Shouldn’t Du30 listen to Lav Diaz?

When a Filipina beauty queen wins a crown abroad, we rise in jubilation led by the government which takes time out to honor her with a presidential handshake and both houses of Congress issuing joint official statement, you know, “in praise of…”

When an athlete wins a silver in the Olympics, the same accolade is accorded her, plus a cash bonus, and house and lot, and she more than deserves it.

But when a filmmaker brings home as big as (if not a bigger) honor, all he gets is a two-sentence praise release from the government and a lukewarm pat on the shoulder, and that’s about it.

That’s why my friends and I couldn’t help but sympathize with Lav Diaz whose big win at the recent Venice International Film Festival (VIFF)…the most coveted Golden Lion Best Film plum no less for Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left)…seemed to have merited a simple nod of approval from the government when he deserves much more than that. Winning the Top Prize at the VIFF is a feat, almost an impossible dream for many a filmmaker (because of the stiff competition from filmmakers around the world), and Lav earned a Big First for the Philippines, an achievement that might take years (hopefully not!) to be duplicated by a Filipino, equal to Brillante Mendoza’s Best Director award (for Kinatay) in 2009, also a Big First, in Cannes where last May Jaclyn Jose beat acting heavyweights from around the world and won Best Actress (for Brillante’s Ma’Rosa), another Big First.

Lav was right in describing the Venice Filmfest (as well as those in Cannes and Berlin, which happen to be the world’s three most prestigious and most important film events) as the Olympics of Cinema, and a triumph in any of them is something worth celebrating. Film helps in creating and strengthening a nation’s character as do music and literature (that’s why in other countries, artists are looked up to as role models and, yes, heroes).

Anyway, here’s what Lav posted on his social-media account. Read it and weep:

We rented a cheap apartment in Venice. I even cooked the team’s meals during our seven-day stay. Ni hindi nga namin na-meet ang sinuman mula sa Philippine Embassy nung nandun kami.

We were in the Main Competition of Venice. It was like the Olympics of Cinema.

In sports, medalists received millions of incentives. They’re even given a house and lot.

But why do filmmakers have to beg for support? Pag beauty contest nababaliw ang Palasyo at Kongreso?

I am not complaining…I’m just saying…

Lav said it all, so need we say more? If Pres. Du30 (and people around him…paging Communications Secretary Martin Andanar!) is reading this (he admitted that The Philippine STAR is the first paper that he reads in the morning), shouldn’t Pres. Du30 give Lav Diaz (and company) an ear?

The good news is that Lav (and company) should find a champion in neophyte Congressman Christopher “Toff” de Venecia (Fourth District of Pangasinan) who, in a privilege speech, commended Lav “for the big honor (his film) has brought to the country as the first cinematic work from the Philippines to win the Golden Lion Award for Best Film in the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (VIFF),” making special mention that Ang Babaeng Humayo was likewise recognized as the Best Foreign Language Film at the Sorriso Diverso Venezia 2016 Awards, a series of awards handed out before the festival’s major honors.

Here’s what else Toff said in a report by Eva Visperas:

He said, The film’s triumph is particularly meaningful, given the fact that the Venice Film Festival is the world’s oldest international film festival founded in 1932 and considered as among the most prestigious.

He described Lav Diaz as “the consummate subversive and a true artistic provocateur” and praised him “for his genius and keen comprehension of his tasks as director, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor of Ang Babaeng Humayo.”

He likewise lauded the film’s leading actress, Charo Santos, “for her sturdy performance” as well as the Cinema One Originals and Sine Olivia “for making a movie, based principally on its cinematic truth and artistic strength.”

His speech is contained in a house resolution that he filed in Congress on Sept. 15. A copy of which will be given to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines for permanent archiving as part of nation’s history.

In the said resolution, he is also pushing for the conferment of a Congressional Medal of Achievement to Mr. Diaz for his outstanding accomplishment and contribution to Philippine Cinema.

Of course, we know that the film industry has a soft spot in Toff’s heart because he comes from a clan steeped in the film art, the son of former Rep. Gina de Venecia who is one of the children of Starmaker Dr. Jose R. Perez of Sampaguita Pictures and his wife Azucena “Nene” Vera-Perez. Toff is the founder of the theater company, The Sandbox Collective.

Asked about the “plight” of Lav Diaz and filmmakers in the same situation, Ang Babaeng Humayo star Charo Santos-Concio said, “Cinema, the arts actually, seems to be the last priority of the government. Cinema shapes culture, it mirrors society, it mirrors us as a people. I feel sad that government seems to be giving cinema the least importance.”

(More on Toff’s bills for the film industry in a future column.)

An award for Mama Nene Vera-Perez

Speaking of the Sampaguita Clan, I want to congratulate the Vera-Perezes on the Lamberto Avellana Memorial Award given to Mrs. Azucena “Mama Nene” Vera-Perez by the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) during its (34th) Luna Awards night last Sunday. It was Marichu “Manay Ichu” Maceda and brother Cocoy who accepted the award.

From the souvenir program: In recognition of her role as the lady producer who with her husband Dr. Jose Perez made Sampaguita Pictures a film company that discovered and developed box-office and award-winning stars like Carmen Rosales, Rogelio dela Rosa, Tita Duran, Pancho Magalona, Gloria Romero, Ric Rodrigo, Luis Gonzales, Susan Roces, Amalia Fuentes, Romeo Vasquez, Eddie Gutierrez, Jose Mari, Liberty Ilagan, Marlene Dauden, Dolphy, Eddie Garcia, Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III, and for running Sampaguita Pictures which she treated like a family and gave a code of conduct and riles on etiquette for its contract stars.

I also congratulate scriptwriter-director Maning Borlaza, a true-blue Sampaguita, who was given the FPJ Lifetime Achievement Award and Batangas Congresswoman Vilma Santos for her Golden Reel Award. Vilma has also done several movies under Sampaguita.

Briefly Noted

• Tessie Tomas (photo), a well-loved daughter of Samar, has been the president of the Katbalaoganon Foundation, Inc. (KFI) for many years now, spearheading charity projects such as helping typhoon victims and building classroom buildings, etc. On Monday, Sept. 26, KFI is mounting the show Jose & Wally at the Museum at the Music Museum, starting at 8 p.m., a wacky night of fun, music, monologues and gags with the hottest comedy duo in showbiz. Proceeds will go to the construction of a two-classroom building for indigent students in Barangay San Vicente, Catbalogan, Samar. For tickets, call Music Museum at 721-0635 or 721-6726

• From Jose Mari Chan (photo): Next year (2017) marks my 50th year as a recording artist. Although I began singing and appearing on television in 1964 and hosted the ABS-CBN TV show 9 Teeners in 1965, it wasn’t until 1967 when my first ever recorded single was released. A song entitled Afterglow. To mark the 50th anniversary of its release, I’m inviting and encouraging any of our young recording singers of today to do a revival of the song. How about it, guys and girls? (P.S. I can’t believe that I’ve been on vinyl, cassette, 8-track, mini-disc, D.A.T. and now CD...for almost half a century.)

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