MANILA, Philippines -- “SIGWA” writer Boni Ilagan has challenged novelist Lualhati Bautista to file charges, or at least an official complaint before the organizing committee of the 2010 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, relative to her claim that the Joel Lamangan film was copied from her teleplay/novel “Desaparesidos.”
“In the final analysis, it will [be] her word against mine—and Lamangan’s. So, if Bautista is convinced of her claim, nobody is stopping her from filing the necessary complaint [and charges],” Ilagan said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Sigwa,” one of five entries in Cinemalaya’s Directors’ Showcase category, is based on true accounts of an American journalist sent to Manila in the 1970s to do a story on student activism, and who was deported in 1975. She returns to look for her daughter.
In a letter sent to the Inquirer, Bautista said: “There is a very striking similarity between [my novel and ‘Sigwa’] … the very concept of a mother searching for the daughter she has lost.”
Ilagan argued that likeness in theme did not constitute copying from Bautista’s work. “We know there are no more original themes, premises, concepts, plots or conflict situations,” he stressed, “if, by ‘original,’ we mean something that’s not been done.”
Collaboration
He clarified that he and Lamangan collaborated on the story of “Sigwa,” but that the screenplay was entirely his. “The specific idea of an ex-activist Fil-Am mother looking for her daughter came from me … I have not read [Bautista’s] novel or screenplay.”
Bautista also wrote the novels “Dekada 70,” “Bata, Bata Paano Ka Ginawa” and “Gapo”—all made into movies.
Meanwhile, Gil Portes has demanded an apology from filmmaker Alejandro “Bong” Ramos, who is similarly accusing him of plagiarism. Ramos earlier posted comments on the social networking site Facebook, citing similarities between his script, “Biyaheng Norte,” and Portes’ “Two Funerals.”
Portes’ movie is also an entry in the Director’s Showcase category of Cinemalaya.
“[Ramos] should apologize first to me,” Portes said, “and then to Eric (Ramos, writer of ‘Two Funerals’).”
The veteran director admitted that he had earlier read Ramos’ script but said he was “not impressed” by it. “My movie and his script are [as different as] night and day. He does not own the road-movie concept. That was explained [to him] by Cinemalaya.”
On July 29, Cinemalaya executives Laurice Guillen and Nestor Jardin announced that the screening committee “found no plagiarism or copyright infringement involved in ‘Two Funerals.’”
“By the way,” Portes added, “his script is a duplicate of Maning Borlaza’s film ‘Isang Ama, Dalawang Ina.’”
“Two Funerals” won Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography in this year’s Cinemalaya. It also bagged the Audience Choice Award and Special Jury Prize.
