A banner year for Pinoy films

If there’s a definite bright spot in what many people, including myself, consider an awful year for the Philippines and the world, it’s the fact that Filipino films earned unprecedented acclaim in film festivals here and overseas in 2016.

This is best represented by the wins Filipino movies scored in three of the world’s most prestigious film festivals: Lav Diaz’s eight-hour-plus feature Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery) garnered the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival last February for “opening new perspectives on cinematic art;” Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s gritty drama Ma’ Rosa clinched for Jaclyn Jose the best actress award at the 69th Cannes Film Festival last May; and Diaz’s revenge tale Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left) copped the Golden Lion trophy for best film at the 73rd Venice Film Festival last September.

Filipino actors received great notices from abroad, too. Besides Jose and Babaeng Humayo star Charo Santos, two more stood out in particular. The first was Eat Bulaga co-host Paolo Ballesteros, who earned the best actor award at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) for his role as a transgender beauty queen in Jun Robles Lana’s Die Beautiful, which also won the Audience Award. And the second was newcomer Hasmine Killip, who won the best actress prize at the 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards for her performance as a poor teenage mother whose newborn son is kidnapped in Eduardo Roy Jr.’s Pamilya Ordinaryo (Ordinary Family).

It was fitting, then, that Philippine cinema ended 2016 on a high note with the 42nd Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). Last year’s edition—which was revitalized by sweeping reforms that resulted from the controversial exclusion of Erik Matti’s celebrated crime drama Honor Thy Father from the MMFF best picture race in 2015—boasted of eight diverse entries that are not only noted for their generally good quality and greater respect for the audience’s intelligence, but also for their accessibility.

Of course, some industry insiders and their supporters opposed the reforms and, by extension, the “Magic 8” themselves. Then there’s the fact that the MMFF’s official run was cut from the usual two weeks to the original and law-mandated 10 days. And several cinemas in the provinces shunned the chosen movies and instead continued to screen MMFF rejects Enteng Kabisote 10 and the Abangers, Mano Po 7: Chinoy and Super Parental Guardians even after the festival began.

More than the usual fare

Despite these challenges posed to the filmmakers behind the entries, the MMFF executive and screening commitees, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Chairman Liza Diño-Seguerra, moviegoers still came to watch the films. If the various postings on social media—especially photos of long lines of people at the box office—are any indication, those filmgoers were plenty, and eager for more than the usual fare featured in previous editions of the festival.

If nothing else, the 42nd MMFF awards night at the Kia Theater on December 29 reinforced how historic and game-changing this edition of the festival was. In a significant first, Baby Ruth Villarama’s moving documentary about Pinoy househelp in Hong Kong, Sunday Beauty Queen, clinched the top award and three others.

That’s not all. Matti won his second straight best-director prize for the 1940-set horror film Seklusyon (Seclusion), which was honored in the six other categories and earned a special jury prize for actress Rhed Bustamante. Ballesteros and Die Beautiful repeated their TIFF wins, and theater titan Irma Adlawan defeated top actresses Nora Aunor of Kabisera (The Seat) and Eugene Domingo of Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2 (The Woman in the Septic Tank 2) to win best actress for her striking performance as the steely leader of an embattled mining community in Alvin Yapan’s fact-based Oro (Gold).

Speaking of Oro, it is just unfortunate that it continues to reel from the deserved backlash it got for having a dog explicitly and needlessly slaughtered on film, the latest of which is that it was pulled out from theaters early last week and Yapan and producers Felix Guerrero and Mark Shandii Bacolod are banned from joining the MMFF for one year.

I say unfortunate, because Oro, which deals with the so-called Gata 4 massacre in Caramoan town, Camarines Sur province, is very good. In fact, I think it’s Yapan’s finest work to date. But as much as I think highly of the film as a whole, I also think its makers deserve the fallout, and not just because they’re aware the dog’s slaughter would offend a lot of viewers and may overshadow the greater crime depicted in the film (which it did). More appallingly, they lied to the festival organizers about it when concerns were raised about the scene before the festival began. The revamped MMFF does not deserve that dishonest gesture, considering the pressures its organizers were experiencing.

What’s next?

As of this writing, Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has filed a resolution asking the MMDA to create a film festival separate from the MMFF, one that will feature only independent movies. I think it’s a foolish and futile move, and not just because there are other local film festivals—QCinema, CineFilipino, Cinema One, and Cinemalaya, to name a few—already showcasing such works.

Say what he will about the MMFF, but its 42nd edition has set a standard for future editions to try to meet. Viewers already exposed to better and more polished material not only in theaters, but also online via streaming services such as Netflix and iflix, expect—demand—it. Last year’s festival may not be perfect, but I’m certain those behind it—or their replacements on the battlefield—will strive to further improve it. They—and their growing number of supporters—will still confront those who remain opposed to the changes they implemented.

In a way, the recently concluded MMFF embodies what Philippine cinema was last year: more assertive, yet remaining accessible. Possessing a greater presence that can no longer be denied or brushed aside. A lot may happen in the entertainment industry in the next 12 months, but already 2016 is being remembered as a banner year for Filipino films.