Cinemanila losing its luster...

The good thing in watching Cinemanila films is that as if you have the whole moviehouse on your own pleasure. My recent viewing of  cinemanila 2010 films is a reaffirmation of my critic: 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 films i saw this year, 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.

I believe that it has something with to do with the ticket prices. I remember when the films were shown in greenbelt, the tickets were less than 100 pesos.  This year, it is priced as a regular movie (150). It is quite expensive if compared to previous years. That is, I think, one of the reasons why moviegoers are being more selective.The economic downturn might be affecting people too. It's a bad time for anything, any kind of activity.

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. In one of the films, Juliets  of Taiwan, they even annotated in the program copy that the screening is only for gold pass holders, meaning, for  a selected few like sponsors. When i saw the film on said day, we were only five , i guess. So where are these privileged few?A basic economics principle of demand and supply: an increase in the price of non-essential goods will have a drastic effect in the consumption pattern , to wit the higher the cost the less will be the consumption.

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

 THIRST of Korea is also a must-see  film, but one should be cautious of biasedness for his catholic belief.  Beloved and devoted priest from a small town volunteers for a medical experiment which fails and turns him into a vampire. Physical and psychological changes lead to his affair with a wife of his childhood friend who is repressed and tired of her mundane life. The one-time priest falls deeper in despair and depravity. As things turn for worse, he struggles to maintain what’s left of his humanity. Because it showed a priest in a sexual position, the original teaser poster of Thirst was banned then replaced in South Korea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODoagpV68gA&feature=related

"Floating Lives" is an elegiac, lyrical tale of a nomadic  Vietnamese family whose lives are changed when they take in a prostitute.   A sensual experience of breathtaking scenery that also reflects the story's shifting moods, the film is constantly gentle flowing movement, like the Mekong River that is the soul of the story, as well as a metaphor for the characters' lives.The characters' grueling experiences  are alleviated by the dreamlike landscape of lotus fields and billowing reeds. They exist not just as an aesthetic adornment but remind one that beauty exists, and happiness is still possible, as the moving ending manifests. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGcHzXfaSIY

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/