(One of Kano’s producers, Margie Templo, blogs her experience when she flies to Iloilo for a screening of the film.)
We’re trying to organize more screenings for “Kano” soon since many of you have expressed their desire to finally see what all the fuss is about. We’ll post dates and venues once we’ve arranged everything. (In the meantime, if you’re reading this from Zamboanga City, there are screenings at Mindpro Cinema as part of Sineng Pambansa from February 23 to 25.)
It’s great to know people will actually come and watch the film with interest and perhaps talk about it a little and talk about film in general, beyond merely being entertained. I suppose that’s every filmmaker’s fantasy: a world where people are actually stimulated by a good film.
Kano plays to a full house
But there is nothing like finding an audience to whom your film makes sense, much like the way “Kano,” a predominantly Ilonggo documentary, made sense to the Ilonggos at the Sineng Pambansa Iloilo Film Festival last month. I’m talking here about how knowing the language makes a huge difference.
The audience’s reaction felt more free and true, as if they were truly connected to the film. They gasped and squealed before one could finish reading the subtitles. And the wave of laughter was sustained much longer than usual. It’s as if they were more at home with the film. And I completely get it.
I wonder if they realized that it was a documentary film that was making them laugh and gasp. I wonder if they could differentiate this experience from that of watching a mainstream movie. Could it have been the all same to them despite knowing there were no stars and despite the film having a different look and feel? Did the film actually manage to genuinely capture them and give them satisfaction like a mainstream movie? Would they not have embraced the film if it were entirely in English or Tagalog? And a shamefully producer-ly question: would they have paid for their seats in that cinema? Or paid to support the independent filmmaker who spent five years making the film?
Too bad the Q&A is normally set up for the audience to ask the questions. Not the other way around.
—
Kano producer Margie Templo and beside her, Jim Libiran of Happyland.
One of the most shockingly honest and direct questions during the press conference of Sineng Pambansa was: “Why has (FDCP) chosen to support movies na hindi sikat?”
This was a shock for the obvious reason that seated among the panel were the makers of these movies na hindi sikat, no less than Raymond Red, Jim Libiran, Sheron Dayoc, myself and producers and representatives of such films as Lola and Sampaguita. And it’s true. We, the honored guests of the festival, were quite unfamiliar to the Ilonggo press despite having made some ripples at international festivals. Quite possibly we’ll be unfamiliar to the press in Zamboanga too when FDCP brings us on the second leg of Sineng Pambansa later this month.
The question felt more like an argument really. And the shock to us was due to the fact that we all felt we needed the support badly. And deserved it. Sikat man o hindi.
FDCP chair, Mr. Briccio Santos did answer the question quite intelligently. But to be honest, I had my own responses in mind. In truth, I want to ask Pinoy moviegoers, a hard question: How do we get you to watch more of our films? ;)
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