Rode the hundred and rode the region

And so, here we are at the cusp of remembering and making festivities out of the 100 years or so of Philippine cinema and looking at the trajectories being offered by regional cinemas.

IN less than a week from now, the 11th Cinema Rehiyon will begin in Dumaguete. It is an annual gathering of filmmakers that respond more to the label “regional” rather than the contested “independent” brand. It is an interesting turn in the phenomenon of naming, because these filmmakers that are going to be in this charming southern city believe that being from the regions sets them apart from the mainstream, the commercial. The latter is from Manila, the avowed central site of cultural development until challenged by those in the former—the location of the periphery, of the marginal.

From February 25 to its March 1 closing day, filmmakers—basically young of age—will be converging in designated places to screen their films and to view the films from the other regions. Most of these filmmakers know each other. Most of these films are in the languages of their localities. Tagalog cinema is represented by regions that speak Tagalog— Bulacan, Batangas, Laguna, etc.

Mother tongues abound in Cinema Rehiyon, a fact that should alert educators who still subscribe to the lie that there is only one mother tongue in a region. For example, the Bicol contingent will have a filmmaker from Sorsogon whose languages are different from the languages in Naga (with some towns) and Albay (and some towns), these sometimes arrogantly believing theirs is the official regional language. Nah.

There are no official languages in regional cinemas. The festival is an exercise in the splendor of languages in this country. If there is one word to describe Cinema Rehiyon, it is a “revolution.” True, the idea of Cinema Rehiyon sprang from people in the center but there is no stopping the artists of the regions from creating a new Cinema Rehiyon, one that responds to the verities of the places, and the conditions of the filmmaking in these.

These films that are going to be shown in designated venues in Dumaguete are themselves winners and/or representatives of the smaller regional film festivals in various regional sites: “Pelikultura” in Calabarzon, “Pasale” in Bicol, “Cinemagis” in Northern Mindanao, “CineKasimanwa” of Northern Visayas, just to cite a few. While in their origins, these films went through a competition; the [national] Cinema Rehiyon is noncompetitive.

This film concourse is a project of the Executive Committee of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Lately though, the committee has worked on some programs and activities with the Film Development Council of the Philippines. Thus, for the first time, within the week of Cinema Rehiyon, the FDCP is sponsoring a forum of Cinema Rehiyon festival directors. This will take place over two days.

There is also a reason for this partnership with FDCP, and it is the celebration of the hundred years or so of Philippine cinema. An official proclamation has already been released by Malacañang designated September 2019 as the beginning of the year-round observance of the centenary of the Philippine cinema.

If one is to draw a line from the recognized beginning of Philippine cinema, which was the screening of the Tagalog film Dalagang Bukid in 1919, then it is clear where the directions of this country’s film industry is heading. It is not a unilineal evolution but a multilineal one, with trajectories that do not necessarily affirm a national cinema. For, as film scholars from Nick de Ocampo to Patrick Santos articulate and problematize, “what is national cinema?”

And so, here we are at the cusp of remembering and making festivities out of the 100 years or so of Philippine cinema and looking at the trajectories being offered by regional cinemas. Each regional filmmaking has a different origin, an altogether different direction. If these regional films lead to the creation of cinemas for the nation, then so be it. But it will be a complex project. The films from the region will be serving identities that may not be “national.” The films from the regions may even—and should— question these centuries-old colonized invention of nation and national identity.

Be that as it may, the existence of films other than those shamelessly claiming to be national cinema, may really be good for us to understand where we are, what we are and where we are heading.

As to the centenary, some historians, perhaps, will question any thread that links regional cinemas to those films made by people from the empire of Manila film productions.

Well, there are two personages being honored as we think of the 100 years of Philippine cinema: Jose Nepomuceno and Honorata “Atang” de la Rama.

There are two significant photos of these two persons available in archives. The first photo is that of Jose Nepomuceno, which appeared on Cine-Mundial, the Spanish-language version of Moving Picture World Magazine, in October 1922. The photo comes under the heading “Cronicas Filipinas” or Philippine Chronicles. Another line says: Peliculas nacionales que llevaron al mundo el mensaje del progreso de Filipinas (National films that brought the message of progress of the Philippines to the world).

Nepomuceno is described thusly: Sr. Jose Nepomuceno, fotografo, operador de la Malayan Movies, autor de varios producciones de asuntos locales y corresponsal de la Casa Pathe de America, que esta haciendo mucho por desarollo de la cinematograwia en este pais (Mr. Jose Nepomuceno, photographer, operator of Malayan Movies, author of several productions of local affairs and correspondent of Casa Pathe de America, which is doing much for the development of cinematography in this country).

In the National Library, there are documents attributed to Atang de la Rama. Some of these contain rare photos, many of which show Atang long after she did the very first Filipino film, which is now the reason for this centenary. In these photos, we see the artist active in society. There is one photo showing Atang in a dark terno looking hip in dark sunglasses. She is standing on a makeshift stage, delivering what looks like a speech. The other photo shows her with others as they pull the strings to reveal the marker honoring her husband, the labor leader, poet and activist, Ka Amado Hernandez.

Interestingly, that 1922 photo of Jose Nepomuceno is in the collection of photographs given by Atang de la Rama to the National Library.

In a period when the Americans were using cinema to create a colonial image for Filipinos, Jose Nepomuceno opted to make films with Tagalog titles, based on zarzuelas and dramatizing, however rigid, Filipino values and beliefs.

As for Atang, it took more than 10 years for her to be recognized as a National Artist since the inception of the award. While other artists were singing operas, Atang was a star of the silver screen of Filipino cinema, fighting for kundiman and other local song forms.

Nepomuceno and Atang de la Rama fit perfectly well in the scheme of things as ordained by regional cinemas. The films from the region tell the world about us and our notion of nations the way Nepomuceno did; the subversive qualities of these films from the periphery would have consoled and assured Atang de la Rama who was herself a rebel with her husband about the future of arts for the people. ■