INQUIRERENTERTAINMENT TELLING THE FI LIPINO STORY TO THE WORLD 7 THURSDA Y , DECEMBER9, 2010 John Torres toppedCinema nila2005 and makin g wave s in Clermont-F er- rand(France)and Oberh ause n (Germany),among otherfests. A yearlater , John’ s feature debut , “T odo To do T eros”won theDrag ons& Tig ersAwa rdin V ancou ver filmfest, alongwith the Netpa c andFipresciprizes in Sing apore . Hissecond featu re, “Y ears Whe n I Wasa Chi ldOutsi de” won theGran d Jur y Pri zeat Cinemanila2007 andJury Spe- cialMentionin the South east Asia n compe titio n of the Ban gkok fes t in2008. Although acclaimed abroad, Johnkeeps thin gs in persp ec- tiv e.“Be excited inyour own work ,” he tellsyoungerenthusi - ast s.“As a fri endoncetoldme, thekey isto sta y loc al.Be tru e to thepeoplewatch ingyour films . Fes tival s are not your god s.Whenthey bec omeyour end- all andbe-all,the filmmak- er is ensl aved .” Beyon d the awar ds andacco- lad esand bei ngpartof a “mo vement, hesays,“I amhere tofil m . .. I amhumbl edto workwi thother s,to ser veas a ‘mod- el’as LavDiazsays , wor kin g for culture.” Likewise,he couns els aspi r- ingfilmmaker s: “Livebeyond film.Think aboutyour sur- round ings . Liste n to music. Openyourselfto surp rise s and littl e momen ts of glea ming, gift s thatreveal.” Digi tal tech nolog y hasresult- edin a boom,Johnsays.“Ev- ery onecanattemp t tomake a fil m.A lotof it wi llbe cra ppy , butout ofthe pil e wil l eme rge future masterpieces.” Bayani SanDiego Jr . Jon Red tosharestori esand cre ateim- ages ” ledhim to filmmakin g. “Thereactionof an audi ence, no matterhowsma lland,even if it is nega tive,is inspi ring .” His12-minutevideo, “Es, ” won Bes t Jur y Pri ze atthe Mon - dial e delaVideo in Brus sels, Belgi um,in 1991.His short s, “Tie mpo”and “T rip, ” both bagge d UrianBest ShortFilm hon ors(1993and1994) . In 1999,he mad e hisfirs t fea tur e, “Stil l Lives ,” which tackl es ille- galdrug s.It wasscre ene d atthe 2000 Sing aporeInterna tiona l Film Festival. Jon’s“Utangni T atang ” won Best Cine matog raph y andBest Produ ctionDesignin the 2002 Manil a FilmFestiv al. Hischil- dren’s educational show , “Sine skwe la,”won the Grand Pri x at theScie nceandImage s Fes tivalin Fran ce in 2004. “ ASTIGmatis m” won forhim theSilv erAwar d at the28th Khavn de la Cruz Hongk ongIFF. Lastyear,the TVseri es “EvaFonda, ” star ring Cris tineReyes,won Speci al Pri zeat theSeoulDrama Awards. Wit h hiswif e Car ol,Jon pro - duce d “Ima he Nasy on” (2006), an omnib us filmcommemor at- ingthe firs t EdsaRevolu tion andcreated by 20 dire ctors . “We mayhaveacce ssto the tec hno log y butif wedo not havethe attitude anddiscipli ne tha t sho uldcomewithit, wha t we ’llbe see ingis thesameold [thin g],”Jon, olderbrotherofanother filmmaker , Raymond Re d,cauti ons. “Iwouldliketo exper ienc e a real groundbreakingFil- ipinocinema.” He adds : “T ech- nol ogygaveus ac- cessibility to quality . Ina gr eat ersense , it gaveus freed om. But, ithas bee n sai d agai n andagain,‘It li esnotin the gun butin thehandthat pulls the trigger .’” Jon seesattractin g more Pin oysto watchindiefilms as “a conti nuousstrugg le.”But, he says, “Befo re think ingabout at- tract ingthe audi enceand showingour films aroun d, I’d liketoseefilms tha t arereal lyworth showing.” Foraspirin g direc tors,Jon hasthis mess age:“Kill thefor- mul a.Fightforyour ownideas; noone els e wil l dothat for you.”He isinspi redby theworkof firs t-time filmmaker s and amateurs,he says . “Noth ing cou ldbe pur er . It islikewatch- inga chi lddrawhis fir stpic- tures.” Mari nelR. Cruz bate and copublisher Noel Ferrer. His lates t film,“Mondomani- la”is a mar ria geof thelite rar yandthevisua l.Basedon Nor - man Wilwayco’s Palanca -win- ning short story-turned-novel, thescreenpl ay of “Mond omani - la,”whichKhavn cowr ote with thenove lis t, wona Pa lan caas well. He compa resthe filmi ng pro- cess to hav inga child.