CONTEMPORA

RY Arts : FILM
American Period
 Origin and
Development
•Filipino artistsAmerican Period
have been making movies since 1919
•Beginnings of the industry arose not from a local felt need but
from the initiative of foreign entrepreneurs
•Filipinos were waging war against the colonial rule of Spain
•In 1912, 2 American entrepreneurs created a sensation in Manila
when they put on film the story of Jose Rizal’s execution
•Limited growth in terms of technological competence and
artistic quality
•Enormous capital was needed
•In the absence of unlimited capital, filmmakers had to be content
with what was deemed pwede na (passable)
 Origin and Development
American Period
•Two problems: expensive technology and inadequate capital
Jose Nepomuceno
o a photographer who is one of the first Filipinos to make
movies
“Father of Philippine Movies”
oFirst film: Dalagang Bukid by Hermogenes Ilagan and
Leon Ignacio – a musical play
oSound had not yet been incorporated into motion pictures
in 1919
oAtang de la Rama sing the theme song “Nabasag ang
Banga” to the accompaniment of a three person band
Origin and Development
American Period
•Genres and trends in the local industry had been set by
American feature films
•Filipino directors cannot compete with the standards set by
Hollywood
•Filipino film writers drew their narratives and themes from
the lives of the Filipinos
oVicente Salumbides was assured of audience appeal
for his Miracles of Love in 1925 where he portrayed
young upper-class Filipinos rebelling against the
tyranny of conservative parents
•The language of Philippine ovies gave Filipinos another
advantage over foreign competition
- Tagalog allowed local movies reach the vast
majority of the population
 Origin and Development
American Period
oJulian Manansala
Patria et Amore (1929) - Showed valor and determination of
Filipinos who struggled against Spaish colonial rule
Other works: Dimasalang in 1930, Mutya ng Katipunan in
1939 and Tawag ng Bayan in 1940
oSarswela
Yielded many contemporary romantic and comic characters
for narratives spiced up with songs and happy endings
Pakiusap (1940) – recognizably a movie equivalent of the
sarswela
 Origin and
Development
American
Period
 Origin and Development
American Period
Sinakulo
(Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, Judas, Jesus)
Komedya
•Typically aksiyon movie was to develop
•The dividing line in the comedya between good and bad men
was religion (Christians and Moros)
•In present-day aksiyon movies, the dividing line has become
the law and the two sides could be familis fighting over
political power or two factions waiting over economic
advantage
•The hero is as invincible as the gallant warrior-knight
•The heroine is as virtuous as the beauteous princess in the
traditional stage play
 Sinakulo

Komedy
a
 Origin and Development
American Period
•Philippine literature was a rich source of subject matter and themes for
movies.
oFrancisco Baltazar and Jose Rizal
Have given industry situations and character types that continue
to give meat to films
Florante at Laura, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo
•The novels in the Liwayway magazine brought audience to movie
houses when they were transformed into movies
Punyal na Ginto by Antonio G. Sempio – first talking movie in
1933
Serialized novels proved to be very profitable materials for
movies
oLazaro Francisco – Ama (1936), Sa paanan ng krus (1936), Bago
Lumubog ang Araw (1938), Teodoro Virrey – Lihim ni Bathala (1931
Francisco “Balagtas”
Baltazar

Jose Rizal
 Lazaro Francisco

•Ama (1936)
•Sa Paanan ng Krus (1936)
•Bago Lumubog Ang Araw (1938)
 Origin and Development
American Period
•Folklore
A mine of character types and situatins for comedies and
fantasy films
Maria Makilig, Juan Tamad
•Shortly before the outbreak of the Pacific War, no less than six
active film companies were making more than 50 films per year.
These were:
Filippine Films (1934)
Parlatone Hispano-Filipino (1935)
Excelsior Pictures Incorporated (1937)
Sampaguita Pictures Incorporated (1937)
LVN Pictures (1938)
X’otic Films (1939)
Moviegoing had established itself as a national pastime among
Filipinos
 Origin and Development
American Period

Folkore

Maria Makiling Si Juan Tamad

•Filippines Films
•Parlatone Hispano-
Filipino
 •LVN Pictures
•Sampaguita Pictures
Inc.

