Cineuropa returns

The last few weeks saw a series of film festivals here in Cebu. It started in August 7-12 with the Japanese film festival held Ayala Center Cinema 4 followed by the first Cebu International Documentary Film Festival held August 15-18 in Ayala Center Onstage Theater and the University of San Carlos College of Architecture and Fine Arts Theater.

The USC CAFA Theater also hosted a  political film festivals. There was the Active Vista Human Rights Film Festival in August 24 and the Pandayang Lino Brocka film festival held to commemorate the Declaration of Martial Law in September 21. On the same day, the 15th Cineuropa Film Festival opened with the film “The Last Emperor” by the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci. This year’s Cineuropa features 21 films from 17 member countries of the European Union. Free and open to the public, the festival continues today and ends tomorrow so you still have a chance to catch it.

It has been a good season for local cineastes, indeed. Yet, much as we wanted to come to all these events, those of us currently enrolled in USC’s fledgling film program could only heave a sigh at the fact that there’s just no way we can squeeze all these screenings together in our schedules already booked for our own semester-long Sinekultura film education series which happens every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:30 pm at the CAFA theater (also free and open to the public). And on top of that, there’s the usual screenings in practically every film class.

But there’s no complaining at all for we have seen worse days when there was nothing worth watching in the theaters. So there’s no way I would miss these few times that the local theaters feature film festivals like the Cineuropa, which marks its 15th anniversary this year. This makes the yearly festival of contemporary films from member countries of the European Union, the longest running and thus the most-awaited foreign film festival in the Philippines.

My friends and I have already made it a habit to go to the Cineuropa every year. It has become a reunion of sorts for the same people who have become familiar with each other. Among them are local filmmakers, writers, artists, and my former students who now come at their own volition and without having to think of a review they have to write and submit two or three days after.

Some of them have become successful filmmakers  like Remton Zuasola (who is now making a film about Pedro Calungsod), Victor Villanueva, Christian Linaban (who is also making a feature film with Tagalog movie stars), Kerwin Go, and Kris Villarino.

I am sure that foreign film festivals like  Cineuropa have played a significant part of their education as filmmakers. I remember how our class became a captive market for this yearly event sponsored by the Arts Council of Cebu and the embassies of the European Union. Indeed, if we have to revive a local industry that produces more intelligent movies, we need to start by educating the audience and the young filmmakers themselves.

The foreign film festivals serve that role of educating the public. There are even recent attempts by the foreign embassies and local partner organizations such as the Arts Council of Cebu to bring these festivals to the regions. In the last three or four years, the Cineuropa has widened its reach by offering screenings in other major cities outside Manila. This year, for example, it is also being hosted by Baguio, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao.

Cineuropa thus provides the Filipino moviegoers who are more accustomed to  American movies with yearly sampling of European contemporary cinema that, as the Belgian ambassador pointed out during his speech at last Friday’s opening, has been shaped by more than a century of artistic reinvention by  great directors like Georges Melies, the Lumiere brothers, Sergei Eisenstein, Roberto Rossellini, Ingmar Bergman, Fritz Lang, Jean Luc Godard, etc.

Thus people who come to Cineuropa encounter a mild culture shock, not just with the difference of lifestyle, values, and language (there are English subtitles, don’t worry) shown in the films of the different European countries but by the different ways in which the film themselves are made. The movies may not always follow the usual Hollywood style of linear storytelling, “invisible” continuity editing, and the tension of glamour and realism in the acting of the movie “stars”.

So, head to the theater this morning and watch today’s selection of films from Norway, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden. Remember it’s free and there’s even a raffle draw that gives you a chance to fly to Europe for free. Who knows, the illusion of a European tour happening on silverscreen may yet come true.