Reflexive Cinema Series
Saturday, September 8, 2018 at 3 p.m.
Cultural Center of the Philippines
CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd, Malate, Pasay, 1307 Metro Manila
As part of the Reflexive Cinema Series in celebration of the Philippine Cinema centennial, the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film presents Raymond Red’s MGA REBELDENG MAY KASO to be preceded by a short film called UNTITLED No. 1 and the rare documentary BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM on Saturday, Sep. 8 at Tanghalang Manuel Conde 3 p.m. Free admission. In cooperation with CCP Media Arts Division and the National Commission for Culture & the Arts. Q & A follows after the screening.
Film that predicted the rise of Digital Independent Cinema to be shown Sept. 8 at CCP.
Beyond the Mainstream: A Salute to Philippine Independent Cinema, will be having only its second public screening since 1986, on Saturday Sept. 8 at 3 p.m. It will have simultaneous screenings at the Tanghalang Manuel Conde Dream Theater and at the Main Gallery of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
The 48-minute documentary had been in hibernation for 32 years, until a betamax tape resurfaced recently. Produced for Mowelfund Film Institute by Josephine Atienza, Teddy Co, Nick Deocampo, and Lauro Rene Manda, the video surveys the independent/alternative filmmaking scene in Manila from 1954 up to 1986. It contains interviews and film clips from films by the late Benedicto Pinga, Lamberto Avellana, Larry Alcala, and Nonoy Marcelo. Lino Brocka was briefly interviewed and mentioned that the future of Philippine cinema will be the independent cinema, while Mike de Leon prophesied the coming of digital filmmaking with clips from his pioneering videofilm BILANGGO SA DILIM, which was shot on analog video in 1986.
Others who were interviewed or had clips from their films shown were: Kidlat Tahimik, Briccio Santos, Tikoy Aguiluz, Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Doy del Mundo, Surf Reyes, Virginia Moreno, Pandy Aviado, Ricky Lee, Roxlee, Nick Deocampo, Alcazaren brothers, Dr. Uwe Schmelter, Lauro Rene Manda, Raymond Red… but everyone was 32 years younger!
BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM will be preceded by Raymond Red’s fictionalized account of the heady days of indie cinema as it happened at Mowelfund, MGA REBELDENG MAY KASO, a Cinema One Originals production from 2015. This doublebill is part of the monthly REFLEXIVE CINEMA series on films about Philippine filmmaking. It is presented by NCCA, CCP, and the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film (SOFIA), in celebration of the Centennial of Philippine cinema.
– by Teddy O. Co
Commissioner for the Arts
National Commission for Culture and the Arts
Mga Rebeldeng May Kaso (Cinema One Originals, 2015) is about the aftermath of the so-called People Power Revolution of 1986, spawning a group of young dreamers bewildered, wonder, and wandering, discovering the fire of youth, the loss of innocence, the journey into the core of one’s being, immersing themselves in a brewing new alternative culture and a little known and lowly regarded revolution of sorts the emergence of a new underground, independent and alternative cinema.
Long before Cinemalaya and Cinema One, there was the ragtag team of Raymond Red and his colleagues who were quietly doing wonderful things for Philippine cinema while the rest of the country was busy favoring cheap comedies and melodramas.
Mga Rebeldeng May Kaso takes a look at what brought about that movement, which can be seen as a pioneer of sorts to what the Cinema One Originals Film Festival is celebrating every year. This is a must for anybody who is interested in Philippine cinema.
– by Oggs Cruz, Film Critic
