‘Puti’ at Brussels: The bizarre and the beautiful
Last year, my brother Mike wrote and directed Puti for the CineFilipino Film Festival. The film starred Ian Veneracion, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Lauren Young and Leo Rialp. It won awards for Best Cinematography by Robert Yñiguez, Best Sound by Mark Laccay and Best Production Design for Rious Caliso while getting critical acclaim overall in the country and making waves overseas. This led to an invitation from a Brussels film festival. Mike’s a better writer than I, so I let him tell his account of that singularly bizarre journey below:
“I had never been to Europe so you can imagine how giddy I felt getting an official invite for my film Puti to participate in the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film. This was the 32nd edition of the festival that one can describe as the European Mardi Gras of shock and gore films. Fortunately for me, there was a sub-competition for more art-house but similarly themed films, to which Puti was assigned. I was not prepared, though, for the almost surreal experience of seeing hardcore genre fans converge to see over a hundred films set against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to.
“I took my entire family along with an oversupply of cold-weather clothing to the land of waffles, chocolates and Kim Clijsters (sorry, tennis geek reference). The city got me at Kilometer 1. Here was an architectural utopia, where modern and historical landmarks coexisted, where public transportation actually got people to where they needed to be and where almost every significant tourist landmark was only 10-15 minutes away.
“The venue for the festival was the Centre for Fine Arts (Palais des Beaux-Arts), more popularly known by the locals as Bozar. Victor Horta, Europe’s art nouveau architectural master in the early 1920s, designed the building. It sits on an irregularly sized plot donated by the City of Brussels — irregular and an architectural challenge because the land is on a very steep slope.
“Horta was not allowed to build on the area that went uphill and flat because it would block the King’s view of the lower town. The Royal family was housed in the palace behind Bozar. (Hmmm, maybe the Philippines should have been a monarchy so the king could stop developers from consistently spoiling many views and demolishing countless historical landmarks around Manila. I’m beginning to sound like my brother Paulo.)
“The vision statement of The Centre for Fine Arts partly reads: ‘Creativity, quality, and artistic diversity have been at the heart of the Centre’s mission since its foundation. But for art not to be something abstract and distant, for it to be truly part of the ‘culture’ of a society … art and people must find and recognize each other, must interact with and enrich each other. For the greater happiness of all.’
“This vision was clearly evident to me during the film festival. On opening day, there were none of the pretensions of an ‘art’ crowd, no red carpet welcomes. Instead, it had the vibe of a carnival, with people dressed in costumes, made up in prosthetics, mingling with filmmakers from all around the world.
“It was a gathering of filmmakers and filmgoers who just love the whole experience of cinema... albeit in a creepier form. Nothing prepared us, though, for opening night as we gathered in the cavernous 2,000-seat main theater for the opening film, The Quiet Ones directed by John Pogues. From the opening credits till the last shot, the audience was ‘interacting’ with the film! They applauded every single opening credit, would howl whenever a shot of the moon came out or would slow-clap whenever someone started singing in a scene. The best reaction was at the onset of a very dark scene. The crowd would shout in unison, ‘La porte! (The door!),’ and let out their best B-movie shrieks. We had never experienced anything like it. It was so unusual that it took some getting used to. It made me sick to the gut in anticipation of what they would do at my film the following day.
“Our hotel was just a 10- to 15-minute walk to the venue. You could take a tram but we preferred to walk because it was so picturesque. The way was lined with conserved architecture and beautifully landscaped parks, all enjoyed in very cool weather. We were in Central Brussels, the French/Dutch-speaking side dotted with art deco buildings and churches. The neighborhood was a melting pot of neighboring European nationalities: our two festival guides were French and Spanish film enthusiasts, the festival master of ceremonies, Dutch; the shop owner down the street, Russian; and the pizza restaurant chef, well, naturally, Italian. They were all friendly but apparently did not meet a lot of Asians, much less Filipinos. No one could tell what our nationalities were.
