In the Mood for Love: 'Lost Films' of Philippine Cinema

Those struck with that thing called love say you just know it when you're in love. It's true. After four days of listening to paper presentations about film archives and 'lost' films (archivists believe that there's no such thing as 'lost' films though, only films that are not yet found) in the 7th Association for Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference held in Singapore from June 19-22, I became more deeply in love with Philippine's film and its history, including its 'soon-to-be-found films' from the past. 

Plenary Panel on Challenges on Film Archive
chaired by Bliss Cua Lim (rightmost). Doy Del Mundo
(2nd to the leftmost) shows a slide with Giliw Ko (1938) stars.

After attending this four-day conference, I fully understood the need for an audio-visual archive in the country. Among southeast Asian countries, we are among the last to have an archive. Despite being pioneers in the discourse of archiving, having hosted a conference on archiving in 1996, we only had a State-funded archive last year through Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) as mandated by Administrative Order 26 issued by Pres. Noynoy Aquino. There were attempts in the past to put up an archive though, as mentioned by Bliss Cua Lim in her plenary lecture. She said that based on a study by Australia's National Film and Sound Archive, Mt. Makiling (!) was the proposed site for the national audio-visual archives facility. But due to lack of funds (as always), this project did not materialize. Fast forward to 2011, the Film Development Council of the Philippines identified Tagaytay City as the new site for the Philippine cinema archive because of its cool weather. This is important because film reels (35mm, 16mm) requires low temperature and humidity level for its proper storage.

Doy Del Mundo, one of the archive activists in the country who wrote "Dreaming of a National Audio-visual Archive" way before, discussed about the challenges of putting up an archive in the Philippines (he was also there to present his charming film Superfan). He is part of SOFIA (Society of Filipino Archivists), the leading group that calls for a national film archive. Among the challenges that he enumerated, what I find most agreeable is the fact that there is still a need to develop a culture that values an audio-visual heritage among Filipinos. 

Doy Del Mundo (right) presenting. Beside him is Ray Edmonson,
a well-known Australian archivist who helped restore Giliw Ko (1938).

For me, this is the biggest challenge in archiving because it would require a change of our attitude and viewpoints on history in general and films as part of our culture and heritage. Filipinos are not well-known in valuing history and heritage, except for the indigenous peoples and the cultural workers and educators. Largely it is also because of how history is taught in schools and how film is viewed only as an entertainment medium. But in this conference, film is taken as an archive itself articulating culture of a certain historical period. Viewed as such, films become a document of the past. It is now endowed with historical value. It becomes part of our heritage. But Dr. Roland Tolentino, in his presentation, reminds us that we should be suspicious also of the films that are being selected as part of our audio-visual heritage, especially if done by the State, because of vested interests.

Del Mundo's presentation: "Preventing a Dream from
Turning into a Nightmare: Challenges for the National Film Archive
of the Philippines"

The biggest challenge therefore is not funds or lack of archive supporters in the Congress or Senate, but our way of thinking and attitude regarding our audio-visual heritage. Most people will say "pelikula lang yan!" without fully knowing the stupidity of such remark (similarly, some scholars/researchers from other fields would say, "pelikula lang naman pinagaaralan nyo e. manonood lang ng pelikula. anu bang pinagaaralan nyo sa pelikula? This is as if they are saying it's such a waste of time to study film.) For them, film is for entertainment. Once you have watched it, it's not important anymore. In a society like the Philippines, where poverty is high, film becomes a luxury, and building a million-peso-archive to house these old films is an excess. This is the dominant attitude on film that archive activists need to put up with and battle against. It is a bloody battle. Fortunately, with Briccio Santos at the helm of FDCP, archive activists found a general on their side. Together, they'll battle it out to achieve victory of finally building a home for our 'lost films'.

12 Things To Do in Pandin Lake

The Lakwatchera in Pandin Lake
Photo by Aileen Macalintal

Look where my feet got me: Pandin Lake, San Pablo City, Laguna

 As my balikbayan friend said, the best trips are those unplanned--or more specifically, those with only little planning. One weekday, we decided to go Pandin Lake (my third time) in San Pablo City, Laguna since my balikbayan friend's French husband wants to see trees and lakes.

