The Cultural Center of the Philippines invites filmmakers, cineastes and Brockaphiles to
REMEMBERING BROCKA: Realities / Rarities
Saturday, April 25 at CCP Tanghalang Manuel Conde
In commemoration of the 70th birthday of National Artist for Cinema Lino Brocka (b. April 3, 1939 )
The free all-day event will be highlighted by screenings of three of his earliest and rarely-seen masterworks:
WANTED: PERFECT MOTHER (1969)
SANTIAGO (1970)
and
TUBOG SA GINTO (1971)
Each screening will be followed by a Q&A forum, featuring cast members and collaborators from his movies, along with other distinguished guests.
There will be a cocktail reception at 6:30pm , marking Brocka’s 70th birthday as well as the death anniversary of critic Agustin ‘Hammy’ Sotto (d. April 24, 2001) who was an early champion of Brocka’s works, not to mention, a staunch archivist who helped give birth to SOFIA (Society of Film Archivists).
The screenings of these rarely shown titles underscores the need and urgency for an archival system that will help preserve this legacy in order for future generations to appreciate these cinematic treasures. There are no surviving 35mm prints available on all three titles. What’s there to be screened are mere digital/dvd dubs of old, battered VHS copies. (What if “Mona Lisa” can only be seen as a digital reproduction on paper rather than as the original work on canvas?)
These early works—WANTED: PERFECT MOTHER, SANTIAGO and TUBOG SA GINTO—illustrate Brocka’s ability to forge his own signature, even while working within the commercial parameters of the studio system (the now-defunct Lea Productions produced these films as well as many of his other works in the 70s).
WANTED: PERFECT MOTHER may seem like a blatant re-working of “The Sound of Music” but Brocka worked magic with his cast (Dante Rivero, Boots Anson Roa, Liza Lorena, Gina Alajar, and Snooky in her first role) and turned the film into first-rate entertainment.
And SANTIAGO may seem like a rehash of another FPJ outing in the mold of his folk-superhero status where he mows down scores of enemies in a single rat-tat-tat shot. Instead, Brocka transformed what might have been a formulaic action movie into a thoughtful World War II about guilt and heroism, with Fernando Poe Jr. giving what is considered to be one of this best performances (perhaps side by side with “Asedillo”).
As for Lino Brocka’s TUBOG SA GINTO, this is perhaps the Filipino film that should be dubbed as “the mother of all Filipino gay movies” (especially now that it seems like some new, gay indie movie opens week after week). From its opening montage of Eddie Garcia lasciviously sucking the icing off his fingers as he ogles the crotch of two boys in their swimsuits to its graphic depiction of gay sex (yes, not even Heath and Jake in “Brokeback” can match the naked honesty onscreen by Eddie Garcia and Mario O’Hara), TUBOG was clearly way ahead of its time. Perhaps an anomaly by being a by-product of the “bomba” days in the late 60s/early 70s, TUBOG obviously benefitted from Brocka’s open homosexuality as well as from an era not yet marred by strict censorship.
Breakthroughs and all, Lino Brocka showed, even early in his career, that it was possible to rise above mediocre material by steering the film closer to his own personal sensibilities and by never condescending to his audience. (You could hear him say “let’s give them what they deserve” rather than “let’s give them what they want). Even in those days when the word “independent” wasn’t born yet, Brocka thought independently and acted independently. WANTED, SANTIAGO , and TUBOG might have been forgettable commercial, komiks-style fare, but they are not. In time, Brocka’s auteurist bent to shape his films his way later gave birth to his future masterpieces: “Maynila Sa Kuko Ng Liwanag,” “Insiang” and “Bayan Ko” among them. Those gritty neo-realist dramas share something with his early rarities: the stubborn will and tenacity of a true independent filmmaker.
Schedule:
10:00am
WANTED PERFECT MOTHER
(followed by a forum at 1:30PM)
3:00pm
SANTIAGO
(a forum follows immediately)
7:00Ppm
TUBOG SA GINTO
(followed by a forum)
Since the CCP Tanghalang Manuel Conde can only accommodate 100 persons, the screenings/fora will be on a first come, first served basis.
For more info, please call CCP Media Arts at 832 1125 locals 1702 & 1704.
