For the love of local movies

Madame Violet Sevilla didn’t ask me to write this. In fact, she doesn’t know this piece is coming out until she reads this today. (She subscribes to The Philippine STAR – that much I know.)

Well, I have decided to devote this column to her as a tribute to her gallant efforts in film production. Sure, she has only produced four films since she ventured into the movies in 2002. But one of those four movies is Magnifico, which won all the Best Picture prizes in the local awards derbies in 2003 and countless honors (only Maryo J. de los Reyes, the director, was able to count) in various film festivals abroad.

Madame Violet should really be producing more movies if she really wants to create a niche for herself in Philippine cinema, but then, who is making movies these days? Okay, we had a whole slew of digital films last month, but even these movies – made at really bargain-basement prices – can’t take the industry out of the slump (the worst ever) it is in at the moment.

I am a member of the Cinema Evaluation Board and we haven’t convened in a long time because nobody submits films for review. I have been abroad and back and I didn’t miss anything because there are no local films up for evaluation.

Last Saturday on Startalk, however, Juliana Palermo came to me and said that she was promoting something and I thought I was dreaming when she told me she was there to invite the public to watch her latest film, Lisensyadong Kamao. What? There is a producer crazy enough to come up with a film these days?

The "crazy" producer turned out to be my good friend, Madame Violet Sevilla, who – after losing so much money on Magnifico – is back into film production. Yes, she is the producer behind Lisensyadong Kamao, starring Manny Pacquiao, Eddie Garcia, Aubrey Miles and, of course, Juliana.

Although my practical mind tells me to give Madame Violet a good spanking for not having learned her lesson (Want to get back at your enemy? – Tell him to produce films), my heart (which has a soft spot for local cinema) dictates that I encourage her to come up with more movies – quality, preferably.

I still remember my first serious meeting with her (our previous meetings were at parties mostly). This was prior to the public exhibition of Magnifico, which I wanted everyone to see that time. Now, I didn’t have any investment on Magnifico. My only investment there was emotional. I had seen it way ahead of everyone else (when it was submitted to the Cinema Evaluation Board) and I was greatly impressed with it. To me, that was (and still is) the type of Filipino movie that should be supported by everyone.

One of the stars of the film, Ms. Celia Rodriguez, and I talked about the movie and we were worried about its box-office outcome. Well, if we were worried, what more Madame Violet, the producer?

In the end, we agreed to meet to map out strategies. We also invited Ms. Marichu Maceda because I knew she had the same sentiments as mine regarding the film. A pillar of the Philippine movie industry, she would also go out of her way to help support an excellent movie like Magnifico.

During the meeting, we discovered that even if Magnifico earned at the box-office, it would be difficult for Madame Violet to recover her investment, which – if I remember the figures correctly – totaled to about P27 million, including publicity for print and television (mostly trailers inserted in TV programs).

Madame Violet obviously didn’t scrimp on anything – and that showed in the film. While that was good for the film industry, that was bad from a businessman’s point of view.

Ms. Maceda asked Madame Violet why she went into film production and it turned out that it was all out of her love for local movies. (She’s an avid movie fan and religiously watches Tagalog movies.) The two women had something in common – their love for Filipino films.

There was nothing much we could do at that point, but pray for the box-office success of Magnifico. Pray we did, except that there are some things that are not meant to be. Madame Violet never recovered her investment, unfortunately.

Months after that meeting, I invited Celia Rodriguez and Madame Violet (who brought along daughter Girlie Sevilla, now a mainstay of Encantadia) to my house for dinner and we talked about the success of Magnifico in the film festivals abroad. That proved to be quite a consolation for Madame Violet and I was happy to see her in high spirits.

However, I never expected her to return to moviemaking after that (I haven’t seen her nor spoke to her in a long time). But she did – and now she has Lisensyadong Kamao that is showing tomorrow. Okay, Lisensyadong Kamao may not be another Magnifico (although I can’t really pass judgment yet because I have yet to see the Manny Pacquiao movie). But I’m really hoping it gets public support if only to encourage producers like Madame Violet to produce more movies.

If she succeeds with her venture this time, there is a chance (a big chance) she’ll come up with another quality movie on the same level as Magnifico. Then it’s happy days for the local film industry again.