Rolando B.

Linking

Traducción en la página 190.

Tolentino
Rolando B. Tolentino is Dean of
the University of the Philippines
College of Mass Communication
and faculty member of the UP
Film Institute. He has taught
Philippine
at Osaka University and the

Spanish
National University of Singapore.
He is author of National/
Transnational: Subject Formation
and Media in and on the Philippines

Cinemas
(2001), as well as editor of
Geopolitics of the Visible: Essays
on Philippine Film Cultures (2002)
and of “Vaginal Economy: Cinema
and Sexuality in the Post-Marcos
Post-Brocka Philippines”, a special According to Nick Deocampo,
issue of positions: asia critique
(2011). He is a member of the “Cinema [in the Philippines] was intro-
Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino duced by the Spaniards during the last
(Filipino Film Critics Group) two years of their regime (1897-98).” 1
and Congress of Teachers and
Educators for Nationalism and After more than a hundred years
Democracy (CONTEND-UP). of development, there is little that
links Philippine and Spanish cinemas.
Philippine cinema had stock mesti-
zo-looking characters to depict the skin
color of leading stars and icons of the
times. Often linked to the color and
physiognomy of saints and figures of
Catholic divinity, whiteness became
the norm of beauty, especially as in-
volved in spectacles such as movies
and politics. Whiteness, too, connoted
the virtues of goodness and greatness.
It was only the brown-skinned and
petite Nora Aunor’s breakthrough in
show business in the 1970s that suc-
cessfully challenged the landscape of
whiteness in Philippine movies.

116 Rolando B. Tolentino 117

Strangely enough, the historical expe- In terms of film style, it is camp that has a similar well-
rience with the variant of whiteness spring of creative energies in Philippine and Spanish
from Spanish colonialism also provid- cinemas. Camp refers to excess in the construction of
ed the skin color preference for rep- the artifice, such as film and other artistic productions,
resentation of villains: Etang Ditcher, that is able to comment on the politics of its own being
Eddie Garcia, Subas Herrero, and Celia and deconstruction. Not once have I heard Filipino
Rodriguez, among others. They acted cineastes claiming that even before Pedro Almodóvar
in historically- set movies, as friars in made his high camp art films in 1988, using subaltern
Spanish colonial times, or as landlords characters and life situations hinged on sex and sexual
or politicians in the post-Spanish era. identity issues, there was Joey Gosiengfiao’s oeuvre,
Villains in Philippine cinema often beginning in the 1970s.
heap abuse on and torment the lead
stars, and have also attained iconic Temptation Island (1980) stands out as the most em-
status for their excessive portrayal of blematic of Gosiengfiao’s camp. Beauty contestant
the way to make life miserable for the finalists coming from various economic and social
stars. backgrounds get trapped in an island after their ship
sinks. Together with young male characters, the final-
ists outdo each other to survive on the island. Sexual
tensions are released, making the heterosexual pairings
of beauty contestant finalist and lowly male character
While high literature, possible. The finalists become friends in the end. The
such as the writings of film is able to make a commentary on class and sex
Nick Joaquin, National in the Philippines, especially in the Marcos era. The
Artist for Literature, entrapment in the desert island can be read analogous-
espoused a vision that ly to the dearth of cultural growth during the Marcos
celebrated Philippine dictatorship.
culture under Spain,
popular discourse,
such as film, expressed
the common sentiment
towards Spanish rule What comes to mind as the only
and its legacy: elitist, substantial engagement between
feudal, anti-modern, Philippine and Spanish cinemas is the
and abusive. By the representation of heroism in the siege
1960s, and with the of Baler, the last remaining holdout of
Filipinization move- Spanish soldiers in the country. Los últi-
ment sweeping society, mos de Filipinas (Antonio Roman, 1945)
the Spanish-language dealt with the heroism on the Spanish
legacy was chal- side. But read in hindsight, from the
lenged. Spanish was point of view of the Spanish Civil War
removed by the 1973 and World War II (1945, the year of
Constitution as one of production), the film (from Spain’s
the country’s official end) evoked the ethos of heroism and
languages. triumph even in defeat. It desired a
colonialist nostalgia at a time and place
when Spain’s nationhood was also
greatly under siege in the global arena.