“The day of my film screening was nerve-wracking: a television interview in the morning, lunch with Serbian filmmakers, then prepping for the film’s opening. We returned in the evening for the premiere. There were cocktails, where I met the festival’s ebullient emcee. He briefed me about the short program before the screening, which would consist of calling me up on stage and doing a short interview. And then the warning: he informed me that after the onstage interview, I shouldn’t be surprised when the audience would start chanting ‘Une chanson! Une chanson! Une chanson!’ (One song! One song! One song!). It was tradition for all the filmmakers to oblige the audience with one song before the film started lest you get booed off the stage. I turned ashen. I don’t sing. I can barely carry a tune. I sweated bullets. But it was tradition.
“So the program began and I was called up to the stage. We chatted about the film (the emcee doubling as interpreter as he translated into French). There was some disbelief when they found out about the film’s budget, which the emcee said was just the price of one luxury car. Then it happened. As soon as the interview ended, the audience chanted: ‘Une chanson! Une chanson! Une chanson!’ I feigned exiting in slow motion, but the chants grew louder. So I just had to suck it all up and belt the most irritating karaoke song ever: My Way. They lapped it up. I survived. I only found out later that My Way was based on a French song, Comme d’habitude, that’s why the largely French-speaking audience was familiar with it. I kidded the audience that in the Philippines, anyone who sings My Way badly gets shot.
“Since my film was the third to premiere at the festival, there was a lot of time to explore Brussels. Everything was accessible by the efficient public transport. Cabs were very expensive. There were bike rentals, too, but even the locals hardly used it because the city is very hilly. The Grand Palace square was a favorite tourist destination and it became ours, too. Every square inch of that square was mesmerizing. I never thought gilded spires could be so beautiful (I’ve only seen them in tacky motels and funeral parlors in Manila). What was even more impressive was how well preserved they were and that any new structure around the area had to have the same architectural style, presumably to maintain the visual integrity of the square. And, of course, the chocolates and biscuits! An entire labyrinth of chocolate shops, from ‘coutur’ to beer-flavored. You needn’t put up a sign that says ‘artisanal.’
“After a few days, we transferred to the Eastern, German/English-speaking part of the city. As a major office site of the European member countries, the neighborhood was surprisingly very quiet. I suppose the atmosphere was more business-like and there were less tourists, but my family enjoyed this part the most, precisely because the area seemed more relaxing. It is highly urbanized with its business offices and charging posts for electric cars.
“The district’s buildings blend perfectly with their public parks, of which the massive and most impressive is the Parc du Cinquantenaire, or Jubelpark. It is 30 hectares of sprawling greenery with a centerpiece triumphal arch and a U-shaped complex housing three major museums: the Royal Military Museum, Art Museum and AutoWorld museum.
“Strolling across such a magnificent park with my family, I could not help but wonder how beautiful our Luneta Park could be if there was enough value placed on its history. Here was a place where relaxation was free and did not involve retail shopping. It provided a venue for exercise, family bonding, lovers, musicians, pets, or a place just to clear your mind, right in the heart of the most modern part of the city.
“Though Puti did not bring home the ‘bacon waffle,’ the experience of converging cultures, interactive art and a city that respected and honored its own cultural heritage made it a very rewarding experience for all of us. As the Palais des Beaux-Arts’s mission statement extolled: ‘Art and people must find and recognize each other, must interact with and enrich each other. For the greater happiness of all.’
Happy indeed.”
* * *
?Feedback is welcome. If you missed it the first time, Puti will be screened on Oct. 18, Saturday, at 6:30 pm; Oct. 25, Saturday, at 8:30 pm and on Halloween night, Oct. 31, Friday, at 8:30 pm in Fisher Cinema 5, Level 4 Fisher Mall, Roosevelt Avenue corner Quezon Avenue (former Pantranco). Tickets are available at TicketWorld outlets and online at www.ticketworld.com. Limited tickets will also be available at the Fisher Cinema ticket counter.
