“ENGKWENTRO”— converting to 35mm not advisable.

MANILA, Philippines—Independent filmmaker Alvin Yapan related shocking news during a forum with students at the Ateneo de Manila University: An acquaintance had bought a bootleg copy of his Cairo-winning film, “Ang Panggagahasa Kay Fe.”

Yapan said that he didn’t know whether to feel “flattered or offended” that his Cinemalaya film had been pirated.

In the same forum, sponsored by the youth organization Ateneo Lingua Ars Cultura, Venice Film Festival winner Pepe Diokno stressed that two main obstacles prevent indies from enjoying nationwide distribution: The prohibitive costs of prints and advertising.

When his debut film, “Engkwentro,” which won both in Cinemalaya and in Venice, had a mall run last year, he had to come up with creative solutions to these problems, he said.

Contrary to a commonly held perception in the indie community, Diokno related, he didn’t encounter resistance from theater owners—specifically, not with SM Cinemas.

After all, cinemas need content in any available form, whether film or digital.

“ANG PANGGAGAHASA KAY FE,” already pirated.

“We chose to play in four theaters for three days in December last year. SM was supportive ... playing our trailer before ‘Twilight.’ SM even offered us a week-long run,” Diokno said.

However, he opted for a shorter run. “I wasn’t prepared to spend millions of pesos converting our movie to 35mm.”

Instead, Diokno screened his film in digital format, “meaning, we rented our own high-definition players and projectors. For three days, this cost a fortune; imagine seven [days].”

The advertising “gap” was filled by “partnering with PLDT myDSL Watchpad myFlicks,” Diokno said. “The company booked press screenings, radio ads, interviews in Manila and Cebu.” He stressed that “savings” afforded by digital technology should be funneled into online and in-theater advertising. “With a good marketing campaign,” he said, “an indie blockbuster hit is possible... in five years.”

Daunting

In an e-mail interview, filmmaker Veronica Velasco said “distributing” her movie, last year’s Cinemalaya winner “Last Supper No. 3,” proved daunting.

“LAST SUPPER NO. 3,” pulled out after only two days at IndieSine.

“I had very little knowledge about distribution ... I felt lost going about it,” she admitted.

She relied on the experiences of filmmakers who came before her. “I appreciate the advice I got from those who had successfully distributed their films. Still, I’m not clear on which direction to go. I was scared to release my movie and end up with just a handful of people in the theater. That would be painful. But I figured we just had to try.”

Velasco kept trying, and finally scheduled “Last Supper No. 3” for a run at Robinsons Galleria’s IndieSine. The film was supposed to run for a week, but was pulled out after two days.

“I have plans of screening ‘Last Supper’ in schools and Filipino communities abroad,” Velasco said. “It’s important to have this movie screened because [it allows us] to laugh at the idiosyncrasies of being Filipino.”

Keep the faith

Diokno, a Cinemalaya batchmate of Velasco and Yapan, remains optimistic.

Times are changing, he said. “Thanks to movies like ‘Avatar,’ more and more cinemas are converting to digital. Meaning, in the not-so-distant future, maybe one to two years, filmmakers can just plug their hard drives in cinemas and play their films simultaneously nationwide without spending millions on kinescoping (converting digital to film).”

In the meantime, the struggle continues, said Diokno. “All we need is for indies to start working on quality and break the mold of ‘cheapness.’ We must strive for innovation and excellence; reward craftsmanship and chastise lackluster output.”