Friday, April 15, 2022

 From Facebook post, December 31, 2020

2020: MY YEAR IN FILM ...
Not so much. It was a year when cinema houses literally went dark, the coronavirus pandemic practically led to shutting down production, thousands lost their lives, thousands lost their jobs, film artists with no-to-minimal help from government, left to fend for themselves, scrounging for outside support or make use of their other skills to survive; a year when we lost our most enduring film icons, film stars Anita Linda and Mila del Sol; and filmmaker, Peque Gallaga.
At no other time in recent history, has the film community been so fragmented, that its citizens are not defined solely by their competence, if not artistry, but their political alliances ...
Uncertain of the future was what we had, FACINE also had to pause,
that as a film group, it lost an opportunity to keep track with films, either recently released, or are about to be shown ....
Yet, some developments bear watching -
- it was the year when M2M attraction on film gained bearing with the popular appeal of BL web series - essentially boys love teen romance, exemplified by "Gameboys"
- it was the year when online screening of films, or streaming, became a requisite means to distribute and exhibit films; a Philippine-based streaming platform was launched, Upstream, which hosted a number of local festivals, including the ongoing MetroManila Film Festival, a development which signals the industry, it is the future
- it was also the year of rediscovering long-lost Philippine cinema, exemplified especially by Mike de Leon's Casa Grande Vintage Filipino Cinema facebook page/Citizen Jake vimeo page which led us to the works of long-forgotten Filipino film masters, foremost of which was Dr. Gregorio Fernandez, whose list of now-available films , at least ten are now streaming, have attracted attention of film scholars and historians that Fernandez is truly a filmmaker of first caliber; special note is also given a few studios which have made their recent films available for free on their youtube channels, CinemaOne Originals, TBA Studios, and recently, Regal Films.
For his noteworthy effort to preserve and make available his family production, LVN Studios' films to the greater public for free, including the special event treatment of his film classics, including KISAPMATA and BAYANING 3RD WORLD, on top of being the most vocal opposition voice from the film community to the murderous Duterte regime, my choice to be 2020's Film Person of the Year, is MIKE DE LEON. I just hope more will follow his footsteps - preservation of film and maintaining advocacy for social justice.
- Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr., Artistic Director, FACINE
Instrella Ed, Jojo Devera and 28 others
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