CoMo No. 10: Philippines (February, 2023)

[sally]

[niminy-piminy]

all the Filipino films i have seen during MFDF Ji.hlava 2022...
→ https://www.ji-hlava.com/programove-sek ... a-filipiny
→ https://www.dokrevue.com/news/the-phili ... ntary-film

1. Shadows (Raymond Red, 2000, 13m)
2. Lizard: How to Perform in Front of a Reptile (Ludwing Ilio, Roxlee, 1986, 5m)
3. Child of Manila (Emmanuel Dadivas, Dange Desembrana, 1993, 6m)
4. Margin (Paolo Villaluna, 2001, 17m)
5. The Woman Behind the Tattoo Artist (Lauren Faustino, 2012, 45m)
6. There is Nothing Here (Jean Claire Dy, 2015, 8m)
7. Consequences of Man (Jeffrie Po, 2018, 13m)
8. On My Way to Freedom Avenue, I was Crushed in EDSA (Lem Garcellano, 2019, 4m)
9. To Pick a Flower (Shireen Seno, 2021, 17m)
10. Even If Cities Would Vanish, We Will Remain (John Thomas Trinidad, 2022, 5m)
11. Oliver (Nick Deocampo, 1983, 38m)
12. Revolutions Happen Like Refrains in a Song (Nick Deocampo, 1987, 85m)
13. Fury in Paradise (Eduardo de Castro, 1937, 64m)
14. The Great Smoke (Roxlee, 1984, 7m)
15. ABCD (Roxlee, 1985, 5m)
16. The Sex Warriors and the Samurai (Nick Deocampo, 1995, 26m)
17. Riddle: Superstitions from the Garbage Can (Mario Mercado, Rei Nicandro, 1989, 6m)
18. Unison (Yam Laranas, At Maculangan, 1990, 10m)
19. Holy (Elvert Bañares, 1993, 7m)
20. The Brief Lifespan of Fire Act 2 Scene 2: Suring and the Kuk-ok (Auraeus Solito, 1995, 9m)
21. In Manila (Mike Alcazaren, Josephine Atienza, Alan Hilario, Ricky Orellana, Vic Bacani, 1989, 7m)

(1.) trailer
https://youtu.be/0AIHxZYLPj0

(2.) full
https://youtu.be/myUjQW1xlXU

(5.) trailer
https://youtu.be/634UCbJTLWA

(9.) excerpt
https://vimeo.com/629308301

(11.) full
https://youtu.be/meOYge3r8z0

(12.) full
https://youtu.be/K8Z7Y3NOp9M

(13.) full
https://youtu.be/sT4vwMwWXlE

(14.) full
https://youtu.be/IaYpRoc6d8o

(15.) full
https://youtu.be/ih9q8aFTQBY

[sally]

favourite filipino movies:
anak dalita / child of sorrow - lamberto v avellana (1956)
biyaya ng lupa / blessings of the land - manuel silos (1959)
weighed but found wanting - lino brocka (1974)
tatlong taong walang diyos / three years without god - mario o'hara (1976) (HILARIOUS MUBI CONTROVERSY)
as we were - eddie romero (1976)
perfumed nightmare - kidlat tahimik (1977)
oro, plata, mata / gold, silver, death - peque gallaga (1982)
himala - ishmael bernal (1982)
bayaning 3rd world - mike de leon (2000)
a short film about the indio nacional - raya martin (2005)
melancholia - lav diaz (2008)
serbis - brillante mendoza (2008)

i guess only notable director not mentioned yet above is khavn?

anyone have a list of all the best screaming melodramas? (my notion of 'classic' filipino cinema)

there are tons of films from the 30s and 40s on vimeo/yt etc, but none of them have subtitles

[sally]

aha, slight additions to the above, manuel conde and gerardo de leon

visions cinema: film in the philippines - a report by tony rayns (1983) #CoMoFilipino

a keith griffiths (uk legend) produced doc made for uk tv featuring a baby tony rayns - how on earth was british tv ever this good? (i forgot it could be) made during the dictatorship (!) featuring interviews from manuel conde (lol at his little horses) ishmael bernal, lino brocka, agustin sotto and marilou diaz-abaya

and tantalisingly delicious clips and stills from, as far as i can see, unavailable movies! can anyone find (with subtitles) gerardo de leon's moises padilla story, el filibusturismo, ang daigdig ng mga api???????