(Thank you Ting Nebrida for the excellent write-up above!)
REMEMBERING BROCKA: Realities / Rarities
Saturday, April 25 at CCP Tanghalang Manuel Conde
In commemoration of the 70th birthday of National Artist for Cinema Lino Brocka (b. April 3, 1939 )
The free all-day event will be highlighted by screenings of three of his earliest and rarely-seen masterworks:
WANTED: PERFECT MOTHER (1969)
SANTIAGO (1970)
and
TUBOG SA GINTO (1971)
Each screening will be followed by a Q&A forum, featuring cast members and collaborators from his movies, along with other distinguished guests.
There will be a cocktail reception at 6:30pm , marking Brocka’s 70th birthday as well as the death anniversary of critic Agustin ‘Hammy’ Sotto (d. April 24, 2001) who was an early champion of Brocka’s works, not to mention, a staunch archivist who helped give birth to SOFIA (Society of Film Archivists).
The screenings of these rarely shown titles underscores the need and urgency for an archival system that will help preserve this legacy in order for future generations to appreciate these cinematic treasures. There are no surviving 35mm prints available on all three titles. What’s there to be screened are mere digital/dvd dubs of old, battered VHS copies. (What if “Mona Lisa” can only be seen as a digital reproduction on paper rather than as the original work on canvas?)
These early works—WANTED: PERFECT MOTHER, SANTIAGO and TUBOG SA GINTO—illustrate Brocka’s ability to forge his own signature, even while working within the commercial parameters of the studio system (the now-defunct Lea Productions produced these films as well as many of his other works in the 70s).
WANTED: PERFECT MOTHER may seem like a blatant re-working of “The Sound of Music” but Brocka worked magic with his cast (Dante Rivero, Boots Anson Roa, Liza Lorena, Gina Alajar, and Snooky in her first role) and turned the film into first-rate entertainment.
And SANTIAGO may seem like a rehash of another FPJ outing in the mold of his folk-superhero status where he mows down scores of enemies in a single rat-tat-tat shot. Instead, Brocka transformed what might have been a formulaic action movie into a thoughtful World War II about guilt and heroism, with Fernando Poe Jr. giving what is considered to be one of this best performances (perhaps side by side with “Asedillo”).
As for Lino Brocka’s TUBOG SA GINTO, this is perhaps the Filipino film that should be dubbed as “the mother of all Filipino gay movies” (especially now that it seems like some new, gay indie movie opens week after week). From its opening montage of Eddie Garcia lasciviously sucking the icing off his fingers as he ogles the crotch of two boys in their swimsuits to its graphic depiction of gay sex (yes, not even Heath and Jake in “Brokeback” can match the naked honesty onscreen by Eddie Garcia and Mario O’Hara), TUBOG was clearly way ahead of its time. Perhaps an anomaly by being a by-product of the “bomba” days in the late 60s/early 70s, TUBOG obviously benefitted from Brocka’s open homosexuality as well as from an era not yet marred by strict censorship.
Breakthroughs and all, Lino Brocka showed, even early in his career, that it was possible to rise above mediocre material by steering the film closer to his own personal sensibilities and by never condescending to his audience. (You could hear him say “let’s give them what they deserve” rather than “let’s give them what they want). Even in those days when the word “independent” wasn’t born yet, Brocka thought independently and acted independently. WANTED, SANTIAGO , and TUBOG might have been forgettable commercial, komiks-style fare, but they are not. In time, Brocka’s auteurist bent to shape his films his way later gave birth to his future masterpieces: “Maynila Sa Kuko Ng Liwanag,” “Insiang” and “Bayan Ko” among them. Those gritty neo-realist dramas share something with his early rarities: the stubborn will and tenacity of a true independent filmmaker.
Schedule:
10:00am
WANTED PERFECT MOTHER
(followed by a forum at 1:30PM)
3:00pm
SANTIAGO
(a forum follows immediately)
7:00Ppm
TUBOG SA GINTO
(followed by a forum)
Since the CCP Tanghalang Manuel Conde can only accommodate 100 persons, the screenings/fora will be on a first come, first served basis.
For more info, please call CCP Media Arts at 832 1125 locals 1702 & 1704.
(Thank you Ting Nebrida for the excellent write-up above!)
