This is Not a Film Review - The moment I learned that Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 was about #ExtraJudicialKillingsInPH, I decided to lend my focused support to this film. In my own little way, through posts, and blogs and tweets, I joined others in helping create awareness and interest with the end goal of encouraging wide public patronage for this Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Official entry - even without seeing the film first.
Yesterday, I finally saw Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 in a near full house capacity crowd at Gateway Cineplex, Cubao.
So #Goal1 - Public Patronage - Check.
Then the movie started, first with a short film aptly titled #EJK.
The crowd was tickled but not in a roaring, belly-aching laughter kind of way.
The crowd was laughing --- and yet sad --- and even afraid.
And it's only been the short film we're seeing.
Then the main feature Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 began.
I sat in the theater for two hours. It was, in all honestly, one of the most discomforting two cinema hours that I can remember.
As the end credits roll, I left the cinema needing to breathe.
Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 is not a perfectly made film. Its unpolish will not go unnoticed in the eyes of the highly scrutinous selectors of tony film festivals in Europe (and local critics).
BUT. Oh My F&*ck%^g BUT.
It hits you in the gut! Parang isang mapurol na kutsilyo na pilit isasaksak at babaon pa rin sa 'yo - at sa kunsensya mo. Masusugatan ka pa rin. Masakit. Mahapdi.
Take this analytic scenario. Imagine you're lost in the dark forests (of current PH society) and then suddenly gets bitten by a poisonous snake and there are no medicines in sight.
What's the next best thing for you to survive this otherwise fatal bite of the devilish serpent?
You slice yourself open. You create a wound.
Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 is that wound.
This wound must be opened up in you, to let that poison bleed out of your system for you to have any chance of surviving --- at least until the real medicines become available.
Hindi lang "nakakaiyak" na tipong "catharthis" and "you wanna have good cry." No. Hindi po. With Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 You Do Not Just Cry. You Bleed Inside. But You Know You Need It.
For all its apparent weaknesses, Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 is that Filipino film which still has the GALL and the POWER to drag you to face your darkest fears and feel emotions you almost have forgotten you have (no thanks to your countless numbing sessions of pop corn movies past).
This non-CEB rated Filipino film may be the next best thing to an electric shock to snap the apathy out of some Filipinos today.
But best and most surprising of all, one can sense in this "flawed" Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 a most fine element conspicuously absent in most "superior Filipino films" I've seen.
Its adamant, nearly illogical stance to Choose Hope Over Desperation and its Call for Us to Find Strength and Courage, Not From Anyone or Anything Outside Us But From Within --- Our Home and Ourselves.
Maaaring hindi "pang-Cannes, Venice o Berlin" ang Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 pero ito ay para sa LAHAT ng mga Pilipino.
Ngayon.
Ngayon.
So to the "small", "independent" and still relatively "green horn" producers and filmmakers of Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016, I say, BRAVO TO THE BRAVE and MARAMING SALAMAT.
I can most assuredly say that my Star Value PH Campaign for Kabisera Film - MMFF 2016 has not been in vain.
And our campaign continues! (advanced apologies for timeline disruptions :)
(like that's news)
(kailangan ba'ng i-memorize 'yan?!)
this is an unofficial promotional material created by Star Value PH in support of 'Kabisera' |
the "Officially Undeclared National Artist" in what could be the most immediately important film of 2016 |
Will 'KABISERA' be the newest worthy addition to the revered titles of Ms Nora Aunor's filmography? Expectations are high.
Add caption |
this is an unofficial promotional material created by Star Value PH in support of 'Kabisera' |
this is an unofficial promotional material created by Star Value PH in support of 'Kabisera' |
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