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1AkUU4 ... oryChannel

[niminy-piminy]

DIRT (Tad Ermitaño, 1989, 4m) #CoMoFilipino

A documentary on the "xenobiological" essay by one Restituto A. Calampangan, Head Analytical Service, Philippine Orbital Research Center in the Year 2125.
https://youtu.be/5EsVIPhzthU

Tad Ermitaño (May 1964) graduated from the Philippine Science High School in 1981, studied Biology at the University of Hiroshima, and holds a Bachelor`s degree in Philosophy from the University of the Philippines. He trained in film and video at the Mowelfund Film Institute and currently designs and mixes sound for digital features and produces video for projection in a variety of stage/concert contexts. He is a media artist and was the sole Filipino artist exhibiting at 20th anniversary of ISEA in 2008 (Main Juried Exhibition) and the Ogaki Biennale 2006 New Media Festival. His single-channel videos are distinguished by an audiovisual sensuousness underpinned by a logic that reflects his training in philosophy and the sciences. Included among these single-channel works are Sausage, The Retrochronological Transfer of Information, and Hulikotekan v. 2.1, the last two of which have been screened at a number of international festivals, including the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and the Hong Kong International Film Festival. His facility with a broad range technologies has led to his exploration of computers, programming, and electronics to manipulate sound and video in real time. He also performs audiovisual pieces, both solo and as part of the experimental media group The Children of Cathode Ray.

[niminy-piminy]

PHILIPPINE NEW WAVE: THIS IS NOT A FILM MOVEMENT (Khavn, 2010) #CoMoFilipino

The most prominent internationally-acclaimed and wildly divergent digital filmmakers from the Philippines answer questions on filmmaking and beyond. From humble beginnings, to first adventures and unforgettable experiences, to influences and philosophy and process, to what the power of film is, to the true meaning of independence, to what the future holds for cinema, locally and worldwide.

Khavn throws the questions at them, and gamely answers them himself. And the results are at turns informative and insightful, inspirational and illuminating, revealing how diverse the landscape of Philippine Cinema has become. And how much of it is a shared love and a shared art in which you are complicit in.

[sally]

if anyone wants some contemporary atmosphere, this channel is excellent/mildly disturbing (all the military gear shops in chaotic manila, the tendency to incredibly narrow, claustrophobic alleyways where domestic space is indistinguishable from public space (every house is a shop?) the wires, oh my god, the wires)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQiI_I0 ... ptoTrekker

[rischka]

batang west side (2001) troubled cop investigates the death of a filipino gangbanger - trips into a horror movie in the last third. few of diaz' soon to be signature long takes are evident. it's practically an action film! still takes 5 hours to wind up and never solves the central 'mystery' because that was never the point. nice work repping other filipino directors here

[rischka]

https://youtu.be/axBnVtkruCM

[rischka]

three years without god is really good and it deserved all those votes back in the day

[niminy-piminy]

THE (JI.HLAVA) BROCKAS UNVEILING, PART 1

recalling Ji.hlava (viz another thread)
and speaking of Lav Diaz (viz above),
i think the time has come to start spamming (bit by bit) this thread with pictures from The Brockas gig.

i didn't do just one pic...


neither only four pics...


no, delirious Roxlee guesses wrongly!
i did over 200 snapshots (of very divergent quality — from sharply focused to blurry-n-vague).
so, brace yourself!

but first, let me remind you of the settings...

this year, the most impressive was the Filipino retrospective...

