Sometime right after the success of the then-fledgling Cinemalaya, a certain indie icon messaged me, rather vehemently, “Philippine independent cinema did NOT start with Cinemalaya!”
And neither did it begin in the last quarter of 1987 which saw the first ever Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video.
Nor with the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines’ ECP Independent Film 68 Video Competition in 1982 at the spankingly new Manila Film Center—now pegged as Pinas’ most celebrated vortex of paranormal activity. (I could tell you a few tales, but...)
Kelan ba talaga nagsimula ang Pinoy Independent Cinema?
Am too wise/cool to even attempt to answer such a heavy question. Will leave that to the pros—namely, the Nicks, Doys, Nadis, et. al.-with a propensity for digging up the past.
My personal introduction to the subject was in the early 70s as a spaced-out flower child at UP Diliman. Yeah, those were fab though hazy times. Especially if you're a rabid vacuum cleaner for REAL experience—unlike what passes for true in today's virtual hell.
That's thanks to a shrill-voiced lady who lived with one foot in continental Paris and the other in our sad, Republique de Plantain.
Yeah, Barang Moreno’s U.P. Film Society was where most noobs of that era lost it. My first tastes of celluloid Pinoy indie magic were woven by the likes of Tikoy Aguiluz, Ernie Enrique,
Krip Yuson, Boy Yuchengco, Boy Yniguez and this bunot-haired weirdo called, uh...Kidlat Tahimik (a.k.a. Baguio-bred, Wharton-finished Eric De Guia).
The films were more like playful adventures into non-trad storytelling, all pulling surprises out of their salakots of cinematic tricks.
Turumba. Mababangong Nangunot. Banahaw: Holy Mountain. A Maid in Paris. Shaman Wars. The above titles wrecked the sensibilities of your humble narrator dearly, but it
would take several more years for me to comprehend how vast the tradition of Philippine Independent Cinema was.
Flash forward to the early 80s, The former hippie is now lodged in what seems like a dream career for rabid film fanatics. As Film Programmer for the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines's year-round screenings at the Manila Film Center, the job description included programming gems of world cinema—think Renoirs and Truffauts from the Ambassade de France’s voluminous Bangkok archives; or Kurosawas and Mizoguchis from the Japan Cultural Center (then along Buendia); or Pressburgers and Ealing Studio treats from the “haunted house” along 3rd St., Broadway a.k.a. The British Council (Vicky Magsalin!); at the nine (9!) cinemas of the MFC. (Note: another guy did the porn stuff).
While helping the ECP Archives director Ernie De Pedro mount a photo exhibition on the history of Philippine Cinema (the mounted panels of the exhibit are still up in some government office somewhere), the staff got a whiff of works done outside the studio system.
It was heartening to know that National Artist for Cinema Lamberto Avellana dabbled in the documentary form; and how nonfiction pioneers like Ben Pinga established film societies that presaged CCP Sineklab network.
But all good things must come to an end. One of the mightiest casualties of the EDSA revolution was the shutting down of the ECP—along other noteworthy artistic institutions (Le. Tinio's Teatro Pilipino and Espejo's Bulwagang Gantimpala) tainted by the Marcosian (term attributed to poet Krip Yuson) touch.
Still, one project escaped the yellow tides, Bienvenido “Boy” Noriega, Jr.'s brainchild, the ECP Independent Film & Video Competition, which my former boss put up to cite the year's best efforts in short feature, documentary, experimental, and animation filmmaking. Most of the fledgling efforts awarded by ECP include those of today’s indie titans—Raymond Red, Nick Deocampo, Roxlee, Joey Agbayani, just to name a few.
The ECP thing ran a good four years before the Manila Film Center's shutdown.
Its resurrection at the “revitalised" CCP was pioneered by the Center's first ever film head, Agustin “Hammy” Sotto. Previously, the CCP was the bastion of the Performing Arts. During Tita Cory’s time it opened up to include the non-performing (sic) art forms like Film, Broadcast, Literature, and the Visual Arts (thus, the VLMA department!).
Hammy also extended my government-based film career when he invited me to the CCP Coordinating Center for Film team.
At the CCP, one of our tasks was trying to figure out what we could salvage from the defunct ECP (which | repeat, is one of the evidence that government support for the arts doesn't always have to be a hot mess).
This turned out to be, of course, the ECP Independent Film & Video Competition whose mechanics, rules and regulations formed the basis of what we know today as the CCP Gawad Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video—almost to the letter.
So here we are now. Thirty years long in the teeth—34 if you count the ECP connection. And the term Pinoy Independent Cinema has become a bit problematic.
(dramatic pause)
But what's Life without problems, right? Besides, at least in my book, what is truly independent is a shapeshifter—something that resists a firm and fixed definition.
So today, with the Ika-30 CCP Gawad Alternatibo, the TRENTA Exhibit, and IndieTaktakans, let us, past Gawad Alternatibo awardees and jurors, friends of Pinoy Cinema (another problematique!), and cineastes all over celebrate the Gift of Memory and Not Being Able to be Pinned Down Forever!