•X’otic Films
Post War Period
• There were many stories to tell
about heroic deeds and
dastardly crimes during the
Japanese occupation
Movies:
•Garrison 13 (1946)
•Dugo ng Bayan (1946)
•Walang kamatayan (1946)
•Guerilyera (1946)

• Told stories familiar to all who

had gone through the
occupation years and hatred for
the foreign enemies did not
seem to tire of recalling their
experiences of the war
 Famous Actors of the
Golden Cinema
Romano
castellvi
Premier directors of this
era

Gerardo De Leon
(1913-1981
Premier directors of this
era

Gregorio
Fernandez
Premier directors of this
era

Cesar Gallardo
Premier directors of this
era

Lamberto Avellana
(1915-1991)
Premier directors of this
era

Cirio Santiago
 Famous Actors of the
Visayan Cinema
Romano
castellvi
• Lapu-Lapu Pictures
Timbu Mata (1948) – starring Eva de Villa
and Lino Romas
Damgo ni Adan by Rudy Robles
Mactan Films
Tahas starring Luz Celeste and Dakay
Balud starring Luz Celeste and Mat Ranillo
1970s – emergence of Visayan talents:
Chandra Romero, Caridad Sanchez, Alma
Moreno, Tessie Sevilla, Rebeca Torres,
Anabelle Rama, Tony Delgado, Felix de
Catalina
1960s
• This era is characterized
by rampant
commercialism with
James Bond and Western
knock offs, and in the
latter 60's, the so-called
bomba (soft porn)
pictures. It was also the
era of musical films
produced mostly by
Sampaguita Pictures and
their discovered talents.
Martial law
• Films were used as propaganda
vehicles
• President Ferdinand Marcos
sought to regulate filmmaking
through the creation of the Board
of Censors for Motion Pictures
(BCMP)
• Finished script has to be submitted
to the Board and incorporate the
ideology of the New Society
Movement such as a new sense of
discipline, uprightness and love of
country
• Annual Festivals were revived
• Bomba films as well as political
movies critical of Marcos
administration were banned
• Notorious genre of sex or bomba
films still existed but in a milder, less
overt way – in swimwear – “wet
look”
• Ang Pinakamagandang Hayop sa
Balat ng Lupa (1974) – Gloria Diaz
• Experimental Cinema of the
Philippines - a government owned
corporation created to promote
growth and development of the
local film industry, created in 1982
• Himala
• Oro Plata Mata by Peque Gallaga-
multi awarded filmmaker, Bagets
1980s to 1990s
• Around this period, most Filipino
Films were mass-produced with
quality sacrificed for commercial
success
• Storylines were unimaginative
and predictable
• Comedy was slapstick, and the
acting was either mediocre or
overly dramatic
• Producers were antipathetic to
new ideas or risk-taking
• Teen-oriented films, massacre
movies, soft pornographic
pictures,
• Rise of pito pito films, historical
film
 1980s teen

Ian Veneracion Sheryl Cruz

2000s
• Decline of movies and emergence of
independent films
• Hollywood films dominated the
mainstream cinema even more and
fewer than 20 local films were being
produced and shown early
• Many producers stopped producing
after losing millions of pesos
• Thereafter, a new sense of excitement
and trend enveloped the industry with
the coming of digital and
experimental cinema. Seemingly
signalling this was the winning of the
Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival
2000 of Raymond Red's short film
ANINO (Shadows).
• But truly pioneering this digital
revolution was the 1999 digital feature
film "STILL LIVES" by Jon Red. Many
other digital filmmakers soon followed
suit. Cheaper production cost using
digital media over film has helped the
rebirth of independent filmmaking.
Hailed as the New Wave in digital
form, this decade saw the
proliferation of digital films by
independent filmmakers with
international reach and caliber, and
the introduction of locally produced
animated features.
• Gay theme films
• Bala na kayo sa 2000s
CONTEMPOR
ARY FILM
 Contemporary
Film
•There are too few trained actors and actresses, and stories
are based on "hot" stars, especially those willing to undress.
Less expensive, quicker, and easier to produce, sex films
thrive, making up well over half of a year's total production
and taking on their own persona—typed as FF ("fighting
fish"), penekula (derived from "penetration"), ST ("sex trip,"
featuring young actresses having sex at socially appropriate
times), and TT ("titillating," with split-second frontal
nudity), and featuring actresses who are named after soft
drinks or hard liquor, such as Pepsi Paloma, Vodka Zobel.
 Contemporary
Film
•These are critical times for Filipino film, but they are not
necessarily fatal. With the increased worldwide interest in Asian
cinema (particularly from China, Hong Kong, India, South Korea,
and Taiwan)—and the global tendency of film to reinvent itself
through universally appealing content, lavish multifunction theaters,
clever capitalization schemes, digital technology, and tie-ins with
other media and visual forms—some hope can be held out for film
from the Philippines.