Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The "Masses" and the "Indie"




Magandang Gabi kuya lex,

Isa po ako sa inyong masugid na taga-hanga dahil sa kagandahan ng inyong mga obra at angking galing at katapangan upang iwagayway ang bandila ng LGBT.

Ako po si Liryc Paolo Dela Cruz,17, mula sa bayan ng south cotabato. kasalukuyan po akong nag-aaral sa ateneo de davao university. Nakagawa na rin po ako ng maikling pelikula na binigyang parangal ni kidlat tahimik. Masaya po ako't naging kontak ko kayo dito sa multiply. May ginagawa po akong pananaliksik ngayon patungkol sa estado ng industriya ng indie films.

Nais ko po sanang hingan kayo ng reaksyon ukol dito. bakit sa tingin niyo po hindi gaano kumikita ang mga pelikulang indie at ano ba ang mga rason kung bakit hindi ito napapansin ng madla.


MARAMING SALAMAT PO

LIRYC PAOLO DELA CRUZ


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Hi Lyric Paolo,


First of all, congratulations for being able to create your own film (recognized by one of the pillars of independent filmmaking in the country, Kidlat Tahimik)

Let me clarify some ideas in your inquiry.

First, independent films (or the films created by private individuals or those films produced with relatively low budget) do make money especially those with gay themes.

Although, they could never earn money as much as a typical Star Cinema romantic film simply because there are a lot less theaters willing to exhibit films in digital format.

It is true that the “madla” or the masses are not familiar with independent films because of the following reasons:

Most independent films are “cerebral” in nature. The Filipino masses don’t want to think when they watch movies. They want their films to be “escapist” something that does not challenge the way they think but rather visualize their life fantasies. Hence, even if you put a big star in an independent film, it never guarantees support from the madla (Judy Ann Santos for Ploning; Piolo Pascual for Chopseuy; Sam Milby for Cul de Sac)

Majority of the independent films coming out nowadays are “mature and gay” in nature. The “masses” do not “mature gay men” for their films. They want something family oriented or romantic in nature (straight romance, that is).


These are the realities that confront the independent filmmaker. Our cultural psyche has been “Americanized” for the past decades and for that reason, the Filipino masses will always crave for the instant “Hollywood fantasy”.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

mr lex,
i agree with you. there is still a need for maturity from the moviegoing public... mahilig ako manood ng sine at di ko itatanggi na mas maganda para sa akin iyong di na lang nag iisip.. it is just for entertainment, pero di ko rin maitatanggi na malimit naghahanap rin ang utak ko ng mga bagay na makakapagpalawak ng pananaw. napanood ko ang lihim ni antonio at sa totoo lang ay malalim ang kuento...i invited my friend to watch it and you know what? we had a very interesting discussion.. inabot kami ng magdamag talking about the movie.. the characters and how it is related to our lives... nagkaroon pa nga kami ng unearthing of childhood memories which i find very therapeutic.. as friends, we became more bonded.. and come to think of it... nakatipid ako ng therapy session.. not that i need pero after that it made me get into the depths of my being. with that salamat sa kuento... siguro ganito na lang, ang mga ganitong pelikula ay di para sa lahat.. there is a specific target group for these kinds of films.. at tama lang na may mga specific venues for these films -- at ang UP ay isa sa mga ito. (well, i'm just connecting it to the article posted in the bakla review)... sana hindi madiscourage ang mga film makers na nagbibigay ng kamulatan sa ating saradong isip na lipunan..
again, salamat..

jhon

LoF said...

in the traditional film theory, most star cinema-regal films all fall in the same classicalist limbo between realism and formalism. There are indie films like Cris Pablo's which are more in the realm of realism yet attempt to tell a story, through the familiar classical styles, about the bagong gay urban male subculture. Then there are your films which although appear through the lives of searching/curious young men, is in the classical realm but sometimes uses elements of formalism (as in LsP). From my view, the point is not to represent the bagong gay urban male life, but to present the complexities of the human experience (through the lens of the complexities of sexuality).

Pablo's films will be limited because they are really directed towards a particular subgroup within society. Your films, however, only really lack distribution and marketing. (Duda would come closest for Pablo, in my mind, to wider appeal -- but it still suffers from gay overcoding.)