Being near Los Banos, there's really no need to prepare a lot for this trip. We just needed to contact Aling Siony (09299789565) to reserve a bamboo raft and order packed lunch for the group.

When we arrived in the lake after an hour and a half travel and hike (10 min), everything's set. It was just around 10am, and we planned to stay until 2pm. We never realized that aside from swimming in the lake, there's a lot of (crazy) things one can do while in Pandin Lake:

1. Swim like you never did before. When the bamboo raft was "parked" in the swimming area, what we did was to exercise our arms and lungs swimming from there to the grotto on the other side. We thought it's easy because it's near, but it's not easy and it's not near. It's fun though swimming with all our might for around 20 minutes in a 40-ft deep lake.

The Grotto. Below it there's a source of spring water.

Our swimming area. Visitors are required to wear
those bright orange life vests while in the lake.
It's 40 ft deep!

2. Ride on the coast guard boat. Since we were already tired swimming, we asked Kuya Ato, a barangay tanod who also acts as the coast guard, if we could ride in his boat going back to the bamboo raft. Good thing he said yes.

Kuya Ato, the coast guard

3. Swing on a tree branch and take a picture. In the tree where our raft was "parked", there's a branch hanging like a swing, and the lady rowers said that it can actually have two persons at the same time. It's frightening at first because it does not seem sturdy enough to even have one person on it. But there's nothing else to do but try it out, so try it out we did. Now, we have new profile pictures for FB swinging on this tree branch.

So greeeen. 
Photo: Ai Macalintal

4. Swing on a tree branch and take a plunge. After the kodak moments, it's time to swim again! So to add a little excitement, we dared each other to jump from the swing. Turns out it's the easiest dare we did.

Photos by Aileen Macalintal

5. Do the Nestea iced tea dive. Everyone's familiar with this--you dive with your back hitting the water first. It's more fun if you do it in groups, just like we did. And we did it over and over again. (My friend took a video of us doing this, but I don't have a copy as of now. Will post it soon.).

6. Do the real 'jump shot'. What I mean is, jump to the lake and take a photo. You can experiment on different poses. One of my friends did a superman pose. I did a runner's pose (they said I looked like running in the lake).

Mike's Superman pose
Photo by Ai Macalintal

Running (even) in the lake
Photo by Ai Macalintal

7. Do synchronize swimming, starting with the "elesi" swim. After we're done overcoming our fear jumping and diving to the lake, it's time to go serious in swimming, so we had a synchronized swimming session. Mike was the choreographer, and his first move is the "elesi" swim--we lie sideways then turn our body around. It makes me a bit dizzy, but it's a whole lot of fun.

8. Experiment on other ways to swim. Mike could not be stopped experimenting on the moves for our synchronized swimming. He "discovered" that we can turn around using only one of our hands in the water and moving it like a flag swaying in the wind. I also "discovered" that's it's easier to turn around if you start from the position of lying face down the water then turning clockwise. I could only do this twice or thrice because I really feel dizzy easily.

9.  Go fishing. We were not able to do this, but this can be done. Fishing equipment can be rented for P30 an hour. We saw a lot of fish in the lake, and it must be fun to try fishing in the lake. I'll do it next time, maybe.


10. Feed the fish. If fishing is not your thing, then feed the fish instead. While having our lunch, ayungin fish appeared in the waters. The lady rowers said we can feed them with rice. It's nice to see many fish almost jumping out of the water, outwitting other fish to get the food.

Feeding Frenzy
Photo by Ai Macalintal

11. See the twin lake, Yambo. This is a standard thing to do while in Pandin Lake. Its twin lake, Yambo is only 3-5min trek away. It's best to visit it before you swim in Pandin.

Trek up to see the twin lake.

Yambo Lake and Mt. Banahaw on the background
Photos by Ai Macalintal 

12. Row the bamboo raft. As if you're workout swimming and trekking are not enough, you can ask the lady rowers if they would allow you to help in rowing the boat. While at that, ask them why the rowers are women and not men.

