2018-106007 | BAB 1B

PPP Goes to BulSU

The Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino (PPP) is a nationwide week-long celebration which will
exclusively screen Filipino films in all theaters nationwide from August 15-21, 2018. It is now
on its second year and is in line with the Buwan ng Wika. This is organized by the Film
Development Council of the Philippines in partnership with the theaters, and public and private
partners. The film festival aims to protect Filipino artistry in films, protect our film cultural
heritage, and to promote our country and its talents globally. The participating films thrives to
put emphasis on Filipino cultural heritage and values to empower the minds of the viewers
through the art of movie.
In line with the celebration, a forum was held at the Bulacan State University grounds last
August 10, 2018 where Director Paul Laxamana of ‘Bakwit Boys’ and ‘The Day After
Valentine’s’ together with actor Vance Larena of ‘Bakwit Boys’ and veteran actor Archie
Adamos of ‘Signal Rock’ gave talks and insights about the films they are representing. Asked
about how ‘The Day After Valentine’s’ differs from ‘100 Tula Para kay Stella’ where both are
directed by Direk Paul, the director replied jokingly, “ngayon si Bella naman yung sasaktan
natin” pertaining to Bella Padilla whom also played the lead female role on ‘100 Tula Para kay
Stella’ together with her leading man JC Santos who played the role of Fidel on the said film and
will play the lead male role for this year’s entry of Direk Laxamana. The director also iterates
that he considers how the film performs in the ‘box office’ in creating films without
compromising the artistry explaining that on his early movies (indie) it did not play well in terms
of earnings because he gives more emphasis on artistry thus it makes it hard for him to create
another film because of lack of funds and sustainability. Asked about what are the techniques
he’s using on the films that he have directed, he told that he is showing the wrong side of love
through his films citing Fidel from ‘100 Tula Para kay Stella’ as an example, where it is wrong
for someone to mix love from admiration because they are of different things. A member of the
audience asked the three guests on how does Filipino films differs from Foreign movies and the
advantage of local films compared to the imported ones, actor Vance Larena emphasized that the
content and story of local films are much relatable and easier to digest by the hearts of the
Filipino viewers as it reflects the life of every one of them. Archie Adamos further said that the
use of Filipino language in the local movies creates a much meaningful and much natural
emotions citing movies from other countries like India and China where they refuse to have their
local films get translated through dubbing because they give importance on their own language
and culture. He also added that ‘dubbers’ are killing the jobs of the actors because they try to
convey the emotions of the actors in the films thus importing movies became much preferred
rather than creating a self-crafted film. Direk Paul even describes foreign films as ‘amusement
parks’ where the primary intent was to entertain while Filipino movies are the ‘home’, because
everyone can comfortably relate and the content of this films reflects our own culture. By the end
of the forum, the guests invites everyone to watch and support all the participating film in PPP 2
where everyone can expect a high quality films catered for the masses.
The recently held forum gives an idea of the issue being faced by our own local film
sector and their solution to this problem and how they adapt to the taste of the viewer’s whose
long been saturated by foreign film as their go to choice in watching a movie. Furthermore it is
interesting to know the story behind the films and the things that they considered in making ones
and what are the reasons and goals of conducting the PPP film festival.

REFLECTION PAPER | Film Theory and Criticism