1st PANDAYANG LINO BROCKA POLITICAL FILM AND NEW MEDIA FESTIVAL

TUDLA Productions
in cooperation with
National Commission for Culture and the Arts present the

1st PANDAYANG LINO BROCKA Political Film and New Media Festival

The Pandayang Lino Brocka Political Film and New Media Festival is a cultural gathering that aims to inspire the creation and popularization of truthful, artistic and relevant audiovisual works to enlighten and cultivate critical consciousness of the mass audience. This maiden launch of this festival in 2009 aims to be an aggregate of efforts in political cinema production and distribution in the first decade of the 21st century, a time of worsening economic crisis aggravating the poor people’s plight.

This affair hails the daring of the late Lino Brocka, whose works earned local and international acclaim for political cinema and whose untimely death saw a decline in political cinema in the mainstream. While critical of the government and the prevailing system, even the government recognized his talent and contribution, as he was given the posthumous distinction of National Artist for Film in 1997.

It is Lino Brocka’s strong conviction that artists are first and foremost citizens, and must address the issues confronting the country. That’s why in his practice, his films 'look with sympathy on the common man and the human condition' and were situated in their dwellings and thoughts. Lino Brocka firmly believes that films and politics cannot be dissociated. His desire is to develop what he calls "the Great Filipino Audience" which for him is more important than creating "the Great Filipino Movie."

Films of political and progressive content are deemed to be not widely patronized or are thought to be not commercial successes. But if the audience is the common people and the works speak of their lives, no political film shall ever be unpopular and immaterial. They will always find audience among the millions of poor and oppressed people in society, as the films of Lino Brocka.

There is a battleground in the field of filmmaking and artistic production—the struggle for the hearts and minds of the people. This festival engages itself in this battle, as it campaigns for artists and audience to revert from the dominant practice of local mainstream and Hollywood entertainment production and consumption to film as a platform for social and political commentary.

Truly, film is a powerful tool to shape mind and consciousness. Artists are here challenged to use film as a vehicle for socio-cultural reflection and as an ideological weapon to liberate the minds of the people. For films as art that exposes, identifies and defies the oppressors in society leads the way for the realization of the democratic aspirations of the people.


Call for entries: April 25 - June 30, 2009

Calling all students, independent and amateur filmmakers and film/media collectives to submit entries.
Full length or short works

Any style: documentary, narrative, animation, experimental, PSAs, motion graphics, etc.

Themes: people's issues and struggles, human rights, war and peace, gender, etc. Special attention to films on children's situation and participatory media production

Works produced from 2000 onwards are accepted.

More than one entry from one group or individual is allowed.

Works from Luzon, Visayas, MIndanao and NCR will have representation in the screenings.

Film Festival Date: August 5-9, 2009

For queries, contact tudla_productions@ yahoo.com
or 0921-6020007 and 0935-1092750.

BROCKAMANIA

Cinekatipunan.MOV presents
"BROCKAMANIA!"

This whole month of May is BROCKA MONTH.
In celebration of Lino Brocka's 18th death anniversary (21 May 1991).

26 of his best films, Mondays to Saturdays,
Mag:net Katipunan. Screening starts at 4:30pm

BROCKALENDARYO (Screening starts at 4:30pm):
1 May, Fri: Santiago (1970)
2 May, Sat: P/X (1982)
4 May, Mon: Palipat-Lipat, Papalit-Palit / Keep On Changing, Keep On Moving (1982)
5 May, Tue: Pasan Ko Ang Daigdig / I Carry The World (1987)
6 May, Wed: Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita / I Will Rise And Crush You (1989)
7 May, Thu: Lucia (1992)
8 May, Fri: Hayop Sa Hayop / Beast To Beast (1978)
9 May, Sat: Kontrobersiyal / Controversial (1981)
10 May, Mon: Gumapang Ka Sa Lusak / Dirty Affair (1990)
12 May, Tue: Tubog Sa Ginto / Dipped In Gold (1971)
13 May, Wed: Cain & Abel (1982)
14 May, Thu: Miguelito, Ang Batang Rebelde / Miguelito, The Rebel Boy (1985)
15 May, Fri: Ina, Kapatid, Anak / Mother, Sister, Daughter (1979)
16 May, Sat: Macho Dancer (1989)
18 May, Mon: Stardoom (1971)
19 May, Tue: Ina Ka Ng Anak Mo / You’re The Mother Of Your Child (1979)
20 May, Wed: Angela Markado (1980) BROCKA NIGHT (9:30pm-1am): featuring The Brockas, Los Chupacabras, Us 2 Evil 0, Live Tilapia
21 May, Thu: Tatlo, Dalawa, Isa / Three, Two, One (1974)
22 May, Fri: Ang Tatay Kong Nanay / My Father Is My Mother (1978)
23 May, Sat: Jaguar (1979)
25 May, Mon: Orapronobis (1989)
26 May, Tue: Bona (1980)
27 May, Wed: Bayan Ko: Kapit Sa Patalim / My Country: In Desperate Straits (1984)
28 May, Thu: Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang / Weighed But Found Wanting (1974)
29 May, Fri: Insiang (1976)
30 May, Sat: Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko Ng Liwanag / Manila: In The Claws Of Light (1975)

Brought to you by
.MOV International Digital Film Festival.

REMEMBERING BROCKA: Realities / Rarities

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!)