A Lady Rower

I told my friends that Pandin Lake may be my favorite getaway since it's near LB, it's cheap (P180 for the bamboo raft and another P180 for packed lunch), and it's so much fun swimming in the fresh water. I never thought there are so many crazy things one can do while in Pandin Lake, or maybe because I was with my crazy friends (A word of caution though for future visitors: don't be too noisy since there are other visitors as well.).

The Crazy Gang

How to get there:

From Manila:
1. Ride a bus going to Lucena or Batangas. Get down in San Pablo City.
2. Ride a tricycle to go to the city proper. Ask the driver to bring you to 7-11 where the jeepneys to ILOG that will pass by the way to Pandin Lake are parked.
3. Ask the jeepney driver to drop you off to Pandin Lake. Somebody's waiting there to guide you through the short hike going to the lake (that is, if you made reservations earlier).

3 Airports in 1 day

In a recent trip to Malaysia and Indonesia (blog entries to follow, I promise!), I got to be in three different international airports in one day--Minangkabau International Airport in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia; LLCT in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and NAIA Terminal 3. It was the last day of my trip, and I’m spending it in transit waiting for flights to go home. 

LLCT in Kuala Lumpur

I’ve waited the longest in KL, arriving there from Padang in the morning and leaving in the early evening. Among the three, I can say that it’s the best international airport. It has free wifi, which passengers can actually use unlike in NAIA. It has a lot of restaurants fast food chains (both local and international) and coffee shops, where passengers can kill time. Plus, LLCT does not charge passengers with a fee (e.g. terminal fee, travel tax) unlike in Padang and (uurgh) Manila. The only problem is the long walk from the boarding gate to the aircraft (and vice-versa) because there was no tunnel to the plane since it was a budget airport. I had to walk for around 10-15 minutes after deplaning. Some airlines in Manila also let their passengers walk to save P7,000 from using the tunnel.  

The Long Walk

Another good thing in KL is the airport bus (Skybus and Aerobus) that makes it convenient for passengers to travel to the city. It’s cheap, too (RM 9 or P126 and RM 8 P112, respectively) for an hour-long trip to the city. There’s also a train from the airport straight to the city but this costs more.

Minangkabau International Airport

The Minang Roof shaped like a bull's horn
dominates the design of airport in Padang

Although I was fetched by my friends in Padang, I did not see any public transportation to the city except for taxi. In Manila, taxis are also available but I would not recommend it because our taxi drivers are the worst. They reject passengers and refuse to use the meter. Instead, they give an overpriced fixed rate. For instance, they charge P350 if you’re going to Pasay Rotonda. I think it would only be between P100-150 if they use the meter. If you don’t want to get fooled by taxi drivers, ride the shuttle bus going to Baclaran Church and EDSA where many city buses are available. Fare is only P20. The only problem is that the bus has no provision for luggage since it is a coaster. Add to that, the bus conductor allows more passengers and since there are no seats left, they stand in the aisle, so there’s really no place for luggage. It’s really inconvenient to commute from airport to city in the Philippines compared to KL. If this would be the first experience of visitors in our country, I don’t think they’ll be able to say “It’s more fun in the Philippines.”  I think this should be addressed by the management and the government immediately if they want to boost tourism in the country.

Details of railing in Minangkabau Airport

Ceiling Design in Minangkabau Airport

In Padang, a passenger has to pay a terminal fee like in Manila. These two are the only airports I’ve experienced that collect a terminal fee; Bangkok, Hong Kong, KL, Vietnam have none. Philippines also charge a travel tax for international departures. I wonder where Philippine government uses these fees. It was reported that the CCTVs in Terminal 3 were not working for a long time already. Why not use the terminal fees collected to repair it, or improve wifi, or improve the aesthetics of the airport? NAIA has a very impersonal feel because it lacks designs culled from Philippine folk designs unlike in Padang and Bangkok.

The only thing I did not like in Padang airport is the long line in immigration because there were only two lines for Indonesians and another to for foreigners. I had to wait in line for twenty minutes just to get my passport stamped. In some international airports, many booths were allowed two foreigners to speed up the process. 