The Transparent Landscape section that focuses on one specific country will this year showcase films made over a period longer than a century in the Philippines. Viewers can look forward to the biggest showcase of Filipino cinema held outside Asia. “It’s an exceptional retrospective that has been two years in the making and showcases the evolution of documentary and independent experimental cinema,” says Ji.hlava’s programmer Adriana Belešová.

during my 3 days in Ji.hlava, i watched only about half of the Filipino program (some screenings were the other days, and some screenings overlapped with the other program i was interested in) but i got intrigued and I hope to search for the rest during the upcoming (eventual) CoMo.

while going to Ji.hlava, i was aware of this retrospective and was looking forward to it, but i was not aware they invited the filmmakers too (something one might expect but somehow i missed this information), so when during my first (second in the program) Filipino screening suddenly jumped out of the nearby seat Kidlat Tahimik to participate on the intro speech i was SHOCKED!
the other person on the pic is Nick Deocampo whom i didn't know before the festival.
he is not only a filmmaker but also a scholarly type of person so his intros preceding Filipino screenings were great.


the other SHOCK hit when the first intro speech was concluded by the invitation to the gig of the band called The Brockas the next day.
i was not investigating the off-screen program beforehand, so this was also something i didn't notice in advance, i mean the SHOCKING "trivia" that Lav Diaz is also in Ji.hlava and will play on guitar next evening.

besides those mentioned above, also Khavn and Roxlee arrived.
i didn't know Roxlee before.
he was appointed a head of the jury of the Fascinations Section and was a frontman of The Brockas.
during the concert, he was making obscene re-enactments of the scenes from his animated movies.


https://youtu.be/ih9q8aFTQBY?t=315

The Brockas concert was truly the climax of my 3 days stay in Ji.hlava cuz during the gig the atmosphere was beyond sublunary (viz pic above) and i took hold of a priceless cinephile relic (Lav Diaz's broken pick) without striving for it!
currently stored in a silly decorative box i inherited a few years ago and couldn't find a purpose for it.
obviously, it was just waiting for this relic and now it is the central point of my home kinoaltar in front of which i daily pray!


the whole story of gaining this relic is like this...
my last screening of the day (27/10) was a retrospective of Michael Bielicky who, while studying photography with Bechers in Düsseldorf in the 1980s, came in contact with Nam June Paik and besides making a few namjunepaik-like short videos, he also shot an opus called THE FAT CORNER (1987)

https://www.ji-hlava.com/filmy/die-fettecke

In 1982 Joseph Beuys created one of his fat installations in his studio at the academy in Düsseldorf. Fat Corner consisted of five kilograms of butter placed in the corner of a room five meters above the ground. After his death in 1986, the installation was accidentally removed and destroyed. Bielický’s work refers to this infamous event and is also a tribute to the personality of the eminent artist.

so, i arrived at the gig in an already half-delirious state of mind (after listening for half an hour to militant leftist German artists, present in Düsseldof Academy in the 1980s, ramblings about the accidental destruction of the sculpture by Joseph Beyous made of butter and seeing it as the proof of the end of an era and advent of the commercial apocalypse).
the tent (where the gig took place) was already packed and thus i saw no hope to get among the zombies in front of the stage and thus fully relish the tunes.
BUT then fate showed me a favor and i noticed there are fewer ppl on the left side (around the booze stand) so i moved this way and bypassed the crowd.
then fate was even more favorable and some ppl in front of the stage were leaving to smoke a cig outside for a moment.
thus without much effort, i suddenly stood just in front of the stage (in near proximity to Lav Diaz whose guitar was nurturing the amplifiers with the soft melancholic melodies — in the overall mad atmosphere full of deafening noise).


during the whole gig, Lav Diaz has been torn apart between his prevailing introversion and occasional itching to contribute to the overall chaos by messing up with other musician's instruments or offering his guitar to the audience to actively participate in the gig not only by shouting into the microphone stolen from Khavn de la Cruz but also playing on his guitar.
thus he distributed to all the ppl standing nearby (me included) all his spare picks and urged us to hit the strings of his precious instrument.
after several episodes of this immersive music production, he didn't ask for his picks to be given back and he left them to the participants as trophies.
BUT then later he broke his own pick and was without any spare left.
so, with a minimalist gesture, he offered the broken pick to the nearest person (me by the game of fate) who participated in the previous cooperative guitar playing in exchange for the unbroken one.
fortunately enough, i was not yet fully delirious (there was still some sound reason left) and thus i understood the minimalist gesture, exchanged the picks, and became the owner of the invaluable relic with the potential to become the pivotal item of some film-related cult of the future.

