A new era for Philippine cinema

Technology has brought the quality of independent films closer to those done by major movie outfits. In the Philippines, indie movies are more meaningful and have better storylines. It is sad to note that the more expensive local productions have weak storylines, no teeth and contribute to the worsening values of our people.

The recent squabble of Senator Tito Sotto with the MMFF organizing committee on the MMFF guidelines shows us how a leader can easily use his power to bully the small people. He filed a resolution at the Senate to have a separate film festival for independent films. Was he not aware that there is already an existing Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival that happens every year? Or was he being too sensitive on this issue because his brother’s film Enteng Kabisote 10 was not included in this year’s MMFF festival?

Let’s see what will come out of this? Through time people change, companies change and industries change. We change because we want to upgrade and improve things. Clearly the senator is creating a fight with intelligent and cultured people who know that when you produce a movie whether expensive or not the end product is what matters most.

This year change has come to the 42nd Metro Manila Film Festival. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) had many firsts. This was the first time the festival committee required producers to submit not just screenplays as in the past but picture lock versions or finished films. It was the first time that most of the entries were produced and directed by not so well-known filmmakers and directors. This was the first time a documentary film was awarded Best Picture. This was the first time MMFF films lasted four days shorter than the run in the past 16 editions of the festival which lasted for 14 days. It was also the first time, standard size vehicles were used for the grand floats during the “Parade of Stars” making them much simpler and less expensive.

The movie that was awarded Best Picture, Sunday Beauty Queen deserved the distinction. It traces the stories of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong, who left their homes with the hope that they can give their families a better life. A very timely movie in our country’s plight to save our OFWs from leaving their families to work abroad.

The film that took four years to finish first premiered at the Busan International Film Festival last October 2016. Baby Ruth Villarama, the film’s director who was a daughter of an OFW herself said that they spent two years researching, raising funds and doing immersion with the OFWs to fully understand their work as domestic helpers. Clearly, an intensive study was done in creating the story and the film. It was not rushed nor done just to make people laugh but instead to make people think and realize the value of living.

The movie showed what the OFWs do to help and support each other. It detailed the problems OFWs continue to face and the role of the Philippine Consulate in addressing their concerns. It is to no surprise that we see the same problems lingering amongst OFWs. Our government hasn’t resolved and professionalized this ‘trade.’ It has in fact, just gotten worse with unresolved illegal employment, exploitation, sexual harassment, health, and compensation issues. The harrowing experiences, sad and heartbreaking stories of our OFWs must be prioritized. Allowing them to work in a foreign land is no joke. And if not addressed properly can be a form of ‘human trafficking’ encouraged by government. Mind you, the government will always be responsible for their welfare and well-being.

My cousin’s husband who has pastored in the Hong Kong Domestic Helper community for over ten years, has this to say about the movie, “Sunday Beauty Queen is an accurate depiction of the lives of our OFWs. It shows both sides, the warts and the joys, for both the employers and the helpers. One sadly accurate anecdote from the film is about the girl who was set to leave for Japan and a better life, yet at the last minute chose to stay rather than be separated from her alaga. This boy had become a surrogate for her own child pining at home. This is very common among domestic helpers. This often compounds into tragedy once the employer, the mother of the child, discovers the situation. Often the helper is dismissed immediately, because she has stolen the heart of the youngster. Wise helpers are careful to hide their feelings from the parents, lest they find themselves terminated and jobless without warning.”

This movie truly opened a ‘pandora’s’ box containing the many OFWs issues and realizations which elicited a stronger consciousness from our citizenry. Hopefully, it can be an instrument of change to improve the conditions of the OFWs.

During the Aquino administration, P-Noy promised OFWs that at the end of his term, working abroad will be a choice rather than a necessity. He promised to about 9 million overseas Filipino workers at that time that he will create jobs at home so that there will no longer be a need to leave the country and look for greener pastures. He vowed that the welfare and protection of citizens who will still choose to become OFWs will remain as the government’s priority.

Records show that eight OFWs were executed during Aquino’s time despite last-minute appeals for clemency by the Philippine government. In 2013, one of the biggest scandals involving OFWs caught everyone’s ire. Philippine embassy and labor officials were accused of sexually abusing and prostituting distressed OFWs in Syria, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Until the end of Aquino’s term nothing was resolved.

In the recent presidential elections, seventy-two percent of OFWs who voted, chose Duterte in the belief that he would solve the failures of the Aquino government. Just like his predecessor, President Duterte vowed to put OFWs concerns among his top labor priorities.

Will the President be able to fulfill his promises? Is his “One-Stop-Shop” inside POEA a success? Are the passports efficiently processed by the DFA? Is his campaign to stop human trafficking and illegal recruiters happening? Has he completed his operation “Bring them Home”? Yes, we saw him welcome hundreds of OFWs from Saudi last year but will he be able to sustain and be consistent in his actions to save them from their travesty and be doomed? Let’s hope so.

This may be the beginning of a new era for the Philippine cinema industry. In a country as troubled and confused like ours, cinema can be used as a medium to educate the people. The stories can carry explicit ideas that intensify aspects of human experience. It can take us to places we have never seen before or introduce as to different groups of people we have never met nor thought existed. It can widen our perspective about the world around us.

Sure we want to escape reality sometimes and movies make that happen. We want to laugh, cry, be entertained and most of all learn. But all these can only happen when the movie makers create stories with careful thought and compassion, and in the process uplift the very soul of this country.