Lining up in Immigration could take long in Minangkabau Airport

In terms of customer service, Padang airport staff and Air Asia staff in KL are friendly and helpful. I normally don’t like having small talks with strangers, but the staff in the check-in counter in Padang was very charming I could not resist it. Maybe he wants to practice his almost-perfect English (most Indonesians in Padang can’t understand English). In KL, I saw an Air Asia staff assisting a first-time passenger and assuring her family that Air Asia would make sure that she’s comfortable in her first flight. In the Philippines, most are courteous but I can’t feel any genuine concern to passengers unlike the ones I saw in Air Asia.

Having spent an entire day in different airports, I realized how important it is for the experience of the passenger in one’s country. Airports are the gateways for local and foreign visitors, and it says something about the culture and values of the country’s people. KL is big on its tourism so they make its airport friendly to tourists. Minangkabau airport’s design reflects the pride of people in Padang on their traditional culture. The Philippine airports don’t have any of these (at least NAIA), and it’s high time for our government to concern itself with the convenience of its tourists and to show them how we value our visitors.

NAIA Terminal 3

Haruki Murakami Runs...and Writes About It

Summer Read: 

 I have been reading a lot of Murakami novels the past year (Dance Dance Dance, A Wild Sheep Chase, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle) before this one, a collection of essays about his running experiences spanning a quarter of century. Reading this short book (compared to his novels) is a breather for me--this time he talks about the world as he sees it, not a world he made up with surreal incidents. 

It's a memoir, Murakami says in his afterword. But more than a recounting of the marathons (most especially New York and Boston Marathon,ultramarathon and triathlons he joined, however, the book tells of his philosophy about writing novels and living a full life. Most of the times, his insights on life come from his reflections on his running, and in some parts he even philosophizes about his being. In one of his discussions, he borrows from Descartes and proclaims, "I run, therefore I am."

It's obvious to say that running plays a big role in his life, but really, it is central to his life. He even said that he hopes he and running can grow old together. "Running everyday is a kind of lifeline for me...." Needless to say, it is also central to his job as a novelist. He compares the training in running and the skills needed when writing a novel and, expectedly, there are similarities, such as focus and endurance needed to run and to finish a novel (for him, talent, focus and endurance are what it takes to be a skillfull novelist).

The only difficulty with reading this memoir is if the reader is not a runner--there are experiences and insights that only a runner reader can only fully grasp, and sometimes Murakami recognizes this by giving signals, such as "marathon runners will understand what I mean," or "only runners would understand this." Fortunately for me, I can relate to what he's saying, having ran a full marathon in March. I find myself nodding very often while reading this book. But some readers may not be able to relate to what he is saying or may lose interest in the middle. But of course, there's nothing that can stop a Murakami avid fan from reading it. 

Murakami in one of his
marathon races.
Photo downloaded from
http://trapnel.blogspot.com/2008/07/
ten-things-you-didnt-know-about-haruki.html

 As a runner, I got thrilled learning that his first (unofficial) marathon was in--wait for it- -Athens to Marathon in Greece, the actual route of the Greek soldier who ran 42.195km to tell Athens about their victory and died after doing so, but in reverse order. Murakami did it for a writing job, which means that he ran alone, with only the magazine staff as his support system. I envy his personal record time of less than four hours running a full marathon because I'm a slow runner (I finished it close to seven hours), and I felt challenged whenever he says that he came to run and not to walk in marathon races because I use the walk-run technique in doing long distance running. He runs a marathon every year, and I would want to also do that. Reading it from no less than Murakami makes it an achievable dream, a possibility.

This book is helpful for readers who run like me. One can pick up something useful from Murakami's training and techniques, plus he's able to put into beautiful words the 'runner's high,' that special, unexplainable feeling when runners finish a race. He was also able to capture the essence of running (well, at least for some, including me) and relate it to life and writing:

"Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that's the essence of running, and a metaphor for life--and for me, for writing as well."

Even if he's 50+ years old, Murakami continues to train for marathons and triathlons.
Photo downloaded from  http://trackingwonder.com/jeffreys-blog/2012/01/30/831/  . 

