Notes on stuff
most people mistake independent cinema to be a matter of quality or taste. when people claim to champion independent cinema, what many are actually doing is to rally for their personal taste. the fact is, authorities in charge of giving grant money are not very different from executive heads of commercial studios. each of them are merely upholding standards of what they perceive to be a good movie, and see to it that it is the kind of movie that gets made. when a guardian of quality imposes notions of good filmmaking over a filmmaker's instincts, someone might be more correct than the other, more proper, more expert, more artistic, more cinematic, but there is a freedom that is being killed. people seldom realize that there is no singular standard to good moviemaking. old directors and old producers would like you to think not everyone can do what they do, that there is a key that they hold, a knowledge they can pass down only if they choose to teach it. young directors like to think only a handful among them are talented enough to do what they do, that they hold the new key, the one that eradicates bad habits and saves the world from darkness. but they are misled. anyone can do anything because there is no standard, no hierarchy. independence in cinema is never content; it is process. an independent cinema is one in which a voice is allowed to take free flight during its creation, without outside judgment to force it according to standards. critics harrumph personal taste too, rarely the freedom of filmmaking. filmmakers debate over why their cinema is more meritous than the other, constantly proving, through their films, the manifesto of the better form and content. everywhere in this industry, everyone is guarding taste, not freedom.
what the philippine film industry needs is humility. the moment we stop believing we're the best experts at what we do, that our tastes are superior, that our movie is the movie that this country should be making, is the moment we open the skies to truly limitless cinema. we could discover the cinema that is beyond our boxed notions, the cinema that is ugly, objectionable, illogical, unintelligible, indulgent, amateurish, the cinema that is too pop, or the cinema that is too art, the cinema we reject, the cinema we don't think we need. when we realize we are not the best expert at what we do (and we never are), then we allow the next person to say what he/she wants to say. not only must we listen, we channel the voice to others, allow them to hear; because although our fascist puny heads may not grasp it, it may be a cinema that enriches others. cinema is bigger than our human egoes. to champion independent cinema, we must champion the right to be whatever.
what the philippine film industry needs is humility. the moment we stop believing we're the best experts at what we do, that our tastes are superior, that our movie is the movie that this country should be making, is the moment we open the skies to truly limitless cinema. we could discover the cinema that is beyond our boxed notions, the cinema that is ugly, objectionable, illogical, unintelligible, indulgent, amateurish, the cinema that is too pop, or the cinema that is too art, the cinema we reject, the cinema we don't think we need. when we realize we are not the best expert at what we do (and we never are), then we allow the next person to say what he/she wants to say. not only must we listen, we channel the voice to others, allow them to hear; because although our fascist puny heads may not grasp it, it may be a cinema that enriches others. cinema is bigger than our human egoes. to champion independent cinema, we must champion the right to be whatever.