A CELEBRATION OF RADICAL CINEMA
Appreciating the Legacy of PH Experimental Filmmaking
October 7-12
UP Film Center and Videotheque
University of the Philippines, Quezon City
Admission is FREE and open to the public.
Explore the alternative world of Philippine experimental filmmaking. It is a world of radical cinematic experiments, producing new film language and film forms never before seen in local film culture. This movement emerged from the workshops held at the UP Film Center (now the UP Film Institute) during the period of martial law in the Eighties.
The radical films produced, defying traditions set by the commercial movie industry, were emblematic of the social discontent happening at the time, when young filmmakers rebelled through their films. It was with the likes of Raymond Red, Roxlee, Eli Guieb III, Vicky Donato, Noel Lim, Joey Agbayani, and many more who composed the pioneer generation of radical filmmakers.
Experimental cinema had an earlier beginning but as a movement it grew from the ground-breaking workshops with German professor Ingo Petzke, later followed by other German filmmakers and scholars.
It was in those workshops that the first batch of filmmakers broke taboos and invented new cinematic styles. To promote the films, I organized film festivals that would showcase the films because they were deemed unacceptable by mainstream festivals like the Metro Manila Film Festival.
The festivals provided the first platforms for the promotion of expe films in the Eighties, causing a consciousness for this counter-cinema movement. Held inside the campus, the sustained workshops and festivals organized during the period of martial law made the University of the Philippines the birthplace of the Philippine experimental cinema movement, as it was also the hotbed for student radicalism.
From its beginning in the 80’s, experimental cinema spread through the workshops held at the Mowelfund Film Institute, this time with German filmmaker Christoph Janetzko as mentor. The films were reactions to the growing militarization happening during the Marcos military dictatorship until its downfall. It was also the last cinematic movement at the time when film took the form of photographic celluloid, and before everything in cinema turned digital.
The festival will feature film screenings, lectures and a seminar.
Screenings are for free. The event is sponsored by UP Film Institute in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines in commemoration of the Centennial of Philippine Cinema.
The film fest opening will happen on October 7, 2019 (Monday) 2 PM at the Cine Adarna of UPFI Film Center with a lecture on “The History of Philippine Experimental Cinema” followed by a panel composed of Prof. Ingo Petzke, Prof. Nick Deocampo and Teddy Co. The first day also highlights the World Premiere of digital works coming from the recently held Experimental Film Workshop and also the classic landmarks of Filipino-German Experimental Films.
Films featured in this year’s edition of the festival are those produced until 1999 with very few exceptions. Digital works will be shown next year.
