INDEPENDENT FILM A film is a film, whether you look at it at different views; but what makes a film an independent film?

Or to be particular in my topic, what makes a film a Philippine Independent Film. Is it base on what is seen on screen? Or is it base on whats happening behind the camera? So this is what I will be talking about for the next couple of minutes; Philippine Independent Film defined by people who see the film and those who made it. Well, before we go further on what Philippine Independent Film is, I want to prove that there exist such thing; alive and kicking. This can be prove by, if you are watching local news, various Independent film makers winning in International Film Festivals such as Brilliante Mendoza who won in the Cannes Film Festival for best director of his 2008 entry film, Kinatay. Another proof is that independent film nowadays takes the risk for nationwide release. It means that you can catch them at leading cinemas such as SM cinemas, Ayala cinemas and more. And last but definitely not the least proof is the annual Philippine independent film festival called Cinemalaya which just conducted their seventh year of competition exactly a month ago held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Greenbelt 3 Cinemas. So I guess thats a bit of an overload since we were not in the main topic itself. I just want to say that the Independent Film in the Philippines is very much alive and kicking and worthy to be talked about this afternoon. So back to our topic; what is a Philippine independent film? First, lets take into account how people, the mass, the viewers, sees the so called indie film since what is seen on screen is a good basis on how to define such film; but of course, it is not 100% reliable. Peoples perspective on indie films can be cut into two, the negative and the positive ones. This is base on a parody documentary on how to make an indie film to satisfy the taste of the international market- Kapatid TV5s Word of the Lourd. Lets first have the negative ones, first on its list is that the setting of the film must take place in Squatters Area or places that show poverty. It all started with the type of film Lino Brocka made. Lino Brocka, for those who dont know, is dubbed to be one of the greatest film makers of the Philippines because he garnered many awards not only in the Philippines but also in abroad because of his timeless film entries. Just like what Ive just said, there is a style or mode in his film that captures the international audience. This style or mode in almost most of his film shows poverty. Films such as Ang Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag and Insiang which tackles about poverty and how chaotic life in the rural. And to let the audience feel the poverty, then a squatters area is a great location for the film. This, they say or they see, continues until todays generation of indie film makers. Next on list is that there as is a prostitute character and something it implies. I really cant explain this part; even the parody documentary where Im basing my speech cant. They just assume that, siguro, madaming manunod ng pelikula mo pag may chicks. The only example I can give is the Brilliante Mendozas Serbis which tells the story of a family and there business of running a cinema house and the hidden service hidden in the dark room. The something it implies, it is basically sex scenes, some even have actual penetration. Well, they say its part of the story. In connection to prostitutes and what it implies, now we have in our list gay stories. This, just like the prostitutes is unexplainable. Maybe, just maybe, having gay stories and gay love affairs is something extraordinary; something controversial; something the international market wants to see. Last on the list is that independent film have very low budget. Because of this, the viewers expect that the quality of the film is very low. The viewer expects that way they shot the film is shaky because a steady cam is quite expensive. They will expect a bad lighting and so on and so forth. So now lets go to the positive perspective of the viewer about independent films. First on the list is that independent film is smart. Smart means that the film is well taught. It is not made just in a snap- that every aspects of it have symbolism. By Smart we also mean that the film is not predictable unlike the usual movies we see nowadays. And lastly, by smart, it means it tackles social issues. So it means that the film is enlightening on what is really happening in our society. About things that is unseen to most of us- pretty much correct. Therefore, its a must watch film. Next on list on the positive perspective of the viewer is that Independent film is an Art. Well, of course all film is an art but by art here is something with a deeper level; so all sex scenes and other obscene scenes for other can be translated to something good by saying that its an

art. Nice excuse, right? Next on list of positive perspective is that an independent film is an international film festival material. Of course you can always submit film entries for various festivals, but there is a long and hard process of elimination before they come up one which films will go into competition. By this, we can say that being part of the competition itself is already an achievement. As for the whole Philippine Industry, Most entries for international competition are from independent films such as Lino Brockas Insiang, Brillante Mendozas Kinatay and Serbis. By this, some people conclude that independent films were an international film festival material. So that is some of the perspective of people about the Philippine independent film. Now lets go on defining it base on what is happening behind the camera; base on the makers themselves. I can admit that from this point, its an information overload again; that there are so many perspectives about independent film in the Philippines. Now is the time to make things easier. Independent film is technically and basically a film produced mostly outside of major film studios. Period. No other toppings about the story, the plot, the settings, the cinematography, the sounds, the lights and other elements of the film. So if a Philippine mad film produced outside of the major film production studios like Star Cinema, GMA, Regal, etc, then it must be an indie film. As an independent film director states, The indie part really applies to the producer or financier. Though defining it technically seems to be so easy and much correct, we are not putting aside the perspective of the people on it since they really base it from something and not from guesses. All of the things that Ive said earlier are not things that separate independent film from mainstream ones, in fact, content wise mainstream and independent film could be the same. It just so happen that the perspectives of people on indie are the one that people dont usually see on mainstream films leading the people to easily identify whats an independent film from mainstream. You wont see obscene sex scenes with actual penetration in a mainstream movie. Its not usual to see prostitutes and callboys from mainstream either. We also dont usually see poverty as the center of concern in mainstream movies since they usually showcase romantic-comedy and family drama. It is all because, film makers in the independent industry have more freedome than those in the mainstream. I said that content wise, an indie and a mainstream can be the same since this aspect already depend on the creative team of the film. When you're talking about modes of production, as where the producer or financier comes in, the terms are indie and mainstream. When you're talking about content, it's either commercial or arthouse. Though commercial is always incorporated with mainstream, as well as arthouse to indie, it is not one hundred percent true. Mainstream is just tied up woth commercial since ther aim os to give what the public wants while indie is tied up with arthouse since the makers have more freedom on their work. A mainstream can showcase an arthouse kind of film if they would set aside what the public wants. As of indie, they can make commercial movies too. A great example would be the trailer of Ang Babae sa Septic Tank. There are two versions of the trailer, one is for a festival and the other one is for its nationwide release. The first trailer does not show almost the story of the film as for the commercial version, since their aim is to sell the film, the trailer seems to be a give-away; something that will make the public I want to watch that unlike the first one where in the reaction of the public would be I dont get it, lets not watch it.
So basically, thats it. To end up this discussion, I would say that you cannot classify an indie film on element of the film that you only usually see. Being an independent film lies on the producer. Dont be boxed on what you know now about indie film. There is more to see than trailers and teasers.