The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Alvin I. Dacanay
Four prize-winning films dealing with religious issues, including a best-picture Oscar winner, will be shown in select SM cinemas this month as part of a three-year partnership between the shopping mall chain’s lifestyle division and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) in screening independent features to a wider audience under the Cine Lokal cinema line.
In her speech at the contract-signing with SM Lifestyle Entertainment Inc. (SMLEI) President Edgar Tejerero that launched Cine Lokal in Quezon City on March 24, FDCP Chairman Liza Diño said the four movies, grouped under the theme “Salve Pelikula,” will be the first to be exhibited under this line.
“In light of the Lenten season, (the) Salve Pelikula films will…encourage the audience to evaluate and appreciate the concepts of faith and human nature,” Diño said.
The first, Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight, chronicles the efforts of The Boston Globe newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Spotlight investigative team to expose the widespread clerical sexual abuse taking place in Boston for decades and how the Catholic Church tried to cover it up.
One of 2015’s most acclaimed films, Spotlight received countless critics’ and film-industry prizes and six Academy Award nominations, winning for best original screenplay and best picture.
National Artist for Film Ishmael Bernal’s recently restored classic Himala (Miracle) tells the story of a provincial woman named Elsa (Nora Aunor), whose claims of seeing the Virgin Mary and acquiring healing powers soon attract believers and skeptics alike to her village, with serious consequences.
Hailed as one of the best Filipino movies of the 1980s, Himala dominated the 1982 Metro Manila Film Festival Awards. Aunor’s performance in the film is regarded by many as her finest and most iconic in her career.
Mel Chionglo’s Iadya Mo Kami (Deliver Us) centers on a diocesan priest (Allen Dizon) with a shameful secret who’s assigned to a remote parish in the mountains and later investigates the murder of a prominent politician (Ricky Davao), after which he arrives at a sobering epiphany.
The movie won a special jury prize for Chionglo at the 2016 World Premieres Film Festival in Manila.
And Ruben Maria Soriquez’s Of Sinners and Saints deals with Fr. Leonardo Rossellini (Soriquez), an Italian priest assigned at Quezon City’s Payatas area who becomes involved in looking for the son of the woman he fell in love with when he was still a seminarian.
The film won Soriquez the best-actor prize at the 2015 World Premieres Film Festival, as well as best-film awards at various festivals around the world.
All four will be shown at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, SM North Edsa and SM Fairview in Quezon City, SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, SM Southmall in Las Piñas City, SM Bacoor in Cavite province, SM Cebu in Cebu province, and SM Iloilo in Iloilo province. As part of the partnership, a theater in each of the eight SM malls shall show only films and programs curated by the FDCP.
Two-fold goal
Regarding Cine Lokal, Diño explained that its goal is “two-fold: One, to provide independent filmmakers with a commercial venue for their films, thereby strengthening their experience and training on film marketing and distribution; and two, to create a culture of support and viewership among Filipinos.”
“This will benefit our up-and-coming filmmakers and producers to be oriented and appreciate how films are distributed and marketed in the country,” the FDCP chief said.
“Cine Lokal will not only will be screening independent and regional films, but foreign and award-winning films, as well. Basically quality content that are usually (put on limited release). We hope that, through Cine Lokal, we will further be developing film literacy and appreciation among our audience,” she added.
For his part, Tejerero said in a statement that “Cine Lokal affirms our support for the Philippine film industry, which includes our independent film producers. With the help of FDCP, we have an opportunity to expand our content and invite a new set of audience.”
“Cine Lokal brings SM Cinema closer to its goal of becoming not only the largest, but (also) the most diverse film exhibitor in the country,” he added.