Cinemalaya started in 2005; since then it has been showcasing us pure talents and new ideas. For its 9th year, Cinemalaya’s theme is “Cinesthesia” which connects it to the synergy of our senses. Synergy is from the Greek word synergia which means working together. The cinematography, the actors, the screenplay writers and the crew all work together to make a quality film that makes our senses come to life. For us, films are the strongest forms of art because they literally bring us in the story, make us experience what the characters feel, take us to new places, open our eyes to imagination and adventure and to make us feel what they want us to feel—and Cinemalaya gives way to all these by giving us a new amazing experience every year.
Cinemalaya is celebrated every July to August
of every year at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. It showcases
independent films which are made by Filipino film makers. It also gives way for
short films and it also introduces new breeds of film. Films entered in the
festival are often low in budget so they have to be extremely resourceful and
creative to produce a quality film. It is a blessing for the Philippine Film Industry to have the
annual Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival because through this,
ideas from small new breed filmmakers are developed. They are given the chance
to express their creativity and show how great filmmakers they can be when
given the chance.
Cinemalaya is important because it paves way to independent
films to get a chance to be shown at the theatres of CCP. We are only familiar
to mainstream cinema but most of us don’t care about independent films because
they are stereotyped as boring. Its significance to Philippine Cinema in
general is that the movies entered in the festival always focuses on our
culture and traditions. It means that independent films are based completely on
the realities on our society and economy. The films are always practical and
never exaggerated. Another thing is the way they direct their cinematography is
different because they don’t always choose to see the character’s face or all
the characters in a scene are facing the camera—it is expressed in a real way.
Independent films are not just better in choosing their stories but also the
way their actors and actresses present and read their lines. In mainstream
cinema and television, the actors’ performances are always elevated. When they
cry, they shout and scream and throw things, and that doesn’t happen in real
life but in independent films, the actors express the lines of their roles just
as they are in real life.
Cinemalaya is important to the Philippine
cinema because films made here are originally Filipino. It means that we
patronize our own works because believe it or not, Filipinos have this colonial
mentality that makes us more attracted to movies from the West. As long as this
festival is being supported, Philippine Cinema will never fade. Cinemalaya is
important to Philippine Cinema because it is where young filmmakers start, it’s
where they develop their skills Cinemalaya also gives opportunity to these
talented filmmakers to make their work be seen by the mass. This event is also a chance of new film makers to develop
more in their career. It
is a necessity that these filmmakers are given the chance to showcase their
talents, even just once a year so they get a chance to show everybody the new
ideas that young minds are working on.
It is important to honor the talents of Filipinos in the art of filmmaking. It
is important because more often these independent films are about Filipino
themselves, the issues, traditions and culture of our country will be tackled
as well so if we watch these things, we will be enlightened and we will be
aware of these realities that face us. The independent films are unafraid to
break conventions. They are more into discovering new techniques and ways on
telling stories, they are more eager to release their talents and master their
works.
Because of Cinemalaya, even unpopular and
never-heard-of filmmakers, actors and actresses are given the chance to play
roles in movies that will be shown in the CCP theaters. When their movie is
chosen as the best, they might even be given the chance to be seen in
mainstream cinema for all of Filipinos to see. We think that’s a filmmaker’s
main goal, to make everyone see their movies which they view as their life’s
greatest work. Without this festival happening every year, we think that
Philippine Cinema might crumble and slowly lead to its death. Cinemalaya, for
us, is the hope of Philippine Cinema. Imagine if this festival doesn’t exist
and all we know and all we can see are these mainstream movies with their formulae
and corny plots, not that we don’t personally enjoy them but if we take these
years and years, people might get bored of watching until one day, nobody is
going to watch Filipino films anymore because there are no new ideas seen and
no conventions are broken. It is also where pure talents in making movies are
seen. Filmmakers who join Cinemalaya are taking risks, breaking conventions and
they always explore new techniques and tricks in movie making. Without these
new, young and fresh ideas from talented filmmakers, the Philippine Cinema
might be stranded where it is now: corny stories and formulae.
Mainstream
television in the Philippines often follows a convention that is certainly a
sure hit. It is often the same drama love story, same family problems, same
plots and as time goes by, Filipinos might get tired of it because mainstream
TV never explores new ideas, maybe because they are afraid their audiences
might not like the change.
Independent films
are so different from mainstream television, they are way better. They always
have fresh ideas, new stories to share and they always set new conventions and
they don’t just follow the formulae that most mainstream TV shows use.