[niminy-piminy]

THE (JI.HLAVA) BROCKAS UNVEILING, PART 2

despite The Brockas gig being very loud and wild, fueled by a powerful high-voltage engine...


there were still a few objects (a few unplugged instruments) that stood still-n-silent — all the mad occurrences revolved around them.
you can see them in the very last picture of the previous installment.
those are an acoustic guitar (viz ←↓ left, bottom, also visible on the penultimate pic of the previous post, next to Lav Diaz),
and a violin plus an accordion (viz ↓→ right, bottom)

THE (JI.HLAVA) BROCKAS UNVEILING, PART 1

i missed the beginning of the gig, so i can't rule it out that someone played them shortly during the opening
but so far i had witnessed (during the rest of the gig) these instruments remained unused.

while the intact acoustic guitar was mostly the calm epicenter of Lav Diaz's performance...




around the intact violin and accordion revolved the whole band (viz on the floor, in the middle)...



the intact violin and accordion were the true eye of the tornado...



and the poor pristine violin and accordion also witnessed (from the nearest proximity) Roxlee's carrot obscenities (which i will put into spotlights in the next installment)...

[niminy-piminy]

BUBONG! (ROOFS OF THE WORLD! UNITE!) (Kidlat Tahimik, 2006) #CoMoFilipino

Roofs of the world unite!
You have nothing to lose but your leaks.

[niminy-piminy]

MIX ONE AND TWO (Roxlee, 1990) #CoMoFilipino

If there is no tree, there is no nest.

A child with a gas mask dreaming of an eagle's flight presents an environmental reflection on the impact of human civilization on the environment. However, the clear message is dressed in unusually subtle clothing, with lyrical melodies and poetic images of vast landscapes ready to capture Icarus' fall.

[niminy-piminy]

THE (JI.HLAVA) BROCKAS UNVEILING, PART 3

oke, let's deal now with the "carrot incident"...

THE (JI.HLAVA) BROCKAS UNVEILING, PART 1

at first, it doesn't seem the carrot(s) gonna play any significant role in the performance...


the vegetable was just there.
it was a bit odd but one could assume that the frontman of the band wants to make a claim that this item is an excellent source of vitamin A (with one serving providing 184% of your daily value), Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Biotin, Vitamin K1, Potassium, Vitamin B6, Lutein and more...




but it was not what the frontman had on his mind...


what followed after the previous ↑ i don't even dare to interpret ↓
let's assume it's a carrot microphone...


while the carrot was still haunting the audience, suddenly it became obvious there is moreover a pumpkin on stage...


fortunately enough, the fragile pumpkin fell apart (when confronted with the hard skull) rather soon, and thus nothing (that could be labeled as a "pumpkin incident") happened...



the intact violin and accordion (viz previous installment), together with broken pumpkin and maltreated carrot(s)...

[niminy-piminy]

MUSE OF THE PASIG RIVER (Richard Abelardo, 1950) #CoMoFilipino

Muse of the Pasig River is one of the few films to survive intact from the archives of LVN Pictures, the celebrated Filipino studio run by Mike De Leon’s grandmother Doña Sisang. Surprised by the film’s “uncanny resemblance” to his own debut feature, Itim, De Leon writes, “Like Itim, Mutya ng Pasig is a ghost story set in a provincial milieu; a father commits a horrible crime; a young woman is possessed by the vengeful spirit of her dead mother…. The story of Abelardo’s film has other magical elements. For instance, a story about a ghostly woman singing in the dead of night the melancholy strains of ‘Mutya ng Pasig’ (a kundiman, or traditional love song), pining for her lost love, seeking pity and justice, circulates in the town of Matangtubig (Water’s Eye—even the town’s name is magical).

Nicanor Abelardo, the director’s cousin and one of our greatest composers, created this sublime kundiman while Deogracias Rosario wrote its lyrics.”

