Domogo: Cordillera Film Industry

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

WALK around the area near the longanisa section of the Baguio City Public Market or the first floor of Baguio Center Mall and you’ll see several stalls selling DVDs and VCDs. Look closer and you’ll notice Kankanaey and Ibaloi movies (and music videos – that’s another story) produced by labels like Abatan Records, Nesvelye Video Production, Quilito Entertainment, RCO Production and several others. These are not big names in the Philippine movie industry. There are no huge banners and fancy posters anywhere to announce and advertise these local films. Their directors and scriptwriters don’t appear in newspaper headlines or on national television. Their actors and actresses don’t go to premieres in cinemas and no screaming fans crowd them when they show up in public. In the first place, these films don’t have premieres or anywhere else.

Even without these several ingredients in making and showing films, Cordillera movies are produced and patronized. We don’t have the glitz, the hype, and the big names that run the usual film industry. But that doesn’t stop creative Cordillerans from making films and distributing them to viewers. The people behind and in these movies are proving that in order to make a film, you just have to have a video camera. All the rest will follow, as if naturally, including its distribution/promotion.

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I first knew of these films by word of mouth, from someone who didn’t personally know the people involved in these films. I was telling a friend of mine that I wish we could make our own local films in any of the Cordillera languages. To my surprise, and amazement, my friend informed me that there already are people doing this and I can avail of these films in selected DVD/VCD stalls in the city (I noticed recently that in bus stops along Halsema, at least two restaurants sell some of these Cordillera films).

Amongst what was on display in the stall I visited, the film “Ganab di Anos” (Prize of Perseverance) interested me. I bought the film and watched it on my computer at home. With dialogues in Kankanaey, this love story was set mostly in the vegetable gardens of Cada. It was shot with a local cast (impressive acting!) and crew and aimed for a local audience, without Filipino/English subtitles. I found it entertaining and definitely worth my time, even if I didn’t get to see the ending because the disc wouldn’t play further (something that quality-control mechanisms can perhaps improve). Nevertheless, I found it inspiring too, not really because of its love story content, but more for the possibilities it opens. Other films and projects can be ignited or awakened just because these do-it-yourself films prove how much we can do with minimal resources and abundant creativity (The films of internationally-acclaimed Baguio filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik inspire in this same way, and a lot more, but that’s another story that deserves an article on its own).

I do look forward to more films (both in quantity and quality). I believe we have a lot of natural talents – actors and actresses, as well as directors and writers – to come up with films eventually making their way to audiences extending outside this region, maybe even reaping film awards. The mere fact that we have unique stories to tell from this our part of the world is one reason enough to flex our creativity and put these stories out, hopefully with our unique manners and from our unique perspectives.

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Ubbug Cordillera Young Writers is a youth group with members who primarily write in any of the Cordillera languages to help define and develop contemporary Cordillera literature. To join, please e-mail us at ubbogcordillera@gmail.com or visit our Facebook page UBBOG CORDILLERA YOUNG WRITERS and send us a message.