HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE
The Manila International Film Festival in Los Angeles that I wrote about a few columns ago was postponed; but thankfully, that was a temporary delay, and it will now push through a few days after the Oscars, during the March 7 weekend. It’s the second year this particular festival is being held; and hopefully, it’ll be an effective showcase for promoting our film industry, getting our creative output distributed and acquired for global licensing, and pushing the Philippines as a potential film location for international productions. There has been much in the news of late about maximizing the potential of our film industry and the talent therein, as a driver for national development — and why not?
South Korea, Japan, Thailand; they’ve been doing this for years, decades in the case of some of the nations mentioned — and it’s been a major and dependable source of foreign revenues. A bonus is how it also does wonders in promoting these countries for tourist arrivals, and for direct and indirect foreign investment.
An unassuming office space at the MIRAX Tower, Chino Roces Extension, is doing it’s bit in helping create a better environment for our local creatives to get together, collaborate, and produce viable content. It’s imaginatively called CineGang, and one can head to the CineGang website to see images of the space, and learn how to reserve the rooms. One needs to give a 24-hour notice for the reservations one wishes to make. It’s opportunity and venue for the creatives of today, and tomorrow!
For filmmakers, for writers, editors, and the production staff; there are small meeting rooms for brainstorming and discussions, for workshops and for training sessions. If you need to do script readings, and production meetings, CineGang is ready to provide.
The nice thing is how CineGang is ready to bring you closer to the government agencies and offices of relevance to the film industry. The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), the Department of Tourism (DOT), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), they can be contacted while at the CineGang office. Our DOT is promoting film tourism, while our DTI is out to have our industry’s output acquired by the international markets.
Together, the DOT and DTI are organizing a task force that can act as a film commission to promote our country as a film location for global productions, and assist these foreign production companies when they do come over — being the valuable liaison to make things work efficiently and effectively while here. Financial incentives will be important, helping producers to seriously look at our country — and this is the film tourism agenda that we are hoping to push forward.
DTI Secretary Cristina Roque is advocating stronger exposure of our film industry’s output in the international markets, and marshalling the resources of her Department to help make this happen. There is the growing number of Filipinos abroad that can be an immediate market segment these products will appeal to.
The nice thing that was observed was how there is an interest in Philippine horror films in Indonesia, and Vivamax’s risque content has found a market in South Korea. And lower your eyebrows as I bring Vivamax into the conversation. Despite the cries of protest from the more conservative parents, let’s recognize and admit that the soft-core films that drop on Netflix make the list of every country’s most watched.
The language barrier that exists, which some observers may point out, can easily be overcome with subtitles and dubbing. This is actually another industry in itself — there are voice talents for dubbing, and the subtitles can be executed for further optical optimization.
FDCP Chair, Direk Joey Reyes, had a recent press conference; and I was very interested to read about a new study on the behavior of film audiences of today that he commissioned. It will be officially released in March, but some of the highlights of the research that Chair Joey revealed, were quite revealing.
In the study, it came out that the Philippine D and E audiences are no longer prioritizing local films, and that over 76 percent of the total sample said they preferred watching foreign films and TV shows, especially Korean dramas. There was also the revelation that audiences are tired of RomCom’s.
Direk Joey also reminded those at the presscon about the FDCP’s A Curation of World Cinema 2025 film festival this March 5-19, when celebrated films such as “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and the Golden Globe-winning Latvian animated film “Flow,” are part of the line-up.
I just pray that the people behind these initiatives know this is for the long haul, that they’re sowing seeds and laying the foundation of what may be reaped in the far future. In this day of instant gratification, it’s so easy to lose interest when the reward isn’t immediate.