The Cultural Center of the Philippines Arthouse Cinema, in cooperation with the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film (SOFIA), the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the UP Los Baños Foundation Inc. recently concluded Manuel Conde @ 100 at the CCP Tanghalang Manuel Conde last October 8, 2016. The three-Saturday event was held to commemorate National Artist for Film, Manuel Conde’s birth centennial who was born on October 9, 1915. For the event, three of his most celebrated films were screened: Genghis Khan (Sept. 24), Krus na Kawayan (Oct. 1) and Venganza (Oct. 8).

Manuel Conde opened the gateway to the world stage for Philippine cinema with his film Genghis Khan becoming the first Filipino film to be acclaimed at an international film festival in Venice, Italy in 1952. Conde is regarded as the first independent film maker doing independent films on a very limited budget when he is not making commercial films for LVN Pictures, one of the biggest film production outfits during that time. Film critiques describe Conde’s films as “ahead of their time”.

A short lecture was given by Film Scholar and “The Cinema of Manuel Conde” author Dr. Nicanor Tiongson on how Conde’s film, Venganza drew inspiration from Jose Rizal’s El Filibusterismo and also spoke about the cultural symbolisms within the film. Dr. Tiongson praised the flourish of regional cinema in today's generation. 

Eldest child of Manuel Conde, multi-faceted actor and director, Jun Urbano who is best known for his portrayal as Mr. Shooli in the 90’s political satire Mongolian Barbecue was also present and shared a few anecdotes about his father.

“We never expected for him to be a National Artist. He just made films for money. Pero malikot ang isip ng daddy. Ang klase ng mga pelikulang gusto niyang gawin ay hindi kumikita.” the always humorous Urbano Jr. shared with the crowd. 

The event concluded with the awarding of Manuel Conde Centennial Commemorative stamp by PhilPost Assistant Postmaster General Luis Carlos to the Urbano Family.   

Have you ever won anything ever? I won a tumbler once in a company Christmas party raffle. I have won little things which I am still so happy to have because keywords: It’s free! But I don’t remember winning in any contest I joined intentionally. I usually join those contests that’ll let you win free concert or even just movie tickets. Yes, gano’n lang kababaw ang kaligayahan ko mga bes! Unfortunately, I'm not lucky with those kind of contests. 

One day, Iflix sent me a private message through Twitter verifying my email address because they have a special “surprise” for me. I didn’t join any contest, at least none that I know of. I didn’t expect anything from it, but of course I expected somethinga. I thought I was going to get a free one month subscription on iflix. Huuuu.. Sobrang saya ko na no’n. I waited for a few more days after their message on Twitter. I keep checking my mail but no, still nothing from them. And I remembered—the SPAM FOLDER! And there it is, the message I was not expecting at all.

I can’t believe my eyes so I had to double-check every single detail of the email. What if it was a scam? But they had their address there and they are not asking me to pay for anything. But I still refused to believe it as it was too good to be true until I was signing anything that says everything is mine indeed. 

When I was but a toddler, my mother told me that I was a good kid. Although it is not advisable today, she told me that she would leave me in a room and I would just happily watch my cartoons on the television while munching on my favorite chocolate chip cookies. Good thing watching too much t.v. did not kill most of my brain cells and while I was a (cough) cute chubby little girl, I did not succumb into obesity. And I still love watching television and I am still a couch potato. But now that I’m all grown up and I’ve added reading to list of my hobbies. Thanks to the gods of modern technology, I am able to read anywhere because of the ebook platform. When I’m bored with the same playlist I listen to almost every day while on commute going to and from school, and now work, I would just open an ebook file and read. That is how I saved myself from the boredom of Metro Manila traffic. Then came the day that I noticed my vision getting a little blurry. I knew reading while on a moving vehicle is bad for the eyes so I got back to just listening to music and lay low on reading. I love music but the routine can get pretty old sometimes.

Good thing I discovered iFlix! Their ads were everywhere—on Facebook and pretty much all the blog sites I’ve visited. They were offering a FREE 30 day full access. I tried it and boy it got me hooked! But for more information about iflix, just click here.

