Pelikula, period

‘Bang Bang Alley’s’ Ely Buendia, King Palisoc and Yan Yuzon (Photo by Pau Aguilera)

First time film directors King Palisoc, Yan Yuzon and Ely Buendia have shared their thoughts on some of the dilemmas in today’s local filmmaking, particularly the fuzzy line between independent and mainstream movies.

“I think it’s one of my biggest grimes – Filipino film being categorized as either indie or mainstream,” King, who had previously directed several music videos, told Bulletin Entertainment in an exclusive interview during the recent world premiere of their co-directed debut film “Bang Bang Alley.”

He continued, “Ilang beses nang nabato na hindi naman genre ang indie, ang mainstream – (basically) it’s just a matter of budget.”

King thinks that by classifying a film as either of the two “nagkakaroon ng expectation ’yung tao, meron na silang presumption na, ‘Ah indie ’yan, so that must be good, kasi indie ’yan eh.’”

Musician and theater actor Yan interjected, “Or ’yung masa naman ayaw (kasi) ‘Ay indie ’yan, mataas ’yan.’ Ang dami nang bias ng mga tao.”

Nevertheless, King underscored the positive development in contemporary Philippine cinema.

“Right now you see films that – ’yun nga na-coin na nga ’yung term na maindie – show na you have mainstream films that aren’t necessarily rom-com. We have ‘OTJ’ – the best example. At the same time you have indie films that aren’t necessarily about sex, violence and drugs, you have films like ‘Sana Dati,’ or ‘Ekstra’ – the material isn’t necessarily what you would expect to come out 10 years ago,” he said.

His hope for the Philippine film industry: “In five, ten, seven years, or maybe less, wala nang indie, wala nang mainstream, ’pag lumabas ’yun sa theaters, pelikulang Pilipino lang…”

Problem with ‘Philippine’?

Former Pupil bandmates Yan and Ely are both conflicted with the “Filipino” tag, as it seems to somewhat constrain a creative work’s image and potential.

Yan explained, “Parang ang feeling ko whenever we attach the adjective ‘Philippine’ to anything that we do, parang there’s a bit of a disclaimer there, somewhere; parang in the guise of pride. Why can’t the thing just be the thing in itself?

“I hope we just make films and they’re just films. It just so happens we’re Filipino…pelikula na lang siya.”

Ely, on the other hand, feels that “dahil sa kaka-label natin ng cinema natin or ng music natin, nabo-boxed in tayo, napi-pigeonhole natin ’yung sarili natin na somehow the foreign market sees us in a certain way already. Like for a time we were a Pink cinema, and then there’s poverty porn, and now parang we can’t really be accepted.”

He cited Marie Jamora’s “Ang Nawawala” as “a very sensitive and intelligent film,” but “doesn’t really get noticed abroad because it doesn’t have poor people crying.”

Shelving stereotypes

Yan has been made to feel “boxed in” with their music.

“Even all the years we spent recording parang ‘Alam mo ang galing niyo, tunog-foreign kayo.’ And the ones who don’t like us will say, ‘Wala kayong tunog-kalye eh, tunog-foreign kayo eh.’” Because apparently Philippine music ‘has’ to sound crappy for it to be Filipino,” he said.

He believes that “There’s an insecurity in there somewhere and I think the way to address it is for people who make films, or music, or TV, or canned corned whatever, and just make it the best it can be. And wala nang, ‘This is Philippine canned corn, this is Philippine music’—it’s just what it is.”

These ideals might’ve spurred their 3-part crime drama anthology project “Bang Bang Alley,” which according to Ely, “Despite the title, we’re not making a slam-bang action movie; we (just) try to paint a picture of society.” Bam.

Pelikula, period

Source: Mb.com.ph (September 21, 2013 at 12:12PM)

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