The story doesn't generate the same level of tempestuous passion as Bronte's immortal novel.
Delfin and Mercedes, when they meet, talk, nothing more...

https://youtu.be/FlF4GKLurRg

[niminy-piminy]

BANAL KAHOY (HOLY WOOD) (Kidlat Tahimik, 2002) #CoMoFilipino

Banal-Kahoy" (Holy Wood) is a docu-feature shot in digital video and 16mm film

about the woodcarvers of Hapao, Ifugao. The Hapao culture is embodied in this indigenous tribal leader named Lopez-Nauyac, a woodcarver of 50 years. Lopez-Nauyac has begun returning to nature what he gets for free. He is reviving the indigenous forestry management called the "pinugo" system, which is the foundation of Rice Terraces. "Banal-Kahoy" (Holy Wood) refers to the tree spirits that have been protecting the rice terraces. Scenes include the Hapao woodcarvers' trip to Japan to carve a sacred totem pole in a temple from a 250-year old tree that was killed by lightning.

[rischka]

himala is terrific

[rischka]

wow weighed but found wanting is raw power. and it's really remarkable in these two films how entwined peoples' lives are with the religion imposed on them

[sally]

wow you're really doing como! i am somewhat thwarted by the length of most of the films (predilection for a minimum 2 hour movies) and the constantly seeing women get raped/abused motif. it's powerful in the right hands, but it does also seem to be a bit of a constant.

tbh khavn's survey of contemporary filipino cinema put me off a lot of those filmmakers.

[rischka]

yeah i'm afraid to get into too much lav diaz

i still have bayaning 3rd world and imburnal - which i remember was in a cup once but i never watched it

probably need a break for something fun now

[niminy-piminy]

THE (JI.HLAVA) BROCKAS UNVEILING, PART 4

in this installment, we will move from Roxlee's "incidents" to something brighter, namely Khavn's whig...





i encountered Khavn (not knowing it was Khavn) in front of one of the venues a day before.
he wore the same eccentric outfit.
i must admit my first thought was, "what's this trendy superficial nonsense?!"
but in retrospect (after attending the gig), i appreciate the integrity of his stage and off-stage appearance.


on stage, Khavn's bright (extrovert) whig served as a counterpoint to Lav Diaz's black (introvert) hat...


whenever Khavn raised his eyes to heaven (happened seldom), whig's long forelock stopped hiding no less distinctive glasses...


this swag fashion-police report would not be complete without taking into account the rings...

[sally]

history of ha - lav diaz (2021) #CoMoFilipino

really really enjoyed how gorgeous this was plus the aimless mooching, before it got all 'severe emotional journey' (of one man, ironically, who finds redemption in 'the people', something the film didn't, seeing as it was still focussed on this one guy. HA!)

[niminy-piminy]

ibid...

[niminy-piminy]

THE (JI.HLAVA) BROCKAS UNVEILING, PART 5

aim of this installment is to illustrate the following (previous) claim...

THE (JI.HLAVA) BROCKAS UNVEILING, PART 1

during the whole gig, Lav Diaz has been torn apart between his prevailing introversion and occasional itching to contribute to the overall chaos by messing up with other musician's instruments

so, most of the time, LD was giving his own parallel (melancholic guitar) gig...


however, occasionally, he left his cozy den...


and sneaking from the side or from behind...



he joined (interfered with) his fiery whigged antipode's Kurzweil play...

[rischka]

imburnal (sewer) 2008 - lots of striking images from a swampy tropical country. something like a filipino version of timeless bottomless bad movie. not sure how 'scripted' this thing is, i assume not much. banned in philippines where it recieved an x rating. i think it's a bit too long personally but i respect it. someone on lb wrote: less boring than lav diaz

[sally]

the yawn - raymond red (1984) #CoMoFilipino




excuse me, miss, miss, miss - sonny calvento (2019) #CoMoFilipino

streaming for free on locarno shorts: https://www.locarnofestival.ch/LFF/shorts-weeks.html

[niminy-piminy]

Rule number 3 on the handbook: Yawning is bad for business!

[sally]

the muzzled horse of an engineer in search of mechanical saddles - khavn (2008) #CoMoFilipino

enjoyed this way more than i should. asmr stroll gone awol

oh i see in memoriam schneeland has reviewed it: "Im Grunde nicht bewertbar."
https://letterboxd.com/schneeland/film/ ... l-saddles/

[niminy-piminy]

ibid...

After losing his job, a man starts walking aimlessly through Manila.

Pushed on by existential fears, he feels magically drawn to horses, to the point that his obsessive fixation finally leads him to lose complete control over himself.