But love is not blind, though because here are the things I think iflix can change or fix:

Just a disclaimer, I am not at all paid to write about this and I'm not about to compare iflix to other apps. Iflix gave me something unexpected and great for my binge-watching needs though, but I will leave that post for next time because I'd like to keep you guessing *wink wink*. Now its just that when I love something, I just really get out of my limb to promote it. So good, quality selection of films, affordability and a customer service that goes out of the way for you? Check, check and check! Iflix just got themselves a loyal user in me. 

I have always loved watching movies but looking back, my love affair with Philippine Cinema really began when I attended my first Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival back in 2009. Cinemalaya was just 5 years old. I was only able to watch one film—Last Supper No. 3. That one film changed my views about movies and I've never missed a year of Cinemalaya since then. The Philippine film industry is almost monopolized by few film production companies. I don’t want to drop any names (but I know you’ll figure it out), but these film outfits make films that are very formulaic and rely heavily on musical score to drag emotions out of its viewers. Don’t get me wrong, scoring is a big deal when it comes to movies. Anyway back to my point. It was then that I started patronizing independent films or my beloved indie. It doesn’t conform, it’s not heavily populated with product placements and they’re almost always scored wonderfully.

I love art. All kinds—music, visual, performance art… everything. Can I just say that I’m not pointing that out to sound pa-cultured? LOL. I love art because it’s tied to history. Unfortunately, Philippine History is full of blood and betrayal that so many Filipinos tend to forgive and forget. Add that to our colonial mentality tendencies and we’re sure to take history for granted. That being said, I know the importance of preserving historical artifacts and that includes films.

I’m no film student but I’ve educated myself to know the importance of film in history which is why when I saw an announcement on Facebook that the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film (SOFIA) is looking for new members, I knew I had to join. I was really hesitant though, because I am not a film major so I sent their FB group a private message asking if they accept such members. I don’t even have a background on archiving. So I told them if they don’t, I still would like to extend my assistance in any way I can because I really believe in what they are trying to achieve. So I came to their general assembly. I was worried about so many things, first, I thought I was late and second, because I don’t know anyone. Seeing the fellow members, I got nervous because they all looked like they’re all from the film industry. I wanted to leave. Fortunately, I decided to stay.  The first part of the program is a film viewing. I read there was a special surprise guest and boy was I surprised! After filling out the registration form, I asked the CCP usherette if the event started yet. She said, “No, ma’am. Hinihintay pa daw po nila si (dramatic pause—oh yes she did!) Ms. Jaclyn Jose.” I said okay. That took a while to register. I think I did a double take when it finally did. THE Ms. Jaclyn Jose. THE first Southeast Asian to take home Cannes Best Actress award is gracing this event. And I’m going to see her. WOW. But this post is not (only) about her so I didn’t ask to take pictures with her. Haha. I was starstruck though, but I was there for SOFIA.

She came with her daughter Andi. I’ve met actors before pero iba yata talaga ang aura pag nanalo ka na ng Best Actress award. In Cannes. SOFIA did a film showing of her movie Itanong Mo Sa Buwan directed by Chito Roño. Her leading man here is the late Mark Gil, Andi Eigenmann’s father. It was a great film restored through the efforts of SOFIA. It has that Gone Girl vibe. Watching the film, you will notice remnants of a film negatives from the original movie. Itanong mo sa Buwan is one of the films lucky enough to be restored but how about those in black and whites? Filipino silent films? 

In an article written by a SOFIA member for Inquirer, Ramon Nocon states, “Philippine Cinema can lay claim to having produced some 8,000 or so films since its birth in 1919. But of that figure, the painful truth is that only 3,000 of those titles can be considered extant while the rest, regrettably, are irretrievably lost—never to be seen by current and future generations of moviegoers.”

