“Police shot me,” Toshihiko Uriu said. “My innards had major damage.”
The cinematographer was recalling the shot that felled him as he took footage of a demolition of shanties in Smokey Mountain in 1995. If the residents of the area hadn’t brought him to the hospital, he said, he wouldn’t have survived.
Uriu’s interest in the plight of the urban poor produced documentaries, among them one on Smokey Mountain (1988) and another on Payatas (2000).
In another story, he asked 400 children: “What do you want?” He was moved that instead of chocolates or gadgets, they wanted education. This prompted him to spearhead the building of schools in the two locations.
When he saw the former Louie’s THX Theater at the Mile Long Compound in Makati, he rented the space and began renovating it little by little. He envisioned it as an extension of the schools, the theater becoming a training facility for talented urban poor children. Select students would undergo singing, dancing and acting workshops on weekends.
“I just wanna give the children a little push,” Uriu said.
He’s awed by the cultural diversity he’s seen in the Philippines, and thinks it should be preserved. TIU is intent on inviting indigenous peoples’ groups and regional community theaters to perform in the venue. Uriu says he’s sending staff members to the provinces to shoot as well as invite performers. This way, the meanings locals ascribe to their cultures will not be placed out of context.
The theater can also double as a cinema. Uriu wants to screen films that don’t make the usual film festivals, as well as films by new directors.
“I want to help filmmakers make a mark,” he said. After all, many of his life events, like the 1995 incident that has left scars across his torso, happened while he was handling a camera. Vaughn Alviar