MGA TALA:

“Kasaysayan at Tunguhin ng Pelikulang Pilipino” (Bienvenido Lumbera, 22-46)

I. Mahalagang pag-aralan ang kasaysayan ng Pelikulang Pilipino (bago ang 1970’s) bilang isang basehan ng tamang pagsusuri
at pagpapahalaga sa mga lokal na pelikula (22).
A. Ang mga sumusunod ay ang mga naidulot ng pagdating ng mga pelikulang galing Hollywood sa industriya ng lokal na
pelikula sa Pilipinas.
1. Nagkaroon ng pag-a-angkat ng makabago at magastos na teknolohiya mula sa Hollywood (gaya ng talkies) (24) at
kasabay nito ay ang pamantayang Hollywood sa paggawa ng pelikula (22).
2. Nagkaroon din ng mahigpit na kompetisyon (22) kung saan laging mas mababa ang tingin sa lokal na pelikula
kumpara sa pelikulang galing sa Hollywood (25).
B. Ang uring pinanggalingan ng salaping tumustos sa industriya ay ang mga kapitalistang kabilang ang mga Espanyol,
mestisong Espanyol, Amerikanong negosyante, at Pilipinong asendero at pulitiko (28). Ang mga pananaw nila ang
nagtakda kung paano ilalarawan ang kasaysayan ng mga Pilipino at kasalukuyang pamumuhay nila (29).
C. Maigting ang ugnayan ng teatrong Tagalog at ng pelikulang Pilipino (29) dahil sa tradisyong ito kumuha ang mga
pelikulang Pilipino noon ng mga istorya, at pamamaraan ng pag-arte at pagdidirehe (22). Isa sa mga halibawa ay ang
“Tunay na Ina” (29-31).
D. Ang mga pelikula bago ang digmaan ay madilim na sinalamin ang realidad (22). Nagkaroon ng mga pagtatangkang
ipakita ang kasaysayan, kahirapan, at hindi pagkakapantay-pantay (22) ngunit iniwasan ang anumang paksaing
maaaring makasugat sa damdamin ng mga Amerikanong sumakop sa Pilipinas (33).
E. Pagkatapos ng Digmaang Pasipiko, umusbong ang isang bagong anyo ng pelikula – ang war film. Sa pagkabuo ng
Philippine Movie Producers Associations, mabubuo ang tinaguriang “Big Four” ng industriya – ang LVN, Sampaguita,
Premiere Productions, Inc., at Lebran, Inc. Isa pang kompanyang naitatag ay ang Manuel Conde Productions. (37)
F. Mapapansin na sa “Gintong Panahon,” sa kasanayan at teknolohiya lamang nagkakita ng pag-igpaw ngunit ang mga
nilalaman ay nagpatuloy sa pagiging “gasgas” (38).
G. Nagkaroon ng mga grupong namili ng mga pelikulang karapat-dapat parangalan gaya ng Maria Clara Awards ng Manila
Times Publishing Co., Filipino Academy for Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS), at Asian Film Festival ng Southeast
Asian Federation of Film Producers (38-39).
II. May dalawang pangyayari noong ‘60s na nakaapekto sa Pelikulang Pilipino at nakapagdulot ng mahahalagang pagbabago
(23). Ito ay ang pagdaluyong ng nasyonalismo at ang tinaguriang “New Wave”, isang rebolusyong ibinunsod sa Pransya (23,
42).
A. Dahil dito, mahahati ayon sa epekto ang mga pelikulang Pilipino (noong 1970s) sa dalawa (43).
1. Kabilang sa mga pelikulang gumagawi sa paglinang sa mga paksaing makabuluhan para sa isang lipunang
nagbabago iyong mga gawa nin Lino Brocka (Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang, 1974; Maynila, Sa mga Kuko ng
Liwanag, 1975; at Lunes, Martes, . . .,1976) at Behn Cervantes (Sakada, 1976) (43-44). Ang landasing ito ay mas
mariin ang epekto sa nilalaman (46).
2. Kabilang naman sa mga pelikulang gumagawi sa paglapat sa mga paksaing Pilipino ng sinematikong teknika ng
rebolusyong pampelikula sa Kanluran (43) ay iyong mga gawa nina Jun Raquiza (Krimen: Kayo ang Humatol, 1975;
Putik Ka Man, Sa Alabok Magbabalik, 1976) at Ishmael Bernal (Ligaw na Bulaklak, 1976; Nunal sa Tubig, 1976)
(44). Sa landasing ito, mas nakatatawag ng pansin ang pamamaraan (46).
B. Ang dalawang landasin na nabanggit ay hindi magkahiwalay, manapa’y nagdaratig ang dalawa at kung minsa’y
nagsasanib (46). Nasa sinadyang pagsasanib ng dalawang landasin ang paglitaw ng tunay na bagong Pelikulang
Pilipino* (47). (Tandaan na nailimbaga ang akda noong 1983)

Sangguniang Binanggit:
Lumbera, Bienvenido. “Kasaysayan at Tunguhin ng Pelikulang Pilipino.” The URIAN Anthology 1970-1979. Manila: Manuel L.
Morato, 1983.

