Finalists in the upcoming Cinemalaya competition, with the directors of full-length features in front and the short film directorsin the second row — Finalists in the upcoming Cinemalaya competition, with the directors of full-length features in front and the short film directors in the second row

The film festival of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Cinemalaya, now on its 19th year, has always been a magnet for young filmmakers, although established directors sometimes join. This year the age range for the competing directors is from the mid-20s to the late 30s.

“The youngest director in Cinemalaya years ago was Gina Santos at the age of 24,” said veteran director-mentor Jose Javier Reyes, head of Cinemalaya’s monitoring committee, in an interview. “Then again there are many directors in cinema who started out very young, like Mikhail Red. At the same time he put out blockbusters, and now he is even a member of jurors abroad.”

Reyes hastened to add: “It’s not a conscious effort on the part of Cinemalaya to coach young filmmakers, as they have been around for some time, doing short films and the like. It’s just that the better filmmakers have been emerging. The veterans are not there anymore because they get eliminated! The stories and concepts of the young ones are fresher, newer, and that is what Cinemalaya is looking for.”

Opening new doors

“I’ll give you an example,” he said. “In the coming year (2024), some veterans joined the competition but only one made it, only one whose name is familiar; all the rest are newbies. For me, that’s exciting, that’s the way to go. We have to open new doors and create opportunities for the younger set. Not that we are locking doors to the experienced, established filmmakers—it just so happens it’s the young ones who are getting in.”

The Cinemalaya festival will be held Aug. 4 to Aug. 13 at the Philippine International Convention Center. In a recent press conference at the Philippine International Convention Center announcing the event, Reyes presented the competing directors in the full-length feature and short film categories. For the full-length category, the directors are Kevin Mayuga, Gian Arre, Carl Joseph Papa, Samantha Lee, Natts Jadaone, Ryan Machado, Kenneth De la Cruz, John Rogers, Jopy Arnaldo, Dustin Celestino and Sheryl Rose Andres.

Kent John Desamparado, Kurt Soberano, Arvin Belarmino, Sam Villa-real and Kim Timan, Diokko Manuel Dionisio, Daniel Magayon, Mike Cabarles, Januar Yap, Mae Tanagon and Joshua Caesar Medroso will be competing in the short film category.

For Reyes, the films in the previous Cinemalaya competitions as well as the student films he has encountered are “very dark, alarming, bleak, like, for instance, suicide and a lot about mental health.”

He added, “I’m not talking only about La Salle (where he teaches) but all over. No, no, this is not something typically Filipino; it is worldwide. It’s the whole generation. They’re so vulnerable.”

Warming up to his thesis, the director asked: “Hindi ba that’s the problem of the millennials, the social media generation? They’re very vulnerable, very weak, so pampered, endlessly complaining, unlike our generation. It is reflected in their films; they are the films that they make.”

Great variety

Despite what some would consider a harsh indictment of the young, Reyes is really filled with admiration for this generation’s filmmakers.

“Nakakatuwa, ang mga batang filmmakers ngayon ang gagaling nila (they’re really good). Kasi they have technology at their fingertips and accessibility of resources. It’s so easy for them to make films unlike nung time namin Diyos ko dadaan ka sa butas ng karayom (you had to pass through the proverbial eye of the needle).”

He added, “With this batch (2023), we have a great variety. Mythological films, themes like … magic. The documentary film is very interesting, controversial. It’s about a mother whose three sons were killed in the drug war. And he (the filmmaker) was a supporter of (former President Duterte) … so you can imagine. You get two sides, great variety. You get all sorts.”

One of his students has a film about two people who have never met, but they feel what the other is streaming, as if there is a stream between them. And then there’s a romantic comedy. “So it’s an entire gamut,” the director said. “Lots of possibilities.”

His relationship with the Cinemalaya directors is different from that of his students. “Itong mga ito (directors),” he noted, “you have to crack the whip. If there’s one thing they need it’s the sense of urgency in the delivery of their films. I never tell them what to do, I don’t want to restrict their vision. I just tell them this is what is needed and you are accountable for what you do. Kasi do or die yan. If you step out and your film is good, everybody will be praising you. But if your film is bad, you want to die!”

As for his students, especially those taking up film, Reyes said, chuckling, “I am the lolo (grandfather). More than telling them this and that, the technique, I guide them. And then they tell me their personal problems.

“Alam mo, being a teacher and the [chairperson] of a department, 60 percent is being a lolo and 40 percent is being a teacher. That’s something I learned about kids, they need somebody older to talk to. So it’s not confined to relationships and authority. If the kids trust you, you’ll be able to guide them. That’s why I’m so happy when my kids make it to the final list, because I know I could never achieve that when I was their age.”

As for his own career and that of the other filmmakers of his generations, Reyes said, “We have done our share and we have to pass this on to the next generation. The hope talaga is in the young. The real promise in Philippine cinema is in the hands of the young.”