MANILA, Philippines–Multi-awarded actress Nora Aunor on Sunday gave her two cents worth on Cinemalaya’s posting of films on YouTube, saying the act was tantamount to stealing.
They should have first asked the permission of the directors since they were the ones who worked hard to produce the films, she said in Filipino on the sidelines of the CinemalayaX awards night at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
“The film is not yours but you took it. I think it’s like stealing. You uploaded it without permission. That’s not right,” added Aunor, who won Best Actress for her role in Joel Lamangan’s “Hustisya” in the Director’s Showcase category.
Aunor’s remarks came after filmmakers criticized Cinemalaya for uploading the full versions of 2012 and 2013 competition films on the video sharing site YouTube.
Hannah Espia, director of “Transit,” earlier slammed Cinemalaya while receiving the Best Screenplay award in behalf of Giancarlo Abrahan who directed and wrote the screenplay of “Dagitab.”
“I want to express my heartbreak over the uploading of our films on YouTube. To see our films on YouTube is a violation of our rights as artists and filmmakers,” said Espia, who was also the producer of “Dagitab.”
Nora Aunor: Tantamount to stealing. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
But Francis Pasion, director of “Bwaya,” which won this year’s Best Film for the New Breed category, said both parties should learn to respect each other.
“Ang masasabi ko lang, ang word lang na nasa isip ko ngayon ay respect. Cinemalaya must respect the filmmakers and filmmakers must respect Cinemalaya,” he said during his acceptance speech.
Earlier in the evening, Cinemalaya Foundation president Nestor Jardin apologized to the filmmakers and producers for uploading the films on Saturday night.
He said they are organizing a dialogue with the affected filmmakers, adding that the videos had been removed from the Internet.
Cinemalaya Foundation chairman Antonio Cojuangco said they only wanted to post the films on YouTube to convince the public to consider watching and later paying for Cinemalaya films.
“What we intended to do was to let the market watch our films even for free,” he said. “We’re getting people to get hooked on our products.”
Cojuangco, however, said that they do not want to dictate on the filmmakers.