Peque Gallaga, the Director as Mentor

Even as fresh and emerging names are seemingly taking the reins of the Philippine filmdom nowadays, the senior masters never fade away. The legendary filmmaker Peque Gallaga—despite making himself scarce in the filmmaking capital—continues to loom large as guiding artistic force to a new generation of film talents from the south.

When the 64-year-old director-writer obliges my request for an interview and meets me in a cosy restaurant along Lacson St. in hometown Bacolod City, Occidental Negros, our lengthy conversation meets a few interruptions courtesy of young people who greet their teacher with the easy familiarity of those who bond often.

Gallaga admits that he has always gravitated towards younger company, and his “new barkada” in Bacolod, his base for several years now, is no exception. He is also artist-in-residence at his former alma mater, St. La Salle University, from where he graduated in the 60’s with a degree in Literature. 

Teaching since 1966, Gallaga holds a storied, long-standing if not incomparable record of discovering and nurturing talents. And nowhere is this more pronounced these days than in his hometown; where due to the current indie film movement, he enjoys a regular load of “homework”—his joking reference to outputs requesting critique, local film fests to judge, or projects simply wanting his moral support. All these have helped bring his role to a focus—which is, getting these young talents to recognize that they are artists.

“If you’re a writer, you go to school, get a diploma, you get your work published, and the world knows you’re a writer. But when you’re an artist, who says that you are? An angel doesn’t appear in the middle of the night and says, ‘You are an artist.’ Somehow, you get to say that you’re an artist,” he explains. “It’s a very heavy burden. I know of people who are 30 or 40 years old and still get guilty over doing artistic things and are not sure if they are artists or not. So it’s very empowering to be able to make them understand that they are artists and make them accept the fact that they are free to do it.”

If Gallaga can draw this interviewer with expressive storytelling, going by the shifting timbre of his voice to the play of facial expressions, it’s no wonder students swear that Gallaga as a teacher doesn’t lecture, but “makes drama.” Gallaga also provides hands-on training by involving students in his movies whether as set design assistants or movie extras. And he can be stern teacher to a degree. “I’m strict in the sense that you can’t be absent, you can’t be late. But within the class, it’s very informal. We’re like barkada,” explains Gallaga, who has been spearheading the Negros Summer Workshops (classes-cum-workshops that are equivalent to two semesters) for several years now with the help of various prominent professionals. It’s an undertaking lauded for decentralizing holistic and inexpensive film training to the province and giving rise to original materials that scored citations in prestigious award-giving bodies like Bahaghari and Palanca. 

Amidst the emerging presence of filmmaking communities in the country’s southern metropolises—like here in Cebu and in Davao—it cannot be avoided that Bacolod will be deemed a frontrunner. Ron Heri Tan, head of the Cebu Filmmakers Society, a group pushing for the revival of Cebu’s film industry, once told me that he is impressed at how active Bacolod is and at the efforts of Gallaga to give back much of his experience to his hometown. 

True, the naissance and restlessness of Bacolod’s creative synergy obviously owe much to Gallaga and his multi-faceted summer workshops (there are courses like Children’s Theater, Teen Acting, Stage Management, Film Production for Adults, Make-up for Film, TV and Theater, Director’s Apprenticeship, et cetera). The workshops also spawned the much-anticipated, annual film awards, Crystal Piaya, wherein entries have drawn the participation of several established artists.

When I tell him what a lucky lot budding Bacolodnon artists are to have someone of his stature as very around and accessible, he says: “Okay, I’m not going to be humble about it, but what’s amazing is that the Bacolod people have responded also. There are a lot of artists here. Kadamo gid ya [Very plenty, indeed]. And they are all responsible and very dynamic. They are producing somebody else’s movie or project with what little money they have. They are very good at telling stories.”

He further shares, “Before, I was all alone, and yeah, I was everything. At first, it was nice on the ego, but then it became quite lonely. Now, you can see a lot of colleagues who are on the same wavelength as you are. And it’s very nice and great. It’s very exciting here.”

One of the more recent creative and collective outputs from Bacolod was last year’s Cinemalaya finalist “Ligaw Liham,” that tells the story of a letter-writing town simpleton. Shot entirely in Negros, the film largely tapped Negrosanon talents for the cast, save for lead actress Karylle, and the production. Gallaga says, “I helped in the casting and acting exercises, and I was asked to check out the script. But then a lot were also asked because we have an artist community here. And then I was there at the shooting to just sit, watch and give moral support.”

Whether he downplays his influence or not, it’s not hard to notice that in recent years, particularly if you’ve kept tabs on indie film fests like Cinemalaya and Cinemanila, a number of regional filmmakers turning heads in the indie scene are Negrosanons being acknowledged as Gallaga’s protégés. Also worth-noting in Bacolod is the production outfit called Produksyon Tramontina that actively produces stage plays, multi-media concerts, experimental films, documentaries, TV commercials, improvisation performances and workshops—and this was founded by graduates of Gallaga’s workshops. 

To be credited in such artistic pursuits, Gallaga feels proud to have succeeded in imparting technique. “But for me, attitude counts more,” he points out. “In filmmaking, you don’t get a lot of money, but you get power. [When asked for advice] I’d tell them to stay humble and pray to God they don’t go crazy. I have experienced it, and to be crazy can be at times necessary, but they have to get out of the craziness as fast as they can.” (To be continued.)

Next: More on Gallaga thoughts on his indie beginnings, current projects, and directorial comeback.