“The mainchallen ge is makin g up one’smind.You haveto decid e wh eth erto hav e itor not .” Thelastfiveyearshav e bee n somewhat pain ful,he says , de- scri bingthe boomas “tumu l- tuo us. ” But , hesays,“Ifpeopl e wa nt to bel iev e [th isis a new] gold en age,let them. ” Khavn has his own inim- itable take on “povertyporn,” a derisive term slapped on the works of some filmmakers who tackle social issues: “It’s redundant. Poverty is pornography.” Heoffer s a simpletip to new filmmakers: “Watch.Listen. Learn . Don’tbelieveevery word you hea r. Make your ownlaws andthen brea k them. ” Bayani SanDiego Jr . “MONDOMANILA” “ ANG NINANA IS” JOHN TOR RES:“The keyis tostayloc al. ” JONRED: “Kil l the formula.” KHA VNDELA CRUZ: “Mak e you r ownlaws andbreak them.” “ASTIGMATISM” RICH ARREYESJIM GU IAO PU ZALAJ I M G U I A O P U N Z A L A N S H I R E E N S E N O BUCCINODEOCAMPO AS JOHN Torres prefer s to remem- ber it, heart breakledhim to fil mma king. Hehad hisfillof Kid lat Tahimik, Mik e deLeon andIsh- maelBernal films in colle ge (Aten eo, cum laud e), but after schoo l he foundhimsel f starv - ing —fo r food,and als o forlove . He rec all s,“In2004,a lon gti me girl frien d brokemy hear t—at t he t im e t h at I justqui t myjob in Makat i.” Picki ng up a broken -down Sony VX100 0 mini -DVcamera, John shot ran domscen eson the stree ts of Quezo n City , whic h resu ltedin hisfirst short , “Tawidgutom.” Thi s deb ut shortende d up bei ngshown inplace s nea r and far , fromSingapor e to Rott er- dam.His seco nd shor t, “Sal at” is justas well- trave led,having H IS WORKS hav e wonawardshere and abro ad since theearly 1990 s, but Jon Redsaysit’stoo ea rl y to decl are anothe r golden age in Philippine movies. “Whatwe’ve beenseeing latel y arefilmmakers [gai ning ] acce ss to the mediu m. There’s nomore nee d to wai t forthat fatchec k from a bigstud io.It’s goo d ...likeever yon e canfacea canv as andpaint. The ques tion is , whichpict urewillmakea diff eren ce?”Jon point s out. The refer encemay be trace d to studi es in pain tingand visu al artsat the Phili ppineHigh Sch oolfor theArtsandthe Uni - vers ity of the Phil ippin es. He al- so parti cipat ed in filmwork- shop s at the Mowel fundFilm Institute. Jonsayshis“desi reand need I N THI S lif eti me alone,Khavn de la Cruz has had sev era l incar nations : poet, rock- er , filmmaker , film bookpublisher. Butit isthroughhis short s andfeaturesthat Khavnhas made a name forhims elfin fes - tivals hereand abroa d. Withtitles (“Squatter punk, ” “PaalamAking Bulalakaw ,” “ AngPamilyang Kumakainng Lupa ,” “CameroonLove Let- ter ”)as uni queas hisvisi on, Khav n’soeuvres havebeen shown in citi es justas diver se: Rotterdam,Berlin, Paris, Buenos Aires, Jeonj u, Fri- bourg , Tokyo,Montreal,Lis- boa, Riode J a ne i ro , t o name a few. Hehasservedas juro r in Berli nale (Germany), Cler- mont-Ferrand (France), Copen- hagen (Denmark), Jeonju (Korea), Jihl ava (Czec h Re- publi c) andLeipzig (Germany),among other international festivals.
