Problems in Philippine Film

History
B. Lumbera
• Philippine film has a history of over 60 years
Beginnings and Growth (1897-1944)
- 350 films were produced between this period
- Liebman and Peritz
- Ang Dalagang Bukid 1919
• 1930 Collegian Love: V. Salumbides
• 1932 Ang Aswang
• Sa Pinto ng Langit: Jose Nepomuceno
• 1933 Punyal na Ginto: Nepomuceno
• America set standards / conditions for film
production
• Hollywood had a steady stream of movies
produced
• “Against these odds, Philippine film companies
had no choice but to aim their products at a
special market consisting mainly of viewers
whose low socio-economic status had
impaired their ability to fully comprehend the
language and the content of Hollywood
cinema”
• This resulted in films that naïve and simple
minded
• American cultural opression
• Philippine literature and theater was now
conveyed into film
• Serial novels
• Filipino films not only competed with
American made ones but also with each other
 Recovery and Development (1945 –
1959)

• Film production in the country stopped

• Film equipment was utilized by the Japanese
for propaganda purposes
• After the war 3 movie companies dominated
• 1950 – institution of the Maria Clara Awards
• 1958 – FAMAS (Filipino Academy of Movie and
Arts Sciences)
• Asian Film Festival
• Such award bodies paved the way for the
increase of artistic quality of movies rather
than box office appeal
• “prestige movies”
• In spite of growing awareness among film
makers that motion pictures are more than
commercial commodities, the industry still
depended on the popular arts for its stories
• Radio Serial Drama
• Komiks
Rampant Commercialism and
Artistic Decline
(1960-1975)
• The end of the 1950’s led to intensifying labor
movements in Manila
• Several movie studios closed
• Proliferation of exploitation films
• Superstar Syndrome
• In the 1960’s the foreign movie market saw a
demand on violence, soft-core sex, among
others
• 1964 – Manila Film Festival
• 1972 – Martial law would impose the political
perspectives of the “new society”
• BCMP – Board of Censors for Motion Pictures
• No films for Propaganda purposes
• 1976 – MPP – Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino
• Issues in Philippine Film History
- Annotated filmography – List and copies
- Selective bibliography
- Oral histories
- Film Archive