Briccio Santos: Let film be an agent for peace

MANILA, Philippines - As the country and the world will continue to watch with bated breath our sudden embroilment in a spate of killings and counter offensives of government in Mindanao, sober members of society may be hard put to quantify its effect on our economy, tourism and international stature.

Not Briccio Santos, Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) chairman. A year after his appointment, he has gone the breadth and depth of places few would dare to visit. We met with him after his ecstatic return from Tawi-Tawi in monitoring a Sineng Pambansa Film Festival. Will not these new developments negate his accomplishments? He answers from Laoag where he had flown to observe various aspects of their Sineng Pambansa Festival. “I feel very confident that the localized conflict in areas of Zamboanga and Basilan will not affect the festivals. In fact, I feel that more emphasis must be given towards culture through films. Let film be an agent for peace,” he said.

Having known him years back, when we were all into the Flower Power Age of Aquarius mode, and our friend Peachy Prieto was hanging around with Briccio, it was a wonderful surprise to hear him appointed by the new government. We wondered how this artist and filmmaker would survive this new role. Briccio is a painter, poet, photographer, installation artist and one of the very first indie filmmakers in the country with Manikang Papel, Damortis in the ’70s, the 35mm Cavalier of the Winds filmed in Moscow in 1994 at the end of the Russian revolution, and the acclaimed Ala Verde, Ala Pobre winner in the Cinemanila Festival of 2005.

“There is also art in managing bureaucracy,” he smiled broadly. There were just so many things coming out of his department, which is why we sought him out to get the news straight from the horse’s mouth. In a year’s time, he had addressed the matter of the Philippine National Film Archives and launched the Sineng Pambansa of film festivals all over the country. He has opened Cinematheques in Baguio, Marawi, Davao and Iloilo to screen films from the National Archives plus some international titles. The Sine ng Masa mobile cinemas equipped with generators have already gone to the remotest of areas. The First National Film Competition and a film cultural exchange program will take off in 2012. Not bad for a neophyte in the business. 

Speaking of the Tawi-Tawi experience, Briccio was conspicuously affected by his visit. One of his programs now exhibiting positive gains is the Sineng Pambansa, where a competition on the theme “Peace Is…” had been launched with entries exhibited, along with films from the National Archives, and those from established filmmakers. Tawi-Tawi had five entries.

The first question from the people in Tawi-Tawi then was, “Why did you choose us? Parang, there has been in the past so much cultural neglect they can’t believe anyone would bother,” observes Briccio. “Ganun pa man, tanong nila, one time visitors lang ba kayo dito? No, I said, we will be coming back here, in fact, we are sending people to teach cinematography, editing and scriptwriting,” says Briccio recalling their apprehensions.

FDCP chairman Briccio with Princess Tarhata Lucman and Princess Tarhata Pacasum in Lanao

Much has been achieved by the activity. “It sends signals to the community that this is a safe place. It creates a semblance of normalcy and well-being of a province. It also helped that Robin Padilla came. Nagulat kami. Suddenly, there were 50,000 people on the streets, “ recalls Briccio

Some months back, the FDCP team with Briccio went to Marawi for the festival there. They had three entries. Briccio continues, “At the Mindanao State University in Marawi, the one who won used to be a Bangsamoro and now he is carrying a camera. So you see, the program can also foster peace through these initiatives to enter areas where the people are highly stigmatized. At mangyayari yan because we are carrying culture … wala kang bagahe, wala kang politika.”

When the Rizal movie of director Mike de Leon was shown at a festival, there were almost 4,000 people watching. During his time, the director never imagined this could happen.

Not only that. A handful of Sine ng Masa mobile cinemas with large LCD screens, their own sound system and generators, capable of going deep into barangays without electricity to show films, have already been released. Ten units is the goal until 2012.

After having reached out to Muslim Mindanao — Lanao, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga and being welcomed with open arms everywhere else they have been to like Iloilo, Pampanga, Davao, Ilocos — we still wonder how Briccio feels about the current state of affairs. How will it affect their progress? Will they need to start from zero all over again? It is enough to bring frustration to anyone.          

But Briccio apparently is made of sterner stuff. His major concern, one that cannot wait, cannot afford any backlogs, is that of the National Archives. “Culture should always be synonymous to national development and film is part of our culture. Nobody will have that ascendancy except government. That mandate is within FDCP. All we need to do is really exercise it. In the past, masyadong polarized tayo, not only yung institution but also the different sectors of our society.”

