The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The controversial film “Katips” getting to Japan isn’t an easy feat. At first, there were not a few Filipinos who wanted to show it in the House of the Rising Sun.
Carmen Cañafranca-Wakamatsu, a kababayan (town mate) from Lopez, Quezon asked me to help her in reaching out to Vince Tañada, the director of the film. I told her I’d try to connect to Vince. Carmen said she would introduce me to her Filipino-Japanese friend, Menchie Mizuno, who was the point person in organizing the film showing in Japan.
So Menchie and I got connected and we talked about the possible screening of the Martial Law audio-visual narrative in her other home country. Mizuno is married to a Japanese businessman who has connections with several political figures in Japan. Along the line, there were many interesting and colorful anecdotes that cropped up in our conversation about Filipinos egging her way through the project but some factions were not totally politically compatible with her.
In other words, Menchie was espousing truths and historical facts and opposing peddles of lies and revisionism.
Mizuno is rooting for the revelation of the horrors of military rule in the Philippines during the dark days of the dictatorship.
Since I’ve known Tañada for more than a decade I soon communicated with him. He said I should talk to this and that person but the names that popped up were the same Menchie wasn’t ideationally to sit well enough.
I was honest to Vince about Mizuno’s predilections but he was kinda objective and disinterested about meeting with the negotiators who initiated the talks with him.
Menchie never said die about getting the nod of Vince to her side. Although in this day and age of social media, Menchie and Vince had also prior communique with each other. Truthfully, I was around to galvanize their personal contact.
Quickly as possible, we had a scheduled meeting the very night Menchie and I were requesting an audience with Vince at his Philstagers Black Box Theater in Quezon City.
As early as ten o’clock Menchie and I were at the theater lobby while a huge crowd gathered inside.
We were met at the entrance by Vince’s assistant whom I would later be introduced as OJ who said that his boss wasn’t around yet as he was on a theater tour.
We were requested to go up the receiving room upstairs as we were led in and accommodated by 2022 Famas Best Supporting Actor Johnrey Rivas.
After about an hour, we were informed that Vince was already around although he was at the theater. Menchie was apprehensive she couldn’t talk with Vince as the latter was engrossed in his theater work.
Finally, we were fetched up by Johnrey to go down the theater and join Vince and company.
As it was, Tañada was busy attending to guests and his artists. When we finally got inside the theater, Vince was at the table near the proscenium. He hugged me as soon as he saw me. I introduced Menchie to him as they shook hands and planted a cheek-to-cheek. We were asked to join the table of actress Dexter Doria and director Bong Ramos, entertainment writers Pilar Mateo and Fernan de Guzman and showbiz insider Joey Austria.
We were offered drinks and crunchy pork rinds that Menchie and I couldn’t resist so we took a bite, wanted for more but finally successfully suppressed our taste buds desire.
We were informed there were four tableaus scheduled as we laughed and at the same time startled at the daring theatrics. Each tableau took at least more than twenty minutes minus intervals. It was already past one o’clock in the morning and there was still one more esoteric play on indigenous peoples and it’s almost two AM.
I decided to go and persuade Vince we were past our bedtime as I would still go home to Laguna.
Finally, Tañada brought us up again to the receiving area and there Menchie laid out her proposal of “Katips” showing in Japan which the Philstagers Films’ producer categorically agreed assuring the Fil-Jap lady he’d not entertain the other party anymore.
Our staying late that night was all worth it as Mizuno said: “…this couldn’t have happened if you didn’t go with me that rainy night to see Direk Vince.” Eventually, Menchie and her group had mapped out all preparations to the premiere of Tañada’s masterpiece all throughout Japan.
“Katips” will hit Japanese big screens—universities and cinemas—from October 13 to 17, 2022.