Mainstream television can learn a lot from independent films in a lot of
aspects.
Since most independent films have low film budget ,
they are maximizing their resources to produce the films of their dreams. This
is one of the things that mainstream television should learn from indie films,
they should learn how to budget though they don’t actually need to but
Philippines is a third world country with poverty as its main problem so why
spend a lot when you can spend little and still get the same results, maybe
even better. Although viewers prefer big shows that have quality cinematic
effects, it is still essential to appreciate indie films because it’s not just
about the cinematic effects and technicalities but it’s about the depth of the
story.
First of all, independent movies
always look so real while mainstream television is, well, often exaggerated and
over-done. Indie films always make sure that setting looks real and not
obviously made up. Mainstream TV shows should learn to try shooting in a real
setting or add more effort in production designing to make a studio real and it
doesn’t look so obvious that they are in box. Independent films always use new
actors and actresses because, for us, they act more naturally than in
mainstream TV shows. We think that the famous actors and actresses in soap
operas nowadays overact. For example, the way Marian Rivera cries in her
shows—she would always cry with sound. In real life, nobody cries like that.
Actresses must learn how to just act naturally—like just let the teardrops fall
and breathe heavily. We think that mainstream television should grab these
techniques so that it won’t be seen as exaggerated and inappropriate. Another thing is the screenplay; most lines
are always used like the pickup lines or the things they say when they are mad
while independent films always make new lines that are never used in television
but are used in real life. So we think that mainstream TV shows should apply
real things that we say everyday instead of writing with deep, Filipino words that
we don’t usually.
Second thing, indie
films don’t promote products. It’s not that noticeable but sometimes it makes
the mainstream television show look like an advertisement for this certain product
and people are fed up with it as well.
Next are the new ideas
that independent films use, mainstream television should be taking risks and
doing new techniques but every after a show, always comes another show just
like it—only different actors. Mainstream TV should explore with new stories
that no one has ever watched before and make their topics more controversial
and not just about teenagers falling in love, brothers and sisters being
separated and finding each other in the end, love triangles, family problems
and many more stories repeated over and over again.
Another thing are the
values that independent films share, mainstream television lack these except
for some shows that we’ve seen. All I see now are teenagers hanging out in a
bar at the age of sixteen, kissing, having love problems—no wonder Filipino
teenagers are having those ideas in their head. The TV is a big influence on
values and we think that they should always teach good, moral values and they
should be careful in showing contents that may be a source of bad influence
especially to the young audiences.
To conclude our
reflections, our experience of watching Cinemalaya was beyond amazing, it’s
very enlightening. Since it was our first time to ever go to the Cultural
Center of the Philippines, we were all surprised of how everything looked. We
all had a great time being able to celebrate Filipino independent films and be
given the chance to see the wonderful talents that were showcased in the
Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. We have also seen lots of filmmakers:
directors, actors and actresses and the crew and we admire all of them for
their awesome performances in their respective movies. We felt really special
because we became a part of the celebration of Philippine Cinema. We are left
enthused and inspired because of the fresh scenes we have seen. We are amazed
how the filmmakers stumbled upon different ideas and made them into quality
films like the ones we’ve seen. We have seen films with new plots and unique
stories that we haven’t seen before.
Cinemalaya is
surely an important part of the Philippine Cinema because it’s where all new
things happen—it’s where new and young filmmakers are discovered, actors are
renowned for their wonderful performances, for us, Cinemalaya and independent
films are two places where all the magic
start to happen. We still see hope for the development of Philippine Cinema and
we can see it here in Cinemalaya, we see it the independent films, new breed
films and short movie entries.
Mainstream
Television definitely has a lot to learn from independent films. The shows need
to be more explorative and they should welcome new ideas so that they can be
able to break conventions and they will cease to use formulae for their shows
and offer us something that will surprise and amaze us every time we go watch
shows at home. From improving their settings, their stories, their screenplay
or script, the actors’ performances—mainstream television shows can definitely
improve a lot more if they just make the techniques that independent films
used.
We had a lot of
fun in the Cinemalaya Festival, especially because we got to attend it with our
friends. It is certainly the main highlight of our first semester. We don’t
even think of it as a requirement anymore because we enjoyed a lot watching
different movies and being with our friends. We also got to share the
experience with our friends from different schools who also loved the festival.
We are definitely coming back to watch the 10th Cinemalaya
Independent Film Festival.
PS Hany Nievera didn't participate in making the group essay.
No comments:
Post a Comment