Runner readers would also get a handful of pieces of advice from the man himself, things runners already know but need to be reminded of. For instance, when a runner feels he can't run because s/he is busy, Murakami has this to say: "If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I'd never run again." How true.

As for non-runner readers, this book can be helpful, too. One might get encouraged to run after reading it, though Murakami believes one can't force another person to run. He's correct in saying that the decision to run rests solely on the person. But more important, life lessons can be learned from his experiences--how one can overcome fear, defeat, and even the sense of frustration knowing one's physical decline that comes with ageing (Murakami is 50+ years old when he wrote the book). 

For readers who write, one can learn a thing or two from the author, especially in terms of his focus and discipline as a writer (he writes four hours a day). More important, I think the reader will be amazed how Murakami manages his time writing a novel, running every day, training for marathon and triathlon races, travelling, and occasionally giving lectures. It takes a really strong will power and sense of self-discipline to be able to accomplish all these.

As it turns out, the book is not solely for runners despite what its title says. All of us can be considered runners in the open route of life--and this book makes a good companion.

Murakami runs.
Photo from  http://www.kirainet.com/english/what-i-talk-about-when-i-talk-about-running/   

Geeky Lakwatcha

Last month was a busy geeky month--I presented a paper in a conference on Asian films in Hong Kong and attended a symposium on documentary filmmaking in Selaya, Thailand sponsored by the European Union and the Goethe Institute.

The biggest camera I've seen donated by the Queen's Theater in HK
that closed down decades after it first opened

After the official functions, my most awaited part is the lakwatcha. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the Hong Kong Film Archive, where the conference participants also watched one of Bruce Lee's early films, The Orphan (1960).

After the conference, I went to the Hong Kong Arts Centre. I enjoyed this the most in my trip to HK.

Brochures for free

Arts Centre Bookstore

Exhibits on display:

A miniature set used in the short film projected

The artist drew on each of the page of this dictionary
to create the animation as one flips the pages.

real-time photo developing machine

sound magnet

my delayed reflection

Shoot your own film

The symposium on documentary filmmaking was held at the Thai Film Archive, where I got to watch a documentary film from Indonesia about the Bali bombers. I watched it with an Indonesian participant and discussed it with her. The inside stories she shared to me add more to my understanding of the situation and the film.

My favorite part of the trip is the tour of the Thai Film Museum. It was my first time to visit one. Thais are really good with museums, making them interactive for the visitors to enjoy. I've visited their national museum years before and my friends and I had so much fun there while learning about the Thailand's history and heritage.

The Thai Film Archive

The film museum, although small, contains film memorabilia that span decades of filmmaking in Thailand. It contains actual props used in movie sets, Apichatpong's scripts (he has a corner in that small film museum), old film cameras (as in, big old cameras), and even ashes of a film that was censored.

actual clappers used 

These pamphlets were distributed to the audience before entering the movie house.
They serve as guide to the plot, dialogue, etc. 

old old projector

Ashes of the censored film

What I enjoyed the most was the screening of a short film documenting the King attending a public event. It was projected using an old-school projector where the projectionist manually spins it at a certain speed so that the pictures move. The sound the projection makes transports me to the early days of cinema. How I wished the first cinema in Escolta was preserved to house a Philippine Film Museum.

our guide and the gang

A very famous Thai actor

Memorabilia from a Thai animator

An actual set from an actual Thai film. Audience can watch in the set while filming

Apichatpong's corner. The iconic character from his film Uncle Boonmee

Apichatpong's actual shooting script

The Box Office

Movie house owner's office
Because filmmaking is a business

Just a few weeks ago, I went to Cebu to visit a local film archive owned by a foreigner: the Tioseco-Bohinc Film Archive. I would be writing a paper on this to be presented in a conference in Singapore in June. At the moment, the collection is in the owner's house, but he hopes that it will be housed soon in a proper venue in Cebu City. His 16mm collection of classic films were already transferred to the University of San Carlos, where he teaches, in an "on loan" basis.

DVD and Book Collections at the Tioseco-Bohinc Film Archive

The owner and I

16mm collection, including Citizen Kane

Book collection includes early Cahiers du Cinema articles
written by the French New Wave directors