Films we don’t get to see

MICHAEL Fassbender (left), Lupita Nyong’o and Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”

The Philippines, with its film-loving population now about to hit the 100-million mark, has become a big player on the global movie scene, with some major productions opening here even before they start playing in traditionally more favored territories in Europe and the United States.

Our key advantage is the fact that, while moviegoing has tapered off in some countries due to the availability of new entertainment forms and distractions, Filipinos still dote on movies, especially when they’re big blockbuster productions top-billing major stars.

Small ‘jewels’

Ironically, however, while big-time producers value our reliable and even avid patronage, the films they send our way are definitely not representative of the quality output of the global filmmaking community.

We get the big blockbusters, sure as shooting, and some of them even hog the weekly offerings in our cineplexes to the exclusion of all else (particularly our local film products). But, the small “jewels” of the cinema that film buffs and critics rave about are kept from being shown on local screens because they are deemed to be not “commercial” or profitable enough for theaters to showcase, and for distribution circuits to bother with.

True, some venues like the Ayala cinemas sometimes show these small but lovely cinematic gems, but only a fraction of our total movie audience gets to appreciate them.

Unnoticed restrictions

Local film buffs should be aware of these perhaps unnoticed restrictions that are being placed on our viewing options. For instance, some Oscar nominees, despite the raves they’ve gotten, have yet to find welcoming screens in our theater circuits—and we are artistically the poorer for it.

Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” has been garnering big buzz for possible awards at the Academy Awards tomorrow, but local film buffs remain in the dark about its actual strengths and virtues (until Wednesday, when the movie opens in local cinemas).

Ditto for “Blue Jasmine,” “The Spectacular Now,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “The Hunt,” “The Great Beauty”—in fact, we’ve only gotten to see a smattering of exceptional films to date, like “Gravity,” “Captain Phillips” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

No sure thing

What do these exceptions to the restricting rule have in common? They top-bill major stars like Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCarpio and Tom Hanks. What about the non-star but similarly outstanding movies that distributors and theater owners pass up because they aren’t expected to set the box office ablaze? Film buffs may just have to wait until they do snag some Oscar trophies to make them “bankable” enough for our cineplexes to carry them. But, even that isn’t a sure thing, as our movie buffs have sadly realized of late.

What can really help assure the local screening of the non-star gems of today’s cinema could be the creation of a regular venue for quality films, which our movie buffs would then go out of their way to patronize, to prove a point that needs to be dynamically made: That great films can turn a tidy profit in this country.

If the cine club’s exceptional attractions do end up in the black, distributors will be encouraged to screen more outstanding movies. Now, to take that all-important first step!