THE EXTENDED CINEMALEXIS SCHEDULE
MONDAY – Selection by Philbert Ortiz Dy
9 PM – KULAY DUGO ANG GABI (THE BLOOD DRINKERS) dir. Gerry de Leon
“Mr. Dy, what’s your favorite Gerry de Leon film?” And I sheepishly reply that I haven’t really seen a lot of Gerry de Leon. Alexis was teacher to a good number of students, but he was my guide as well to an era of filmmaking that I thought I’d never really have access to. He urged me to look for the films of Gerry de Leon, and though Kulay Dugo ang Gabi will never be considered one of his masterpieces, it’s a stellar piece of in its own right. Made for Cirio H. Santiago, de Leon never allows the low budget to get in the way of an artful presentation, making fantastic use of film tints and color to create a truly unique visual experience. The film is this weird perfect union of schlock horror and art filmmaking. And had Alexis ever had the opportunity to ask me again, this film would have been my answer.
TUESDAY – Selection by Lyle Sacris
9 PM - Selected works from Matthias Müller, Film and Video 1989-2004
The last DVD he gave me. He downloaded this from the members only torrent site he was bragging about (his most prized downloads were obscure film books. He promised to burn me a copy the next time we'd meet). He just thought I'd like Müller's work. That was just how he was.
WEDNESDAY – No Screening
THURSDAY – Selection by Quark Henares
9 PM – CHUNGKING EXPRESS dir. Wong Kar-Wai
"You should meet this girl, Marie. She's taking up film at NYU. She's quite good looking."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And you know what she dressed up as on Halloween? The woman in the blonde wig. From Chungking Express."
"Cool."
"And she even had the same brand of cigarettes. Innn-teres-ting."
Chungking Express is Alexis Tioseco at his most mainstream; harking back to the days when he was a breathless college student who'd scour the internet for pictures of Faye Wong and maybe a few articles about his then-favorite filmmaker, Wong Kar Wai. More importantly, however, it is Alexis at his most sentimental-- allowing himself to sympathize with Takeshi Kaneshiro's heartbroken policeman #233, or Tony Leung's lonely policeman #663, who ends up talking to bars of soap and stuffed dolls to ease his pain. Chungking Express was a symbol of Alexis being an unapologetic and unabashed film fanboy. He'd collect postcards of the film, and get into screaming matches with Erwin Romulo about why Wong Kar Wai was a better filmmaker than Lars Von Trier. For 10 or more years Alexis's Hong Kong poster of Chungking Express was displayed prominently on his bedroom wall, and this was probably to remind him of why he got into cinema in the first place: because certain films made him fall in love.
FRIDAY – Selections by Chris Costello
7 PM – FRANCESCO GUILLARE DI DIO (THE FLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS) dir. Roberto Rossellini
9 PM – MOUCHETTE dir. Robert Bresson
11 PM – SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS dir. F.W. Murnau
SATURDAY – Selections by Erwin Romulo
7 PM – BIYAYA NG LUPA dir. Manuel Silos
Biyaya ng Lupa was directed by Manuel Silos and is unlike anything else he ever directed. It actually feels like an Avellana film, the prestige ones produced by Manuel de Leon like Anak Dalita. Alexis and I kind of had a common interest for Philippine Cinema ever earlier than Brocka. We’d watch them at my house. We even made cups of tsokolate before watching Avellana’s film adaptation of Portrait of an Artist as a Filipino. His interest in film archiving was nurtured by watching the films of Gerry de Leon, Avellana, Manuel Conde, Richard Abelardo, Gregorio Fernandez and Silos. He joined SOFIA and quickly became one of its stalwarts. He and Ramon Nocon worked on the website and it was ready to go online at the time of his passing. It must be mentioned that Alexis believed in preserving prints rather than just blanket digitizing, which seems to be Nestory Jardin’s focus. His last blog entry tackled this. We also planned several articles in the Philippines Free Press about the Film Developmental Council of the Philippines use of their budget for junkets abroad in proportion to what they’re spending on saving films still wasting away in Mowelfund and the UP Film Center. That was the topic of my last phone conversation with him on the afternoon of September 1.
9 PM – SIGNOS dir. Mike de Leon
Signos was shot in tandem with Sister Stella L, using the same crew. It’s arguably a precursor to the viral video, as it was just passed on through betamax copies. At a time when the news was heavily censored it caused quite a shock to see all this footage of rallies, protests, and anti-Marcos figures. The film was the subject of the first review Alexis wrote for the Philippines Free Press. It was to coincide with the film’s world premiere for a film festival last year organized by DAKILA, an NGO committed to promoting modern Filipino heroism. It’s only apt to show it now in a festival in Alexis’ honor.
10 PM – BATCH ’81 dir. Mike de Leon
Batch ’81 was the last DVD that Alexis borrowed from me. He wanted to show it to Nika. This version was subtitled. He told me later that some scenes made her jump. Mike de Leon made this the same year as Kisapmata. At the time, it was assumed to be one of the “martial law” films, given the themes of fear and complicity. That’s true of course. Yet, it still resonates today with audiences because it transcends the period as much as it illuminates that period of our history. Or is it because times haven’t changed?
