For the cause of independent cinema

Who hasn’t heard of Auraeus Solito? His name is synonymous with Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, which opened the doors of the independent spirit to reign in the years to come. The year was 2005. Cinemalaya had embarked on an ambitious voyage that took guts and gumption. Aiding them in this journey was a young man named Auraeus. To us, this film — lovingly christened Maxi — could well be the only one dealing on a gay theme without the need for exploitation. 

Today, when we ask him what his favorite film project is, Auraeus says, “All my films are like my children. So I love them all.” But he admits to three iconic works — Ang Huling El Bimbo, his one and only music video which won the International Viewer’s Choice for Asia at the MTV Video Music Awards and which is still considered the best Filipino music video of all time; Maxi which paved the way for indie to become a household word; and Busong, the first indigenous Palawan film at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.

As one of the uncompromising supporters of independent cinema, Auraeus asserts, “We are on the verge of a Golden Age of Philippine Cinema (with International programmers constantly surprised at its having no trend). We are a complex society, a melting pot of ancient and colonizer’s cultures. Each island has a culture of its own, like a different country all together. We have an endless well of knowledge and stories to tell.”

“If only the government would support us like they do in Korea and China, we would be having greater films,” Auraeus continues. “But what is fascinating is the fact that amidst minimal support, our filmmakers strive to create films they want to make.”

After meeting him for the first time at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) lobby during the screening of one Cinemalaya film entry, we felt engaged to find out more about him and to converse with him through e-mail.

Two years after Maxi, Auraeus returned to Cinemalaya with four short dramas dealing with the Philippine Science High School, Pisay for short. The government educational institution that trains young minds for a rigorous and competitive future in science, has been compared to a tribal unit separated from the norm. If it would seem to most as almost biographical, this could be because Auraeus graduated from Pisay.

Another film titled Tuli (meaning circumcise) competed at the third Cinemalaya Festival. It told of Daisy who is living in an isolated province, pursuing the role of circumciser of the males in town in keeping with a tradition that she must follow in the footsteps of her father. Daisy rebels against the system, and we can only guess to what lengths since we have not yet watched this film.

Going through whatever material we found on Auraeus, we love the one that tells of how his mom Leonarda Calo Solito told his son Auraeus native fairy tales to lull him to sleep. These mystical tales from his mother’s hometown in Palawan found their way into Busong, which resulted in his first entry to Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight. Auraeus co-wrote the film with Henry Burgos, and used his ethnic name Kanakan Balintagos, which he uses when presenting an ethnic film.

Auraeus or Kanakan has not been wanting in blessings. Not too long ago, he was chosen to be part of Take 100, The Future of Film, published by Phaidon Press, New York. It consists of a survey featuring 100 of the most exceptional film directors from around the world who were selected by 10 internationally-prominent filmfest directors.

It appears to us that Auraeus’ magic wand has been his gay love story Maxi, which apart from the Cinemalaya win, went to Sundance, Las Palmas and won three awards at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. It also won a Best Foreign Film nomination at the much-respected Independent Film Spirit Awards. His films have been screened in other major festivals around the world including Montreal, Pusan, Toronto and Rotterdam. What else is there to ask for?

As if reading our mind, we received a text from Auraeus apologizing for not answering all our questions. “Pasensiya na,” he said. “Nauusog kasi ’pag nagkukuwento ako. But I will be prolific next year!”  

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