‘Our love affair with film will never end; it’ll only get deeper and stronger.’
With all the fields and platforms we are involved in – academe, media, television, music, at sometimes even theater — we can safely say that we’re a child of the movies first. We remember watching the black and white Piling Piling Pelikula on television and queuing for the entries of the Metro Manila Film Festival every Christmas time since before.
The first “For Adults Only” film that we watched in the theater was “High School Scandal” of Gil Portes, starring Gina Alajar and Sandy Andolong. We looked up to Sharon Cuneta ever since so it was what urged us to watch the film with the theme song sang by her. You can just imagine our great joy and honor when we entered media and finally got to work with her, and also became close friends to such great actresses like Sandy Andolong and Gina Alajar.
After that, Fr. Nick Cruz bequeathed his Filipino Film and Film Seminar classes to us at the Ateneo Communications Department when our beloved Doreen Fernandez was chair. We were blessed to have Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Ricky Lee, both National Artists for Film and Broadcast Arts, as our teachers, mentors, and friends.”
Our involvement with the Young Critics Circle (YCC) did not only give us the framework by which we would evaluate movies or any media output, but it also opened our eyes into putting your money where your heart is. We realized that it wasn’t enough that we critiqued works without trying to build and create good ones. So, with the help of some valued friends and family, we invested part of my life savings to make landmark films, like “Daybreak,” “Adela,” “Ligo na U, Lapit na Me,” “I Love You, Thank You,” “Astig,” “Magdamag,” “Muli,” “Kusina,” and others.
Our love affair with film will never end; it’ll only get deeper and stronger. We still look forward to finishing the scripts we started in Sir Ricky’s class. We look forward to producing short and full length feature films and even documentaries in the future. And as the spokesperson and member of the Metro Manila Film Festival Executive Committee, we are committed to making accessible new and compelling stories that are world class and promote our Filipino values and aspirations.
In the next few days, our labor of love (for cinema) will be coming out – a journal on Filipino film which we curated and edited for the Santelmo Press. It coincides with the 50th edition of the Metro Manila Film Festival and the 50th anniversary also of the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation (MOWELFUND).
Consider this an industry report as it is a tribute to the people who have tirelessly worked for our beloved movie industry. Significantly, we are in what seems to be a Golden Era of Philippine Cinema. Let us continue all our efforts in making things better, and yes, we are getting there.
All the best!
