One step forward, two steps back
Vic Sotto
Last year’s the Metro Manila Film Festival delighted movie buffs by going “back to the basics” and reestablishing the festival’s main focus on quality rather than commercially profitable but sometimes “dumbed-down” productions.
Unfortunately, the now again “quality” fest failed to gross even half of its usual take at the box office, making movie buffs suspect that some “tweaking” could be in order for its 2017 edition.
Well, the compensatory tweaks have just been announced, including the return of the 40-percent “commercial viability” provision—which has effectively made popular, star value-laden flicks hold sway again.
Indeed, the first four films that officially made it to this year’s fest are of that populist persuasion—back to commercial business as usual.
In addition, the new “finished films only” rule has been discarded, and entri es can now be vetted on their scripts alone—a subjective and thus unreliable move.
No sooner had the “changes” been announced that four members of the festival’s executive committee resigned, and some movie buffs wondered why there weren’t more, since the “one step back” adjustments negated the improvements in the 2016 edition.
Vice Ganda
Gains
Yes, profits are crucial in “the business of show,” but must they always be counted in pesos and centavos?
What about the enlightened edition’s gains in terms of quality, Filipino moviegoers’ exposure to it, their delight in discovering that local films could be about them, instead of inhabiting fantasy worlds of irrelevant diversion? What about those profits?
When the 2016 festival’s relatively poor grosses were revealed, it was a given that some “compromise” changes should be discussed for the next edition—but, the return of the “40-percent commercial viability” stipulation is not a compromise; it’s a reversal of fortune.
So, we trust that more discussions will take place soonest, and enlightened industry leaders and viewers will eventually hold sway again—and the final configuration of the 2017 official entries will still uphold quality above all else.
After all, quality and profitability are not essentially inimical to one another; they don’t automatically cancel each other out.
Significant, memorable
There have been Filipino movies that have been significant and memorable and still made a lot of money at the box office.
There’s nothing stopping the maker of an all-star, blockbuster from making his production a logical, involving, meaningful, well-crafted film full of production and positive values.
It’s all up to his talent, dedication and desire to give his avowedly beloved viewers the best cinematic experience and encounter that he and his team can come up with.
Does he even care to do so? If he does, there’s hope; if all he wants is to make as much money as possible at the tills, that’s where the viewing public has to speak up and uphold its right to nondemeaning and enlightening cinema.
