The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
by Alvin I. Dacanay
The newest films of Nora Aunor and Eugene “Uge” Domingo, a major winner at a recent international film festival, and Star Cinema’s latest production are among the eight diverse movies selected from 27 full-length features and introduced last Friday as the official entries to the 42nd Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).
During a press briefing at Club Filipino in San Juan City, the MMFF selection committee for full-length films, led by film scholar and critic Dr. Nicanor Tiongson, unveiled the “Magic 8” finalists, the list of which did not show any of the profitable, but critically panned movie franchises and their stars who dominated the annual event for many years.
“In choosing this year’s official entries, the selection committee followed the main guidelines formulated by the [MMFF executive committee, or execom], beginning with the criteria, which assigned 40 percent to content, 40 percent to the technical aspects, 10 percent to global appeal, and 10 percent to Filipino sensibility,” Tiongson said.
These entries are Jun Robles Lana’s transgender dramedy Die Beautiful, Arturo San Agustin and Real Florido’s sociopolitical drama Kabisera (Capital), Avid Liongoren’s animated feature Saving Sally, Erik Matti’s horror film Seklusyon (Seclusion), Baby Ruth Villarama’s documentary Sunday Beauty Queens, Alvin Yapan’s rural drama Oro (Gold); Ted Boborol’s romantic comedy Vince & Kath & James; and Marlon Rivera’s sequel to his hit filmmaking satire Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2: #ForeverIsNotEnough (The Woman in the Septic Tank 2).
Die Beautiful, which stars Eat Bulaga co-host Paolo Ballesteros and is described by the selection committee in a statement as a “heartwarming film” that “deftly combines comedy and drama to chronicle the glamor, gloom and glory of one transgender [woman’s] short, short life,” recently reaped acclaim at the recent Tokyo International Film Festival, where it earned the Audience Choice and Best Actor awards. Its participation in the MMFF will serve as its Philippine debut.
Kabisera, which the committee said “unfolds as a quietly powerful and gripping story of a tightly-knit family coming to grips with abusive elements of Philippine society, specifically the hooded perpetrators of extrajudicial killings,” is the fourth film Aunor made this year, after Adolf Alix Jr.’s political thriller Whistleblower in April, Derick Cabrido’s Cinemalaya feature Tuos (Pact) in August, and Kristian Sendon Cordero’s QCinema entry Hinulid last month.
Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2 reunites Rivera, screenwriter Chris Martinez and lead actress Domingo, who again plays an exaggerated version of herself in a movie that “launches a pointed, but hilarious commentary on the pretensions and machinations that characterize the mainstream movie industry and its stars and superstars in our day.”
The only film from ABS-CBN’s movie unit—or any mainstream studio—to make it to the final list, Vince & Kath & James is topbilled by Julia Barretto, Joshua Garcia and Ronnie Alonte. It is praised as a light romantic comedy that “successfully reinvents the teen movie with its fresh approach and fluid narrative” and is “spiked with hugot lines that ratchet up the kilig factor.”
“To be sure, there will be questions raised in the choices of the [screening] committee. But we assure the execom and the public that all these choices were made, first and foremost, with quality in mind,” said Tiongson, who told reporters that the selections were unanimous.
Other members of the committee were broadcaster Alan Allanigue, entertainment editor Crispina Bellen, Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, film director and editor Lawrence Fajardo, actor Ping Medina, actress Mae Paner, and author Alfred “Krip” Yuson.
During the festival, which will run from December 25, 2016 to January 7, 2017, each official entry will be paired with one of the eight short films that were picked by a separate screening panel, led by pioneering independent filmmaker Raymond Red, and also revealed during the briefing.
They are Birds by Christian Paulo Lat, EJK by Bor Ocampo, Manila Screen by Roque Lee and Blair Camilo, Mga Bitoon sa Siyudad (Stars in the City) by Jarell Serencio, Mitatang by Argin Jezer Gagui, Momo by Avid Liongoren, Passage of Life by Renz Vincemark Cruz and Hannah Daryl Gayapa, and Sitsiritsit (Hey, Hey) by Brian Spencer Reyes.
When asked about the full-length entries’ commercial prospects, Tiongson said all of them are potential hits.
“We firmly believe that, with proper marketing, these choices will be commercially successful,” Tiongson said during a press conference after the eight entries were revealed.
“We’re confident that anybody who sees any of these films will find [them] worthwhile, kasi mayroon talaga silang sinasabi and alam mong maingat ang pagkakagawa [because they all say something and you know they’re crafted with care],” he added.
For her part, Paner said: “I think the beauty of the choices for this year is that, in fact, we will develop our audience. Because I believe the quality of the [chosen] films this year are far better than the ones of the previous years, I think…we can even perform better this year.”
Asked about the possibility that moviegoers would not patronize their choices, Bellen said: “It’s their loss if they don’t see the movies.”
Producer and screenwriter Moira Lang, a member of the executive committee, said she’s “happy” and “excited” about the chosen entries, which she called a “very good lineup.”
“[I’m] also aware of the amount of work we need to put in in order to adequately and properly promote the entries, so that we can prove that good movies are not necessarily poison at the box office, and good movies, actually, are what people want to see,” Lang said in Taglish.
As the new chairman of the MMFF, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Thomas “Tim” M. Orbos expressed support for the choices of Tiongson’s committee, noting that the “independence of the selection process” was “very apparent.”
“At the end of the day, we have given ourselves to the hands of our esteemed selection-committee members, and we stand by them. Stand by them because we believe, and we know, that this is the path that we will take, not only for this year…but for years to come,” Orbos said.