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WHILE
the number of movies produced by major Philippine
film-production companies has dwindled over the last few
years, the number of local independent films attracting
audiences and earning glowing praise and awards both
here and abroad has increased. It does not seem
far-fetched to imagine a future where the local film
industry will be dominated by independent movies.
Award-winning filmmaker Auraeus Solito agrees. “George
Lucas [the world’s most financially successful
independent movie producer] said that in 20 years time,
thanks to digital technology, only independents
producers will exist. We are definitely heading toward
that.”
Solito,
who garnered local and international acclaim for his
first feature film Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros,
recently visited the University of the Philippines (UP)
to talk about the somewhat circuitous path he took to
filmmaking, and to promote his latest movie Pisay.
Titled “Homecoming: A Conversation with Auraeus Solito
on Pisay, UP, Maximo Oliveros and Beyond,” the forum was
held at the
College
of Arts and Letters Audio-Visual Room in late February.
During
the forum, Solito talked about his days as a student at
the Philippine Science High School, the backdrop of his
latest film, as well as his experiences as a drama major
in UP, his seven-year stay in
Palawan, where he traces his roots, and, finally, his start in
the movie business and his current successes as an
independent filmmaker.
“My
drama degree helped me realize that when you direct a
play, you actually direct the audience’s reactions. So
when I started making films, I [made] scenes that I
would love to watch,” Solito told the UP Newsletter. “I
direct the audience. That’s why it makes me happy when
the audience reacts exactly the way I want them to
react.”
When
asked about his thoughts on how digital filmmaking has
affected cinema in the country, Solito said that “it has
democratized filmmaking... it has equalized the playing
field for
Third World filmmakers.
“For a
long time I wanted to make a feature film, but 35mm was
[the only option then]....It was too expensive to make
films in celluloid. I am lucky enough that in my
lifetime, digital technology emerged.”
On his
aspirations to become a filmmaker, Solito gives credit
to his parents, whom he describes as “avid moviegoers.”
He said that his parents fell in love through the movies
and they passed on their interest in movies to their
children. “We watched a movie every week. I grew up in
the golden age of Philippine cinema, so I saw a lot of
Brocka and Bernal films.”
In UP,
Solito directed for the stage and wrote screenplays. He
later studied filmmaking at the Mowelfund Film
Institute. His documentary, Basil Banar/The Scared
Ritual of Truth about the
Palawan islands, won
Best Feature Documentary at the Montreal First Peoples’
Festival.
His
first narrative feature, Maximo Oliveros, won 15
international awards, including the Golden Zenith Award
at the Montreal World Film Festival and the Kinderfest
International Jury’s Grand Prize at the Berlinale in
Germany.
It is the first Philippine film to be nominated for Best
Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Award in the US.
He is the first Filipino to make it to the Sundance Film
Festival two years in a row for both Maximo Oliveros
and Tuli, his second feature film.
Pisay,
his latest feature film, tells the story of eight
students who make it to the premier science high school
in the Philippines. Set against the politically volatile
1980s, it chronicles their journey of self-discovery as
they go through the joys and pains of adolescence.
Pisay won the Best Director, Best Production Design
and the Audience Choice Awards at the 2007 Cinemalaya
Philippine Independent Film Festival.
More
recently, the film bagged the Grand Jury and Audience
Choice Prizes at the 14th Vesoul International Film
Festival for Asian Films in France. |
