A film summit: To solve the industry's ills?

The Metro Manila Film Festival (MMF) through its chairman Bayani Fernando (by virtue of his being the head of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is proposing a Film Industry Summit to tackle the issues plaguing the Film Festival and also talk about the problems plaguing the entire Film Industry. This was the industry, which my family bequeathed to us 3rd generation Avila's, which my grandfather Don Jose Avila began when he bought the Teatro Oriente (this is the Oriente Theater today) in the days of the black and white "Silent Movies". How times have changed in just 80 years of the movie industry.

Just before the Second World War, the Silent Era was all but gone and it was called the "Talkies". Later films turned from black and white into full cinemascope color. Then came stereo sound and wide-screen Cinerama and finally digital sound. Today, technology has pushed the movies into the digital age, where the movie standard film will soon be history. While film is still the world standard in making movies, your everyday camera has already killed the Kodak or Fuji Film, through digital pixels, which are often clearer than film and quicker to see after taking the shot.

When I began my career as a journalist 21years ago, I was the lonely voice asking for a Film Summit for the entire Film Industry because I already knew that the Film Industry was in a lot of trouble back then. Finally, someone like Fernando Bayani has taken the cudgels for the Film Industry, who will tackle issues like putting an end to Amusement Taxes collected by the local government units. But then, the problems plaguing the movie industry today go beyond the imposition of stiff amusement taxes. The biggest threat to the Film industry is the never-ending presence of film piracy.

Film piracy goes unabated today because of two reasons. First, the technology of copying digital movies has become so inexpensive, anyone with a good set of computers can do this in the comfort of his home. The second and perhaps the biggest reason why film piracy continues to thrive today is the lack of enforcement by the authorities.

A few months ago, I talked with Optical Media Board (OMB) Chairman Edu Manzano who bewailed that his agency was fighting a cat and mouse game. For instance, he comes to Cebu, apprehend thousands of pirated DVDs or CDs and when he goes back to Manila, the shops he raided reopen as if nothing happened. In the old days of the buccaneers, pirates are keelhauled, hanged or made to walk up the gangplank. But today's pirates do not even get a taste of a jail cell. Hence piracy continues to thrive and is the biggest headache to the Film Industry, including Tagalog movies, which suffer the same fate as American movies.

But will a Film Summit save the day for the Film Industry? I don't have the answers to this. Next month I'm off to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend the annual ShoWest Film Industry convention to see for myself if there are new technologies that the US would adopt in the face of the ever-threatening Film piracy.

There are a lot of problems that the Film Industry continues to suffer today aside from high amusement taxes and Film Piracy, that this is the high cost of power because theaters or movie houses has to be air-conditioned. This is why theaters inside the malls have been cut down to size. In the old days, your theater was considered "small" if it had less than a thousand seats. Today, a theater with 500 seats is already considered huge!

* * *

Here's a letter emailed to me by my daughter's friend, which is quite self-explanatory. I don't need to comment on this, so please read on. "Mr. Avila, Good day. I got your e-mail address from Katrina. There's a program I took last year in New York called the Landmark Forum. It benefited me a lot, and I want to share it with other people, especially in Cebu.

From March 6 to 9 this year, there will be a Landmark Forum for Executives, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. If you or anyone you know might be interested in the program, you may text or call Aljor Perreras at 63-917-821-8088 for more information. He is in charge of Landmark Education in the Philippines, and he's based in Manila.

Also, there will be a free introduction to the regular Landmark Forum at the STC AVR on March 17, from 2:30-5pm. There will be one official Landmark representative, and several graduates who will share about the program. This forum is open to all adults aged 18 and above. Guests will be given the chance to register during this event, for the forum to be held in AIM Makati from April 20 to 24 this year. Please feel free to forward this invitation to any of your friends who may be interested. All the best, Lianne"

* * *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected].