On Indie Drama’s 17th Anniversary

CEBU, Philippines — In a time when theaters and streamers are battling for people’s attention and wallets, Dante Nico Garcia wants to catch up with what he calls the current “transition stage” in Philippine cinema.

“Cinema used to be the cheapest form of entertainment. Not anymore because it’s streaming platforms,” Garcia told The FREEMAN. “Compared to paying a P300 ticket, with snacks and transportation, the one-month subscription is cheaper, and you can watch with the whole family at home.”

Like most Filipino filmmakers of his generation, Garcia used to shoot his movies on 35mm before digital cinema took over – a shift that allowed more flexibility, such as taking multiple takes saved in a hard drive without the cost of burning through expensive film reels by frame.

“You were not counting by the number of shooting days, but by the length of the film negatives. You had to rehearse your scenes before rolling because we wanted to avoid a take two. It was such a different time,” he recalled.

“I remember Brillante Mendoza told me that the younger filmmakers are lucky because they don’t have to bring film reels in trolleys when they enter film festivals. They don’t have to go through airport customs and ask staff not to scan the reels through X-ray because it would damage the negatives. Nowadays, you can just email an entire movie ahead of time,” he added.

While the filmmaker from Palawan embraces this “inevitable” change in cinema, he still yearns for his work to be seen in cinemas.

“As a director, when I was making my first film, I was imagining people watching it on the big screen,” he said. “That’s why when you make a film, you need to make sure it’s a film that someone is willing to spend so much money to see in cinemas over a platform at a cheaper price.”

He suggested a middle ground, where studios can decide which films are more suitable for theaters or streaming.

“They used to say that video killed the radio star. Is streaming going to kill cinema, or is cinema just going to create a more specific market and declare whether a movie is for cinema release or for streaming? It’s an interesting challenge.”

Garcia is also proposing a movie house in his home province of Palawan, where niche films from the past can be screened.

“Considering there are tourists in Palawan, I want to have a cinema where films are not guaranteed box-office hits in one week, but rather can attract 100 viewers for the next five years. That’s what I want to do. I think it’s time for us to reach a niche market,” he continued.

Fashion as gateway to film

Before becoming a filmmaker, Garcia had set his sights on fashion design, an interest sparked by a childhood spent drawing and designing. He didn’t immediately pursue fashion in college. After failing his pharmacy course at the University of the Philippines - Diliman, he switched to clothing technology, the closest option to his preferred degree in fine arts and fashion.

“For two years, I was doing well with the basic designing. But when it came to the math and chemistry of the clothes, I couldn’t do it. I got failing grades in those subjects, but I was getting perfect grades for my elective subject in theater, so I transferred to theater arts,” he said.

“When I entered [the theater group] Dulaang UP, I was the costume designer. That’s where my entry into cinema started, because there was a demand for production designers who could design turn-of-the-century costumes. I was one of those, thanks to theater. My entry to cinema was through the wardrobe,” he said.

Garcia cites his favorite films – “Cinema Paradiso,” “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Himala,” and “Oro, Plata, Mata” – as inspirations in his filmmaking, with family and rural settings as common themes among them.

“It’s about families from different parts of the world trying to stay together as one,” he explained.

17 years of ‘Ploning’

His love for family dramas shaped the foundation of “Ploning,” which he directed 17 years ago as an indie passion project with his childhood friend Judy Ann Santos. Shot in Garcia’s hometown of Cuyo, Palawan, the film was the Philippines’ official entry to the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

With a star-studded cast including Gina Pareño, Meryll Soriano, and Eugene Domingo, the film focuses on the titular character’s devotion to a man who left her in Palawan for Manila.

The idea for the project stemmed from a conversation between him and Santos in the late ’90s when she said she wanted to star in a film she would truly enjoy making.

“We were best friends since we were 13 years old, so I made a promise that if I had to pull strings to make a good film for her, I would,” he recalled.

A few years later, Garcia got the idea to adapt the folk song of the same name after hearing it during a drinking session.

“It was a song written by a guy, but sung by a girl. I interpreted it as her trying to remember her lover’s promise. From there, I told Juday that I had a concept and I wanted her to star in it,” he said.

Written by him and BJ Lingan, “Ploning” was Garcia’s birthday gift to Santos – who was turning 30 at the time – as it marked a significant milestone in her career after headlining mainstream projects both on TV and in cinemas.

Garcia revealed that his friend and fellow filmmaker Joyce Bernal was originally supposed to direct. “She told me that we would fight if she didn’t follow the script, so she suggested that I direct it anyway because I had a clear vision of what I wanted to do,” he said.

He now plans to create a spiritual follow-up to “Ploning” for its anniversary, ideally starring a big-name actor and set in the present day.

“This is not a sequel, but it’s set within the same universe, like 20 years after. That’s what I want to make: what Palawan looks like now,” he said.

Garcia also intends to re-screen the original film in different parts of the country, including Cebu, in the hopes of building enough awareness to finance the follow-up. He hopes to incorporate a Cebuano character in the new film, having featured an Ilocano in the original.

“Some towns here in mainland Palawan have a significant Cebuano population, so I’m obsessed with creating a Cebuano character for this film,” he said. “The first language is Cuyonon, then there’s Cebuano as the second, and then Tagalog.”

He sees a kinship between Palawan and Cebu through their shared island culture, and notes how Cebu’s Mactan-Cebu International Airport has become a preferred gateway over Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport for offering a shorter, more seamless route between provinces.

“I had my eyes on Cebu to the point that I’m not that interested in Manila anymore,” he said. “When traveling abroad, I want Cebu to be my layover before I go overseas, because Manila is so stressful. So expensive!”  — (FREEMAN)