HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE
Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Toronto – these are considered the big four film festivals; and what’s important to note, is that the awarding, gala nights, and celebrity sightings are just the public face of these festivals. What truly drives these festivals are the deals, the negotiations, the distribution and/or co-producing agreements, that are threshed out in private meeting rooms, and at behind the scenes tableaus. These are the real lifeblood of any decent festival that’s out to make its mark, because the festival should be the medium to conduct and achieve business goals. If not, what are the metrics for deciding whether a film festival was worth mounting, or can be called an unqualified success?
I’ll be honest, these thoughts ran through my mind as I saw the social media feeds of the many who attended the recent Manila International Film Festival in Los Angeles last week. It preyed on my mind because the photos were all glam and happy faces, and uniformly, they were shots of the Filipinos who had travelled to join our First Lady, and the “usual suspects” of Filipino-Americans and Canadians who call Hollywood home – from Tia Carrere (a blast from the past), to Apl.de.ap, Manny Jacinto, and JoKoy. It was “dinner hosted at the residence of…,” Gala dinner at the Beverly Hilton, and “the premiere screening of…” – in short, the shiny tinsel and glittery sequins that accompany these festivals.
And so, I was looking for the “meat and potatoes” photos that would point to how gears and wheels were grinding and turning, to address the business side of festivals. Photos of the bigwigs of the major Hollywood studios, executives of the new players like streaming giants Netflix, Disney, Apple, HBO Max, and Amazon, heads of the dominant talent agencies, of movie brokers who could forge distribution deals for our Filipino films. To prove to me that connecting with trade was happening.
Sure, one would have to caption each of these photos to identify these “players,” but at least I’d know that the effort was successfully made to bring these Hollywood movers to our Filipino celebration – the second year this particular festival is happening in Los Angeles. For me, it would be proof that we weren’t just turning the weekend into a giant Filipino party – which I know we would be great at mounting, but misses the point.
Who did I see on the MIFF social media posts that wasn’t Filipino (or Fil-Am), and could be relevant for these business metrics I’m harping on about? There’s David Shim, a Korean movie producer, who lists Oscar-winner Parasite among his credits. He spoke about current projects that he’s involved in here in Manila; and has been throwing his support to our First Lady Liza A. Marcos and our local film industry, since April of last year. So the current MIFF was not our introduction to David, and he’s not a new contact.
Author Kevin Kwan of Crazy Rich Asians was in several of the feeds, and it’s nice to see he was around, showing his love for things Philippine. But does he qualify as “trade”? I don’t think so.
The Philippines as a film location site, signed co-productions, international distribution deals for our films, or global representation for some of our creative talents – in my estimation, these would be the low-hanging fruit that a legitimate and successful Festival should generate. Am I asking for too much? I really don’t think so, as we constantly turn green with envy watching what happens elsewhere and nearby, and then sour-graping.
Who is watching The White Lotus Season 3, as filmed in Bangkok, Phuket and Koh Samui; and isn’t internally wishing it was shot at Boracay, Coron, or Siargao? Thailand already leads ASEAN countries in foreign visitors, so you can imagine how this will only further boost their Tourism figures over the next two to three years, minimum.
And we’ll say our beaches are nicer, our people friendlier, plus we speak English – and I keep saying that last argument of speaking English should be thrown out the window forever. For several decades now, it’s something we keep bringing up when it’s obviously not the deciding factor for direct foreign investment, or for decisions like where to shoot The White Lotus.
Please don’t call me a party-pooper or killjoy for today’s column. I know money is being spent to make this festival happen, and I do want it to work – but I also want it to work along specific business parameters and goals; and not just making it a weekend of Hollywood happiness for the Filipino community of Los Angeles, and a La La Land adventure for those who flew in from Manila. Those should be the bonus values for mounting the festival.
Just saying… as it would be such a waste of time and effort to have our First Lady supporting this initiative, and not producing substantive results. Let me know “good” things were happening in LA, and I’ll be the first among those shouting it from the proverbial “top”!
