Film as an art form

For the first time,  multiawarded film director Brillante Ma. Mendoza will be the subject of an ongoing retrospective art exhibit organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (Met).

“I have been featured in several exhibitions in museums abroad, but this is a first for me here,” he told the Inquirer at the grand launch of the exhibit on Sept. 3.

Mendoza noted that the exhibition was the first time his body of work was explored comprehensively and in a museum exhibit in the Philippines.

“Brillante Mendoza: A Contemporary Filipino Filmmaker” is the first of a series of exhibitions lined up in the last quarter of the year to celebrate the Met’s 40th anniversary. It showcases the full-length films, documentaries and other productions like television commercials that have made Mendoza the celebrated filmmaker that he is today.

“I’m also glad to have the support of some of our national artists,” Mendoza said of the presence at the launch of Benedicto Reyes Cabrera, or BenCab (painting), Bienvenido Lumbera and F. Sionil Jose (literature).

“I feel that this legitimizes film as an art form,” he said. “While many of us consider it merely as a form of entertainment, film, especially alternative cinema, is also an important and powerful medium of communication.”

His film “Ma’ Rosa,” which won for lead star Jaclyn Jose the best actress award at the prestigious 2016 Cannes Film Festival in France, was screened after the launch.

“The aim of screenings like this is to build audience for alternative cinema,” he said.

The monthlong exhibit is complemented by a set of programs that include off-site screenings of his films at the SM Mall of Asia and the Conrad Hotel, as well as weekend workshops and lectures. Marinel R. Cruz