The recent wave of independent features from the Philippines points to a roadmap to wider renown for a cinema that may be undergoing renewed awakening amidst interesting paradigm shifts.
Going digital is the medium du jour for the numerous Filipino filmmakers who recently made a dent in the international film festival circuit. Like a breath of fresh air, the wave of digital features have put the spotlight on the local independent scene, changing the equation of its mainstream film industry almost overnight.
With 2005's total output of fifty-plus feature films, it may be surprising to note that nearly half were shot with the inexpensive format of digital video. Most of these were independently financed ushering a fresh breed of independent filmmakers.
Never mind if some of these films don't have the clearest image resolutions, big marquee names nor the best production values. What they have in their favor are fresh, invigorating concepts that normally wouldn't see the light of day in the usual slate of mainstream productions.
The buzzwords in their circles come in techie-sounding acronyms like HD (for high definition video) and 24p (for digital video's capacity to approximate the look of the film medium's 24 frames per second -- well, not quite).
Long been relegated to the fringes of an ailing film industry that may have seen better days, many of these filmmakers received their 15 minutes as their digital features got wider commercial releases.
Their considerable success has brought a measure of fame to some as the word "indie" suddenly became a household word in local shores. The ensuing media mileage anointed the independent film in its DV format as the in-thing of the moment and the weapon of choice for it to be sustainable.
While reflecting similar developments in many other countries, what makes the local experience remarkable is the degree by which Pinoy indie filmmakers have almost totally embraced the filmless format, setting them apart from their Southeast Asian counterparts.
In the last few years, independently produced films using DV have sporadically been shown in commercial cinemas playing to limited audiences. More recently, most theater chains have started investing in high-lumens projectors to be able to screen these digital features. SM and Robinsons, two of the country's biggest chains, now have cinemas devotedly exclusively for such films -- in almost all their branches.
In an industry increasingly dependent on big grosses to justify a decent commercial run, a democratized mode of production may hold the key to allow more non-commercial projects a fighting chance to be realized on the big screen.
The triple whammy of rising costs of film production, declining theater audiences and rampant film piracy are harsh realities. But they can also lead to the development of strategic choices that can be survival lessons for intrepid filmmakers across the globe.
The phenomenon has seen the usual funding schemes turned around, mainstream formulas and traditional marketing tactics eschewed for non-traditional approaches. Whether it reflects a certain "aesthetics of poverty" or not, what comes to the fore is a merger of the indie spirit with a DIY mindset.
The logistics of movie production isn't quite encouraging in these bottom-line days. The average cost of a typical Filipino production is pegged at roughly USD 500,000 to include marketing and distribution. In contrast, most of the digital indies have budgets ranging from USD 10,000 to USD 30,000 (excluding the optional cost for the expensive video-to-film transfer).
A local film needs to gross three times the amount to earn its ROI. If the film doesn't do well at the tills, a one-week run is the most it could have for a theatrical release.
The traditional big studios prefer to produce the "movie event" type of productions headlined by big-name stars, aggressively promoted in the tri-media, complete with promotional guest spots in entertainment talkshows, product-tie-ins and red carpet premieres, in vehicles that seldom deviate from the tried-and-tested.
The commercial nature of most of its films this side of Bollywood is thus understandable. And the commercial prospects for a non-mainstream film are even more daunting amidst some glaring realities.
Many of its middle-class audiences, weaned on Hollywood films and who can easily afford one-hundred-plus-priced movie tickets, have slowly drifted away from the local fare. Complicating the equation is the preference of theater owners for safer, commercial fare that ensures the crowds in cineplexes and help sells the popcorn.
The high taxes levied on films plus the spiraling cost of film stock have all contributed to the declining fortunes of an industry with an audience share that is rapidly slipping.
In the face of higher admission prices, the mass-based audiences of Filipino movies have gradually shifted to other forms of entertainment, attracted by cheaper offerings from free TV, pirated DVDs and, perhaps, even YouTube.
The gradual decline of its mainstream film industry is ironic given that its industry was once the world's fourth most prolific. The Philippines used to churn out movies in an assembly-line fashion where glossy melodramas, action potboilers, star-driven formula vehicles, soft-porn B-movies (called bold films) and occasional "serious" films get thrown into a heady brew lapped up by its mass audiences.
The country's Spanish and American colonial past have bred a society with a pervasive Catholic influence imbued with an outwardly Western outlook. The democratic spirit that became its cherished colonial legacy soon spawned a freewheeling society characterized by corruption-prone administrations and gaping inequalities among the social classes.
Its convent-meets-Hollywood heritage would seep a distinctive, if not contradictory, flavor into its cinema, characterized as being more Latin than "Asian" by some circles.
The social-realist films of Lino Brocka, Philippine cinema's best known director, had long defined the local industry. A shining product of the second golden age of Filipino films in the mid-seventies, Brocka was the key figure that helped put a face to its national cinema.
His demise in the mid-nineties, together with another ace director, Ishmael Bernal, had left a vacuum in the local film scene. The directors who filled in the void soon got enmeshed in mainstream productions, typified more for their formulaic compromises than for showing promise as the next film auteur.
The succession of recent political crises leading to times of uncertainty have made its film industry, operating primarily on privilege and personal connections, more inward-looking and not quite adaptive to change.
The realities confronting the local movie industry in this millennium -- rampant film piracy, the competition of foreign blockbusters and declining movie attendances -- are shared by its counterparts in the region. Amidst these challenges though are telling signs that the big picture may be changing.
The zeitgeist of the moment bodes well for the Filipino indie film as it signals an urgent wakeup call for its mainstream film industry to take action or be left behind in the dizzying race for globalization.
A reverse trickle-down effect may be unfolding, paving the way for a better playing field for its new players. It has opened a window of opportunity for film projects with budgets that may be bargain basement but big in concept and imagination to get a better chance for a slice of the box-office pie.
The current wave of indie films, products of a unique confluence of shifting paradigms and change in formats, have unleashed brighter prospects for the state of independence in Philippine cinema.
Ed Lejano regularly contributes film articles for international and local publications including the Philippine Daily Inquirer. As a member of Netpac (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), he has been a Juror for international film festivals in Singapore and France. He obtained his Masters degree in Broadcast Communication in UP Dilimano and a Certificate in Film from New York University in 1996 where he had resided for 10 years. He has four feature films to his credit as director/screenwriter including Seroks (Photocopy, 2006) and Sinungaling na Buwan (The Liar Moon , 2007).
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