The Making of HENERAL LUNA

LONG LIVE PHILIPPINE CINEMA !

Philippine National Artist Fernando Poe, Jr.

President Aquino has finally approved and signed Proclamation 435 affirming a previous proclamation of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declaring the late movie icon Fernando Poe Jr. a National Artist, posthumously.

Poe, Ronald Allan Poe in real life, was officially defeated by Arroyo in the May 2004 presidential elections. He died in December of the same year.

His family didn't attend the formal conferment of the award in May 20096. His wife, veteran Susan Roces, accused Arroyo of rigging the votes in her favor.

The National Artist Award is the most fitting recognition in the Philippines.

Who will be the next? DOLPHY?

Philippine Film Industry in Decline

As one could learn from AFP, the number of films produced in the Philippine movie industry has halved over the past decade in the face or privacy and Hollywood competition, a government study showed.

Only the rise of independent film-makers has saved the industry from declining further, with "Indie" movies now accounting for more than the half the total made in the Philippines.

"There are many factors causing the fall. There is piracy and competition from foreign movies. Local movies are also not given as much support from the oublic", said government statistical  coordination officer Gerald Clarino.

No wonder, the top-grossing movies in the Philippines were typically US-made films with multi-million-dollar  budgets that the local movie industry could not afford.

Filipino "indie" directors, such as Brillante Mendoza (check out here http://www.germaninthephilippines.tropicalpenpals.com) and others, have won awards at prestigious foreign film festivals.