But if you don't want to, here's a brief outline.
- Briccio Santos just arrived from business-related trips in Pusan (South Korea) and Hanoi (Vietnam).
- His office's main priorities as the government arm of the film industry -- co-production and the national film archive -- all in the name of finally establishing a national/state cinema.
This is honestly a good start for Chairman Briccio as it is high time that we should establish one. There are so many films lost due to time and mismanagement, and I hope that the film industry can (finally!) work together to save our, as FDCP calls it, "cinematic gems."
However I have a feeling that the question among many people aware of this movement is, "which films should we preserve and reconstruct?" My personal view is this: why not preserve all while we still can?
I know, I know that many of films are not well-done, but in one way or another, a film despite its ratings and reviews still deserves to be preserved because -- admit it, Filipinos (or whoever reads my blog), at one point in our lives, we liked slapstick comedy and that brand of comedy made our childhood memorable to a certain extent (I still like Dolphy/Babalu comedy. Still cracks me up till now).
I know, I know that many of films are not well-done, but in one way or another, a film despite its ratings and reviews still deserves to be preserved because -- admit it, Filipinos (or whoever reads my blog), at one point in our lives, we liked slapstick comedy and that brand of comedy made our childhood memorable to a certain extent (I still like Dolphy/Babalu comedy. Still cracks me up till now).
A film archive is not only an area to keep films and prolong their lives, as well as provide public access to people who want to study Asian Film or Philippine Film. A film archive, like all archives, preserves and reconstructs our emotions, our lifestyles and our way of life. Just because some films lately have not been so excellent doesn't mean we cannot just throw them away. It's sort of like aborting your unborn child who has Down Syndrome. Take responsibility; the film archive will always help out.
I just hope producers have this foresight of depositing their films and not storing them in some poorly air-conditioned warehouse, and I hope that the Film Development Council of the Philippines will hold true to their mandate -- but they must ask help and support from SOFIA and Mowelfund, and not just CCP and NCCA.
I look forward to the days ahead for Philippine cinema.
My question for now is will all filmmakers help out? I'm not a filmmaker (I'm the granddaughter of one, and I'm sure he's disappointed with me) but nonetheless I am passionate about film preservation and I do want to help out as much as I can.
I look forward to the days ahead for Philippine cinema.
My question for now is will all filmmakers help out? I'm not a filmmaker (I'm the granddaughter of one, and I'm sure he's disappointed with me) but nonetheless I am passionate about film preservation and I do want to help out as much as I can.
