Controversies nothing new to the MMFF

Tonight after Hokus Pokus on GMA 7, the top-rated entertainment docu Showbiz Stripped (with host Ricky Lo) will thresh out every facet of the controversies plaguing the 2005 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). The show will also trace the scandals (that should be fun watching) that erupted in the 31-year history of the MMFF.

Since Showbiz Stripped is already tackling the blood and gore in the annual film festival, let me go the other way and recall the happy moments of the Metro Manila Film Festival and its forerunner, the Manila Film Festival. Maybe it would be good to tell today’s generation that for all the horrible things happening in this annual film event today, the Metro Filmfest also had at one time a proud and glorious past.

The Manila Film Festival parade held annually in June (timed with the celebration of Araw ng Maynila) was a much-awaited event by movie fans in the mid-’60s. In those days, the parade route began at the FB Harrison, passed through Roxas Blvd. and went into those streets in the innards of Quiapo like Villalobos and Echague.

When the Manila Film Festival was expanded into the Metro Manila Film Festival in 1975, the parade started at the CCP Complex and ended at the Rizal Park – at the Quirino Grandstand to be exact, where a variety program followed.

Now that the Metro Manila Film Festival had gone nationwide, parades are held in key cities across the country. But the parade route in Metro Manila on the 24th of December has become more punishing for the participants. The parade now begins at the Quezon Memorial Circle at the Elliptical Road, goes through Quiapo and ends at the Aliw Theater grounds at the CCP Complex. I covered the recent Metro Filmfest parade on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and I thought I was going to die of suffocation because the air in Metro Manila is so dirty – what with all those smoke-belching vehicles (especially the buses). Instead of spending so much energy on this film festival (that is always plagued with so much controversy anyway), maybe the Metro Manila Development Authority should concentrate on cleaning the air in the metropolis by running after those smoke belchers. But then, the Metro Filmfest is big business for the MMDA. For sure, they won’t let go of this yearly film festival.

The Manila Film Festival awards ceremonies were held at the Philamlife Theater (then still called auditorium) on United Nations Ave. The awards rites were short and sweet – no big production numbers with scantily-clad dancers. At the end of the evening, there was still sour-graping from people who lost and film observers who sincerely believed that the wrong winners were proclaimed. The sore losers, however, weren’t as noisy and weren’t as vigilant in their battles maybe because in those days, there wasn’t that much money involved in the film festival. Today, there is so much money coming from this annual event and it is not surprising that everyone – individuals and government agencies – wants to dip his fingers into it.

The first Metro Manila Film Festival awards night on Sept. 25, 1975 had an interesting photo-op when the two female acting winners turned out to be former queens of LVN (and Philippine movies): Charito Solis (Best Actress for Araw-Araw, Gabi-Gabi) and Nida Blanca (Best Supporting Actress for Bato-Bato Sa Langit). Both great actresses, of course, have passed on to the other world – with Ms. Blanca’s gruesome death still crying for justice.

In 1978, the MMFF experimented on having only one acting winner – the Best Performer, which could be male or female or lead or support. That wasn’t really such a bad move, except that this went against the more-the-merrier mood of the film festival – and I am for that because that will really determine the best in the acting race. But that particular year was still plagued by intrigues – not necessarily the fault of the MMFF organizing committee.

The culprits here were the fortune-tellers who came out in the show of the late Inday Badiday and predicted a win for Vilma Santos (for Rubia Servios) because the actress was in the panel with them. (Only Rene Mariano said otherwise.) Well, Vilma went to the awards night at the CCP in a couture gown engineered to the tune of P10,000 (when the exchange rate was still P7-$1). At the lobby, she was already told by her producer Ms. Marichu Maceda that she had lost to Nora Aunor (for Atsay). But Vilma still sat it out politely through the proceedings – until Nora’s name was announced as Best Performer, after which she delivered her famous "Mama, mali ang hula nila..." acceptance speech.

After the awards night, Vilma got herself drunk until she passed out. So what’s so glorious about that? The survivor that Vilma had always been, she rose from her defeat, honed her craft to perfection and today, she has the most number of acting trophies in the history of Philippine cinema.

In the 1981 Metro Manila Filmfest, Kisapmata was in the tail end of the box-office race. After the awards night, however, it moved from No. 10 to No. 8 after sweeping practically all the trophies at the Gabi Ng Parangal. It wasn’t really a huge jump in terms of box-office receipts, but at least the awards it won made some sectors of the movie-going public aware of this great film that has since become a classic.

Metro Filmfest 1982 was the most exciting race among actresses. There was Nora Aunor for Himala, Vilma Santos for Haplos and Lorna Tolentino for Moral. Nora and Himala swept the awards that year and everyone was happy with the results.

The last glorious year of the Metro Manila Film Festival was in 2000 – with so many wonderful entries to choose from: Tanging Yaman, Deathrow, Markova, etc. Tanging Yaman turned out to be the big winner and crowned Best Actress was Gloria Romero, one of the greatest movie queens of the local film industry. It was her first actress trophy after winning in the FAMAS in 1954 and everyone was jubilant over her victory. Nothing could have been more glorious than that.

(On Tuesday: A word of advice to the Metro Manila Filmfest organizers.)