CINEMALAYA or Free Cinema may not be as free as some of us may think it is (or was). I am a HUGE fan of this film festival in the Philippines. One of the few of its kind in the world that gives funding and awards to independent filmmakers – many of who are the new voices of Philippine Cinema. The works that the Cinemalaya festival produced has resulted in the renaissance of Philippine Cinema, as it has now become known in the international circuit.
I am very proud of this film festival. I always talk about it (and the new filmmakers it gave birth to) to friends and colleagues around the world.
Cinemalaya for the past years has been a source of pride and praises from the film community because of its efforts to bring out a new breed of filmmakers. It is my greatest wish that they stayed focused on giving venue to our new breed of filmmakers and not (or never) to SENIOR DIRECTORS who can always get funding from the studios that they have made films with… for decades. It is very interesting to learn that up until they opened a category for mainstream directors, “mainstream controversies” never hounded this festival. I am looking at the timing of events. Two “senior” filmmakers are separately accused of plagiarism. One accused by a scriptwriter/director, the other one by a novelist/writer. One director was a former member of the screening committee where the accuser submitted his screenplay to years back. The other director’s work was thought to have “striking similarities” to an original book by a novelist.
I hope this gets resolved soon before it taints the name of Cinemalaya and cause more damage to this emerging Philippine cinema. My heart goes out to the independent filmmakers whose independence is now threatened by a Trojan horse called the DIRECTOR’S SHOWCASE.
0 comments:
Post a Comment