MGA TALA:
“A Second Golden Age (An Informal History)” (Joel David, 1-15)

I. The first Golden Age in the Philippine cinema includes the entire decade of the 1950s. The most important feature of this
period is the political stability brought about by postwar reconstruction and the aggressive suppression of the Communist
insurgency, paralleled in film by the stabilization of the studio system. The movie industry’s studio system controls the means
of distribution, overlooked the natural inclination of talents, including stars, to seek more abundant means of remuneration
outside the system if necessary, as well as the willingness of independent production outfits to forsake the studios’ long-term
advantages and meet the demands of talent in return for faster and more immediate profits (2).
II. The declaration of martial law in 1972 forestalled a creative resurgency in local moviemaking. A casual review of the
products of the pre-martial law seventies reveals what we might have been headed for: socially conscious and psychologically
frank products, without compulsion to alienate the vast majority of moviegoers (2).
 III. Neutral or even antipathetic projects allowed for a lot of leeway in the selection of material and permutation of form and
expression. Most significant was the proliferation of bomba or hard-core sex films (3).
IV. An excess of film awards, a heritage of the just-concluded second Golden Age, ensures that truly deserving products will now
have a greater chance of acquiring recognition (4).
V. Lino Brocka’s Maynila: sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag in 1975 could properly serve as the marker for the second Golden Age of
Philippine cinema (5).
A. It ushered in a tendency toward new talents and novel projects that was to intensify in the coming year (5).
B. Maynila’s impact brought about a whole new breed of filmmakers: Lupita Concio, Eduardo Palmos, Behn Cervantes,
Dindo Angeles, Gil Portes and Mike de Leon (5).

VI. Three developments were made by three sectors who were to make varying degrees of urgency on mass media in general
through award-giving mechanisms (6).
A. The Catholic sector, in reviving its Citizen’s Award for Television, expanded it to encompass locally existent media of
communication, and the first Catholic Mass Media Awardee for film was Nunal sa Tubig, which had seen rough sailing
with the censors (6).
B. The Metro Manila Film Festival has endured as the government’s singular contribution to the pursuit of quality in local
cinema, its award being coveted not so much for the prestige they bestow as for the free and favorable publicity they
afford otherwise commercially imperiled releases (7).
C. The most important film awards for this period consist of those handed out by the reviewer’s circle, the Manunuri ng
Pelikulang Pilipino, organized in 1976 and barely in time for the first flowering of the second Golden Age (7).
VII. The local film industry’s best and brightest tended to observe peaks and valleys, instead of a consistent and more predictable
plateau or slope (8).
A. Each artistic peak had big budget, even period productions: Maynila was period since early martial rule forbade
derogatory references to the Marcos regime; Ganito Kami Noon combined the origin of “Filipino” as a historical
designation and the transition from Spanish to American colonial rule (8).
B. Brocka responded to international exposure with a deliberate and sometimes disconcerting minimalization of his filmic
abilities in: Insiang, Jaguar, Angela Markado, Bona, PX, Cain at Abel, and Bayan ko, which all followed Maynila
chronologically (9).
C. Like de Leon, Bernal adopted a foreign trend, the then-emergent character-based multi-narrative process, first
experimenting with limited success in Nunal sa Tubig then introducing more commercial elements on a more modest
scale in Aliw (9).
D. Manila by Night proved that the filmmaker could choose to oppose the expectation of a final and logical conclusion and
still justify open-endedness; the treatment of Bernal’s Himala observed classic unities which had brought him attention in
the first place (10).
VIII. The second Golden Age lent an aura of legitimacy to the infusion of new blood into the system (10).
A. Peque Gallaga demonstrated that even newcomers could buck the system and turn it into their advantage (10).
B. Women directors Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Laurice Guillen managed to call themselves as viable entities in the local
film industry (11).
IX. Castillo and Mike de Leon, who reached their prime in the medium during the middle part of the Golden Age, the settled for
relative obscurity afterward (12).
X. The outstanding performance of the period belongs to that of Nora Aunor in Himala, which was honored only by the MMFF
(13).
XI. The second golden age rooted from the government’s intervention-militarization of film censorship and beyond which led
to institutional developments. (14)
A. The first institution established is the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines (ECP) (14)
B. ECP was a leeway for legitimizing Imelda Marcos’ Manila International Film Festival (14)
C. Imee Marcos-Manotoc, head of ECP consulted Marcos oppositionists in early phase and had favorable impact on film as
artistic endeavor. (15)
D. ECP initiated to outlaw film censorship (15)
E. ECP turned to Film Development Foundation of the Philippines (FDFP) without any change in the organization except for
its semi-public character which exempts them to censorship and tax. (16)
XII. Artistic creativity has always been a direct function of political freedom. (16)
A. A film practitioner should please the “boss” if not, a terror or paralysis will in vive. (17)
B. A major factor for the second golden age lies in its superstructure-a level of individual maturity and collective strength
within almost a common era. (17)

Sangguniang Binanggit:
David, Joel. “A Second Golden Age (An Informal History).” The National Pastime: Contemporary Philippine Cinema. Anvil
Publishing, Inc., 1990.