Cinemanila losing its luster...

 My first day of watching two cinemanila films is a reaffirmation of my earlier posted blog: that  Cinemanila2010  will   suffer the same fate it had during the past few years of dwindling audience.

Being an avid fan of film festivals in manila (Cinemalaya Indie filmfest , Fiesta Spanish filmfest, and Cinemanila, to name a few), i was very vocal on the dismal turnout of last year's event when it was held in Market Market in Taguig. Perhaps the venue was an unpopular choice for the organizers.The access by the viewing crowd is i guess a big factor .   I usually do marathons of three films a day. Last year, there was a film i saw wherein we were less than twenty inside the cinema.  And for the two films i saw yesterday,the same thing happened with less than twenty people inside the Robinsons cinema. I remember vividly the time when it was held in Greenbelt Cinemas in Makati and Gateway in Quezon City. Each screening is at least "bankable" or has favorable numbers.

What made me wonder and quite irritated   was the fact that they even charged a high ticket fee of P300.00 for  the USA/UK/Canada  film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World . When i asked the cinemanila staff why so high, they said "it was the instruction of the distributor. this is the only screening in the Philippines." A guy told me that he already saw the film thru a DVD he bought in quiapo. No more second thought.  i would rather look for that P20 pesos dvd than spend P300.00

At least i liked the Korean  film The Housemaid  an erotic thriller film directed by Im Sang-soo. The story focuses on Eun-yi  who becomes involved in a destructive love triangle while working as a housemaid for an upper-class family.intrigue, passion and betrayal follow as well as a scene where Eun-yi hangs from a chandelier. a  remake of Kim Ki-young’s cult 1960 Korean movie of the same name. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORN-wSZd7-E

The festival is closely identified with its founder, filmmaker Tikoy Aguiluz, who has a reputation as a maverick. In 2006, he accused the Philippine media of not doing enough to promote the fest,ival and independent films, stating at a news conference: "All I want from you writers are three lines and a picture promoting the festival. Why do you think it's so hard for independent producers to have success here, locally? I haven't seen any support from either broadsheet or tabloids with any story on independent cinema.

I guess the organizers should do a serious assessment or refocusing on how the event is being handled. Perhaps they are not really getting the support of the media in publicizing the films.


An erotic thriller, a humorous love story, and a film about football are among the nine films competing in the International category of the 12th Cinemanila International Film Festival, which will run from Dec. 1 to 5 at Robinsons Galleria, Quezon City.Six feature films will compete in the section called “Southeast Asian Cinema.” Other programs include “Taiwan Alternate Currents,” “World Cinema,” “Asian American,” “Cinemanila Netpac,” “Digital Lokal,” “Young Cinema: Documentaries in Competition,” “Documentaries in Exhibition,” “Young Cinema Shorts,” “Philippine Panorama” and “Critics’ Pick.”
http://www.cinemanila.org/2010/