Tila nagpahayag ng hinaing ang direktor na si Erik Matti sa kaniyang Facebook page noong Lunes, Oktubre 2, tungkol sa kasalukuyang estado ng pelikula sa Pilipinas.
“Times have changed in movies. Gone are the days that I look forward to the next local movie that’s going to be released. Maybe I fell asleep and moviemaking moved on when I was away in dreamland,” pahayag niya sa caption ng kaniyang post.
“I always was just a Hollywood fan. All my list of movies that changed me were all movies that get my adrenaline up whether or not it was a slow burn or not.”
Pero tila nagbago umano ang lahat sa paglipas ng panahon. Hindi raw matukoy ng direktor kung nangyari ba ang pagbabagong ito noong ang lahat ay nagnais na sumali sa mga international film festival sa iba’t ibang panig mundo o noong hindi nakakapagbahagi ng suporta ang mga theater owner.
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“But films became about patronage. No one talks about the sins of patronage but it’s the worst kind of cinema support that filmmakers can get not just from local but even from international. And people have learned to play that game here. Local producers have learned to sweet talk intl programmers with the kind of fims they make. A lot of them don’t make films for the Filipino wide audience anymore. It’s just analyzing what works with the programmers who have the power to bring their films to their festivals. Well, if our audience could only come from these festivals, why not?”
Dagdag pa niya: “There are so many types of films. Films that you would be surprised to discover that actually speaks to you. We can actually make films that can speak to an audience we have yet to tap without second guessing the types of films that festival gatekeepers would want us to make”.
Aminado naman si Erik na dumadalo rin umano siya sa mga international film festival. Pero nangako siya sa sarili simula noon na ang gagawin niyang pelikula ay iyong gusto talaga niyang gawin at hindi dahil sa balidasyon ng mga international film festival.
“I used to want to go to festivals and skew my movies however I can to possibly what the programmers would gravitate towards. But ever since a decade ago, I promised myself that I will only do the films I want whether or not it is intellectually as serious as film festival programmers would want or that our local audience would identify with. I want my films to go to festivals but not at the expense of second guessing them and ending up making films that don’t speak about the kind of films I want to make. I want to make films where people would take it for what they are whether or not it ends up in a festival or not.
“After all, we just really want to make movies,” pagtatapos niya.
Matatandaang noong Pebrero ay nagdamdam si Erik kay John Arcilla na gumanap bilang “Sisoy Salas” sa kaniyang pelikulang “On The Job: The Missing 8 “ dahil sa hindi umano pagbanggit sa kaniya sa social media post ng aktor sa kaniyang pelikulang nagpapanalo rito ng “Volpi Cup for Best Actor” sa ginanap na “78th Venice Film Festival”.
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