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If there is any beauty in wishing, any beauty at all, it’s that off chance, that minute possibility, for hope to be found and solutions to be realized.
Here I am, letting go of wishes through four lanterns in the sky, trusting that each flame would be glimpsed by the people they burn for. These earnest desires engulfed in bright, yellow lights, aspire to give radiance to an industry in its renaissance.
So here are my dreams for Philippine Cinema. And though they may seem like mere castles in the air, in all my auspiciousness I’ll let them fly anyway.
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The first lantern is for you, the filmmaker – that you may be a bold, fearless visionary who would care enough to expose social realities.
The Philippines needs filmmakers with a heart for their country – building national pride by applauding the good as they condemn the evils of society.
The Philippines needs filmmakers like Brocka and Bernal, who are unafraid to run wild and free with a deeply rooted social responsibility in voicing opinions and in showing truth, regardless of how unsightly it would look onscreen and regardless of how depressing it might be.
Still, I wish that you would have an eye for what is joyful and light and happy – that you would uplift people’s spirits and show how good it is to be human, how special it is to love and be loved, and how nice it is to just smile.
I wish for filmmakers with substance – I wish that you would have the passion to tell stories that challenge and stories that change, that you would recognize differences in the mundane, magnificence in simplicity, and life in decay.
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Now, this may sound reactive. Angry, even, but the second lantern goes out to you, the producers: to the bodies who give grants, who donate, who control – that you may know your intentions before you raise false hopes.
I wish for producers to be confident in the filmmaker’s capacity to tell stories they truly believe in. I hope that you would be fair – that you would be selective yet unrestrictive, because we need people who would take chances on films that wouldn’t, by mainstream standards, usually be given the time of day.
Above everything, I wish that you would produce based on quality – not just throw money into funding unfunny storylines and half-baked plots, because in any which way you look at it, we all deserve better.
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The third lantern is for you, the actor – that you would love what you do, that you would do it with excellence.
I wish for you to have depth in your craft – to truly detach yourself from yourself and live your character as the cameras roll.
I wish for you to have the relatability of Ate Guy whose charisma transcends the limitations imposed by celluloid, and the versatility of Ate V who can go back and forth from being an activist nun to being a burlesque dancer.
I hope that you would not belittle your influence. I hope that you would choose your projects wisely; and that you would stay healthy, live a good life, and be a worthy example to the people who adore you.
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The last lantern is for you and me – that we would be critical, excited, and supportive audiences.
I hope that we would appreciate the local movie industry by regularly watching local movies. Not just say that we want to watch them, but really watch them.
I hope that we wouldn’t spoil the films for ourselves. We should cleanse ourselves of our biases and expectations and just let the reels (and the good times) roll. I hope that we’d realize we have the right to judge a film only after we have watched it.
I wish that we would read films as texts, for they always say something. In the same way that I wish we would react to them, for there is always something to say.
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Now four lanterns float in the sky, waiting for four kinds of people to take a glance.
Maybe it’s time for us to look up.
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This is my final paper for my AS177 class, Cinema in Philippine Culture.
Originally submitted and published on http://eloindigoart.tumblr.com, March 26, 2012.