118 Rolando B. Tolentino 119

Baler (Mark Meily, 2008) also focused on the heroism Cultural exchanges are really effected
of Spanish soldiers in the outpost as surrounded by from the ground. In the 1980s and
Filipino revolutionaries for 11 months. The heroism is 1990s, with a substantial number of
emplaced in the conflicted love story of a Spanish sol- Filipina entertainers in Japan, Filipina
dier and a Filipina. The doomed romance locates the characters were rendered visible in
site for Philippine nationhood as emancipation from Japanese films. Primarily through
Spain becomes necessary for Philippine independence. Ruby Moreno, a Filipina actress based
The continuing quest for Philippine autonomy, as her- in Japan, the “Filipina” presence was
alded in the year of production of the film, becomes made visible to an already aware
the lingering key issue to Philippine participation in the Japanese public. Moreno even made
global arena. It needs to realize its autonomy in from cinematic history by winning Japanese
its failed colonial and post-colonial pasts. best actress awards for All Under the
Moon (Yoichi Sai, 1993). This pres-
ence, plus the continuing interest of
the Japanese public in issues of pov-
erty in the Philippines, propelled col-
laborations in film, or the shooting of
Japanese films in the Philippines.

With growing interest in South Korea, inspired by

K-pop and Hallyu on the one hand, and Filipino mi-
grant workers in Korea on the other hand, Seoul Mates
(Nash Ang, 2014), a romantic comedy between a
transgender Filipina and a Korean musician, was pro-
duced through Cinema One, a film-granting body in
the Philippines. The film involved South Korean actors
Jisoo Kim, Jiwon Cha, and Ryung Oh. Ang is a Filipino
There is little or even no joint production in Philippine filmmaker based in Korea, and is doing his master’s de-
and Spanish cinemas. What comes by way of exchang- gree in filmmaking at the Korean National University
es in cinemas are exhibitions in film festivals. Spanish of the Arts.
films are exhibited annually in the Philippines, mainly
in Metro Manila and key cities, and Philippine cinema It is cultural exchanges benefitting tar-
gets to be featured in various Spanish film festivals. get artists, filmmakers, and critics that
With some 50,000 Filipinos working legally in Spain, could jumpstart Philippine and Spanish
300,000 Filipinos, mainly mestizos, who have dual citi- co-productions. The Film Development
zenship, and an estimated 4,000 Spanish citizens in the Council of the Philippines already has
Philippines, there is minimal engagement at the ground a mechanism in place to facilitate the
level to effect cultural impressions. The Philippines is location shoots of foreign productions
Spain’s 28th largest trading partner, with bilateral trade in the country. The European film
at $329.6 million in 2011. market, especially Spanish production
houses, has yet to avail of the service.
Independent Filipino filmmakers have
had success in tapping European fund-
ing for co-productions. This could also
be an area for co-production, with
Spanish film grants funding Philippine
film productions.

120 Rolando B. Tolentino 121

With the ASEAN The other imaging of Spanish and Philippine relations
region heading in the can be gleaned through Juan Luna’s painting España y
direction of integration Filipinas (1886), on display at the Lopez Museum. The
and lessons learned painting depicts two female figures seen from the back,
from EU integration, going up a step way. The Spanish figure is holding the
rapid changes are Filipina figure by the waist and pointing to the future
affecting traditional to her. Representing a shared past and likely separate
movements and ex- autonomous future, the painting speaks of hope for
changes. Films still the future. It is in the necessity of hope despite and in
provide the visual spite of the shared experiences in the past that filmic
power to represent collaborations can be rendered in the present. It is also
collective desires and in the shared quests for a national space in the global
aspirations, and to arena that hope can be visually rendered and its ethos
make these desires represented.
tangible to the view-
ing public. Novels
and paintings had this
power of illumina-
tion in the 19th and
20th centuries. Jose
Rizal’s novels indelibly
marked the kind of
Spanish colonialism
experienced in the
Philippine colony.

1— Nick DEOCAMPO, Cine: Spanish Influences on Early Cinema in the Philippines (Manila:
National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2003)

122 Rolando B. Tolentino 123