What a waste. Wouldn’t you want your children or grandchildren to see the old grandeur of Philippine Cinema? Long story short, I am now official member of SOFIA. And if like me, you love movies and believe in the magic of film restoration and would like to learn more about it, you can join SOFIA too. You don't have to be a film major or mass communication graduate to join. In fact, I studied Pharmacy before. Some of the movies they helped restore include Mar S. Torres's Maalaala Mo Kaya (1954), Gerry de Leon's Noli Me Tangere (1961) and Lino Brocka's White Slavery (1977). For list of films they helped restore, you can check out their site here.

Photos from SOFIA Phils.

For everyone’s information, you can apply for regular, associate or institutional membership. Regular membership are for those people whose line of work is directly related to film. You can be an associate member if, like me, you’re a film enthusiast whose line of work isn’t related to film while institutional membership is as it says, for companies who wish to be part of SOFIA and is willing to help by giving funds to support film restoration. Annual fee is for Php 400 for regular and associate members and Php 1000 for institutional members (which covers up to 2 representatives from the company). 

SOFIA is a non-stock, non-profit and non-governmental association so help from volunteers are needed especially in times of fund-raisers and other events. They also do workshops and seminars educating people about the process of film restoration. If you wish to join, you can visit their Facebook account here or their website here.

Imagine my happiness when they finally set a release date for A Second Chance together with it's trailer! Totoo na ngaaaa!




I got to watch it on the first weekend it was shown. I was dead serious about spoilers that I didn’t read Twitter hashtags about it, I scrolled up when I see even the title in other people's tweets as well and I did not even read a blog with “quotable quotes” from it. I even posted that I will unfollow anyone who posted spoilers. See? Dead serious.

The sequel feels like coming home—to a house where you grew up in, with the friends you grew up with. The film tackled typical marital problems. One More Chance was where they had to find out who they are as individuals, A Second Chance is bigger than that. It’s what couples in real life experiences and argues about—big or small. Hindi lang naman laging 3rd party ang dahilan ng hiwalayan, it can start from the smallest, most mundane things like the things you stopped doing—like how you never hold hands anymore or the biggest lies—like lying to convince yourself that you’re still happy when you’re over the edge.

I’m actually thankful they didn’t play up with “the mistress” angle, that they decided to go with this route in the story, na everyday problems na nagbuild up lang. Gasgas na naman talaga yang kabit-kabit angle eh.

In the film, Popoy’s still egotistical guy who may have anger management disorder has trouble with letting people love him. Let me just point out how minsan ang o.a. ng mga away. Ganon ba talaga? Ang bilis mag-escalate ng mga away nina Popoy at Basha. Siguro dahil sa tempers. O dahil hindi na rin si Basha yung Basha Belinda on the first parts of One More Chance noon na lagi lang tahimik at submissive kay Popoy. John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo have chemistry like no other. You'll really feel na naghu-hugutan sila ng emotions from each other. That's why it worked. That's why we believed in the Popoy-Basha magic. 

Also, I wish I have a Thursday Group barkada. Yung may voice of reason like Krizzy (Dimples Romana) and JP (Ahron Villena), may referee like Kenneth (James Blanco), Comedian and enabler like Chino (Janus del Prado) at hindi rin mawawala ang cynical/cautious na si Anj (Bea Saw). 

I’m still single but I learned so many things about relationships on the film. Made me realize how avoidant I am when it comes to arguments. I can relate more with Popoy than I can with Basha. That I can be insecure about making mistakes, that it can take a while before I forgive myself. Not everyone is lucky enough to find the one. Or that really, there is no “the one”. And it’s true that staying in love is a choice that you have to make, everyday for the rest of your life. So I think every couple who’s about to get married should watch the film first, see that marriage isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. That the butterflies will go away.

Maybe I appreciated it because I feel that I’ve matured as a film viewer. If I were younger, I probably wouldn’t like it as much.

Was it better than the first film? The two tackled different problems. Like I said before, it’s more than finding yourself now. They found themselves already, it’s just a matter of accepting the other for who they are, who they are not and who they’re not going to be. A Second Chance is not better nor worse than its prequel, but it’s everything I hoped it would be.