“That’s why I was amazed when I came in (and found out) why this had not been done. But it’s easier said than done. We are doing it systematically. Of course, we appreciate that Sofia (the private archiving effort) has done a lot. In fact, some of the Sofia people have been absorbed by us. But we will need to convince more people, gain their trust. We also need to convince the rest still holding their films to turn these over to us. Film outfits like Regal, Sampaguita Pictures, Mike de Leon of LVN have already turned over their films. FDCP has absorbed the technical people Mike has trained for 20 years. Our mandate at FDCP is to consolidate and make sure that these films are preserved and we cannot lose time because every day that we lose, these films deteriorate.

“Our proposal now is to urge the President to come up with an Executive Order compelling all government institutions like the CCP and PIA holding audio-visual material to turn it over right away to the National Film Archives.”

Briccio firmly believes the solution is to institutionalize, not only by creating structures from within, but by engaging foreign partners. Many have very credible institutions like Cambodia with sophisticated film archives of 3,000 films.

He constantly pounds on the fact that we have wasted 50 years of film history by inaction. The time is here and now. Any minute lost will result in further delay where acid sets in and the film will be lost forever. Sometimes, there are happy accidents. Somebody from Baguio keeping a 1953 Manuel Conde remake turned over the print. It was intact. Apparently, because of the Baguio climate, it did not deteriorate. But not all stories are as happy. At the UP archives, out of those retrieved, only a fraction can be restored.

Briccio is, however, confident many more will be unearthed. The FDCP is already making repatriation initiatives to acquire some 150 Filipino films stored at the US Library of Congress. Currently, the archives are located at Ortigas and Murphy in Quezon City where some 1,200 films are in storage with 24-hour air-conditioning and a staff in charge of upkeep. The ultimate aim is to acquire a building in Tagaytay to be the permanent home of the National Archives.

This author with Briccio

Meantime, the Cinematheque or mini-archive patterned after the original 1936 French film version has been launched in Baguio, Marawi, Davao, Iloilo and soon Zamboanga since someone donated the lot and building for it. The Cinematheque will screen old films supplied by the National Film Archives. Ten of these will be all over the country in 2012.

We are familiar with this concept having practically lived in the Filmoteca Española, walking distance from where we stay when visiting Madrid-based film buff Richard Signey. Here is where they screen Spanish as well as foreign films in their original language out of their 75,000 items (in 16mm, 35mm and video formats), including some 36,000 feature-length and short films.

Briccio sees the day that a Sine National in tangent with local government and the private sector will exhibit our own Filipino films. He believes that it isn’t only Shoemart and Robinsons that can do Cineplexes. “We don’t want to impose the quota system of 50 percent Filipino, 50 percent foreign. We don’t believe in that. We just need to compete. We call it vertical integration.” His experience in the provinces has convinced him that the appetite for Filipino films can be developed again. Just as they saw in Iloilo where for three days, 35,000 people were pushing each other to watch Filipino films.

The FDCP has also announced the First National Film Competition for 2012. Four films from Mindanao, four from the Visayas and four from Luzon will compete with one another with the final awarding to be held in a Southern province.

The newest concern of the FDCP head is the cultural exchange program. Foreign governments with sophisticated film industries are the best partners in our cinematic rebirth. Not only do they have funds, but they also have the interest in cooperative ventures. The French have already restored a portion of Ang Buhay at Pagibig ni Dr. Jose Rizal, a 1956 film by Ramon Estella, with Magtanggol Asa as writer, Eddie del Mar, Edna Luna and Corazon Rivas in the cast. Three people are being sent to France to train at the French Archives.

The Ministry of Culture of France is coming for a mini-summit with local legislators and film producers to look into the European system vis-à-vis ours. Huge concerns like taxation, subsidy, incentives, the disparity between foreign film showings and the local will be discussed.

The coming of the fourth installment of The Bourne Legacy, which will be shot in the country, has already been announced by screenwriter/director Tony Gilroy. This is the latest big Hollywood project after Platoon and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Briccio reveals that the Philippines had won over bids from Jakarta and Vietnam. The FDCP will act as a one-stop shop, facilitating immigration, permits, security and coordination. “Imagine the employment that will generate, the transfer of shooting technology?” he stresses.

Winners of the short film competition in Marawi

“I think a new government and a new president are really doing things to put us back in the race. In the 1980s, we were on top of the film industry in Asia. Nobody could beat us them. Watch us in three years and you’ll see a totally different cinematic landscape. Basta ganun lang, relentlessly, day by day lagare tayo, until the critical masa returns to us. I know we will succeed.”

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