HOTSPOT Tonyo Cruz Last weekend’s column about a certain director’s unwitting self-admission about the importance of facts and evidence went viral, with no small help from his arrogance, hubris and the apparent penchant for riding on the names of others. I’m not mentioning his name here, out of principle. After all has been said, he has not responded directly to the issues raised by the column and my “conversation” with him online. He reacted by tagging this columnist name along with that of the former vice president, and launched into angry, name-calling tirades. For a director who loudly claims to have achieved box-office success, he magnificently refuses to release his movie’s audited ticket receipts and the list of persons or entities who bought tickets in bulk. What he is afraid of, we do not know. What we do know is that almost all who defended him online — and defended him mightily and fiercely — did not defend his person or his art work. Neither did those who joined him in lambasting the column and the columnist were not after debate or discussion, they were out to bury the matter in insult and threats for the glory of the subjects of his movies. They are fans, yes. But movie fans, no. Political fans, sure. The mention of Vice President Leni Robredo’s name in his response was apparently a signal for political hacks and trolls to attack what was simply a columnist asking a director questions. What is Robredo’s connection to me or to my column, he did not say. If you ask me and others, that’s a very sad thing. Real movie fans know the movies, and they would defend moviemaking, the movie makers and the movie stars. In this instance, it was obvious that they were defending only who the director lionized in his work. There was no mention of any of the falling stars in the cast, only the political stars they profess to worship and adore. Even our friends in the entertainment press would be surprised and saddened, or at least see the obvious difference between political fans and movie fans. To date, no known artist has given the director’s movie a passing grade or a good review. Those who did so apparently as a matter of duty to their political principals. But whether a movie achieved honor and accolades to its cast and crew is for the movie industry, film critics, the entertainment press and the academe to decide. This is done through award-giving bodies Manunuri, Star Awards and Famas. It is not too late for the director or his producers to come forward with the facts about the movie’s box-office and bulk ticket sales. They could easily release those numbers and lists. Releasing them through an independent or third-party auditor would give credibility to the numbers. Then and only then could the director and the producers lay claim to being “number one” in the takilya. The stars who joined the movie, and the political stars lionized in it, deserve to know the real numbers. If the movie was not nicely-made, at the very least the movie stars and the political stars should know if the movie was legitimate box-office success, and not buoyed by big businesses and traditional politicians buying tickets in bulk and giving them away to the public. Movie and political careers are at stake here. But in his last post, the director lost it completely. Unable to answer questions directly, and backed not by movie fans but political minions, he chose the next worst thing in his attempt to skirt the issues. He inserted the New People’s Army into the mix. He saw red. First, the name of the former vice president. Then, the name of the NPA. Who's, or what’s next? In this instance, both are courageous.