Photos that touch the heart

The photographs in Mula sa Mga Aninong Gumagalaw, Cesar Hernando’s first photo exhibit which opened at the CCP Bulwagang Fernando Amorsolo (Small Gallery) a day before the just-concluded 2011 Cinemalaya did and which will run until Aug. 28, are not, unlike those in the song, covered with lines and traces. They are old, all right, but they touch the heart because most of those in the pictures are gone, including (as Cesar noted with sadness) Ishmael Bernal, Rita Gomez, Vic Vargas, Jay Ilagan, Charito Solis and Johnny Delgado.

“For instance,” Cesar pointed out, “only Charo Santos is the only cast survivor of Mike de Leon’s Kisapmata. The rest have reunited Up There — Charito, Jay and Vic.”

Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos is the central figure in the exhibit and she found out only when she graced the opening, along with Regal Matriarch Mother Lily Monteverde and Cinemalaya festival director Nes Jardin.

The collection of 31 photographs was dug up from Cesar’s baul covering work spanning three decades of film work, from 1971 when he was assistant director to Bernal in his debut film Pagdating sa Dulo, to Lav Diaz’s Batang West Side in 2001, for which he received his third Urian Best Production Design trophy. Both films are landmarks in Philippine film history.

In between are other photographs taken on the sets of various movies in which Cesar was involved, such as Raymond Red’s Bayani, and Batch 81 and Bayaning Third World, both also by De Leon.

Cesar took photographs of Vilma on the sets of Maryo J. de los Reyes’ Tagos ng Dugo (1987) and De Leon’s Sister Stella L (1984), in which she played the two opposites of a woman: The saint-martyr (as an activist-nun in Sister Stella L) and sinner-psycho whore (a killer in Tagos).

A guest who was proud of the photographs (and the movies) was Mother Lily who posed with Vilma in front of the Stella L photographs. The two women still beam with triumph every time Stella L continues to receive acclaim over 25 years after its release. Vilma was star while Mother Lily was producer. As Cesar told the guests during the exhibit opening, he was grateful that the movie was made at all, considering the political and box-office risks in making it.

Vilma walked around to view other pictures at the exhibit amid a large crowd who every now and then asked to be photographed with her or get her autograph.

Among the most admired images were those of Vic Silayan making a face on the set of the very serious film Kisapmata, and Joel Torre during a break in the shoot of Batang West Side on a snow-covered street of New Jersey with the still-standing Twin Towers noticeable in the background.

Vilma with Regal Matriarch Mother Lily Monteverde give Sister Stella L. a thumbs-up. It was Regal which produced the Mike de Leon movie.

Vilma was particularly surprised to see an unpublished or hitherto unseen portrait of her being made up on the set of Tagos.

“Vilma was happy to see again some of those she has worked with, like cinematographer-directors Mel Bacani and Rody Lacap,” said Cesar.

Others who were at the opening were Raymond Red, De La Salle Prof. Doy del Mundo (whose new film, Paglipad ng Anghel, was shown at Cinemalaya 2011), Robert Quebral, John Torres, Khavn dela Cruz, Nap Jamir, Mik Red, Yul Servo, Bing Pimentel, Ronnie Lazaro, and Renz and Rap Fernandez (Lorna Tolentino’s sons), UP Fine Arts faculty members and students, Cinemalaya festival-goers, and the photographer-artist friends.

When some of the students asked Vilma to sign their drawings, Vilma happily obliged and even scribbled her own drawing on the young artist’s notebook, saying that before she even became a star, she was already fond of sketching and drawing.

At the cocktails, banker/film-enthusiast/STAR-columnist and Vilma’s fellow Batangueño Danny Dolor was telling Vilma she could be a future National Artist, which the actress brushed aside with modesty, saying, “Naku, huwag naman. Marami pa sa movie industry na more deserving of that honor.” But Dolor disagreed, saying she meets all the qualifications required of a National Artist.

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