are difficult to come by. Cinemalaya is a dream for practically every Filipino independent filmmaker and rejecting that dream, even in the name of artistic integrity, is difficult.
This is not to generalize all Cinemalaya films and directors. Some brilliant films come out of the festival, such as the heartwarming Bwakaw, our official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars this year.
There are some pretty terrible films, too. Films like the disastrous Ang Katiwala continue to make it into the festival despite the quality control the organizing committee tries to maintain.
Director Brillante Mendoza has said that while this year’s crop of Cinemalaya films was good, there were no “brave” entries that really pushed the boundaries of cinema.
If only everybody could be Brillante Mendoza, though. While I wouldn’t say that his bravery always pays off, he has the funding and the freedom to make exactly the kind of films he wants to make without too much outside intervention.
The trouble with Cinemalaya is that it isn’t the channel for the country’s brave new cinema that it ought to be—that it ironically does not offer enough independence to its independent films.
As François Truffaut’s auteur theory posits, directors must have complete creative control and, thus, be the true authors of their films. For festivals like Cinemalaya to begin nurturing Filipino auteurs necessitates having more faith in these filmmakers. That faith could make another MNL 143 or another Ang Katiwala, but what is there to lose?
Cinema has the power to be boldly political or searingly personal and is the most powerful medium to bring relevant social issues to light and tell compelling stories. Local filmmakers have done this and have the potential to push Filipino cinema even further.
Independent cinema simply cannot be run with a traditional studio system in mind. Grant-giving bodies need to be less “Show us why we should invest in your project,” and more “Shut up and take my money.”
I hope that more people would shut up and take a chance on Filipino cinema. Only then, with both the funding and independence, can Filipino filmmakers take true authorship of their films and lead us into brave new cinema.
