AnOng KwentO MO?

I’ve heard about Independent Films, but my information about it was not ample. All I knew was the actors and actresses they got were not that really famous in my generation, perhaps for my parents. The theme of the film was something unique....or should I say, not my interest.

I never really bother to watch an Independent film, except when teachers require the students to watch it, because; few people conducted this type of film (which I supposed that those movies were not getting good sales to the public). Plus few theaters were showing this (which I assumed that viewers would not prefer to watch those films from this industry). And the infomercials for those movies were few, it was often the actors and actresses promoting the film or they promote it through print media.

As part of the viewers I was bombarded with promotions about the movies of mainstream cinema, from different commercials in television, radio, magazines, and posters hanging in Manila’s billboard (which eventually reached the provinces),to the tours of the actors and actresses which includes their invitations to watch the movie. Those gave me more curiosity of the movies from the mainstream industry. They presented different problems, unrequited love, the man has not been accepted by the girl’s parents.... but it focuses on one theme—love. Getting used to mainstream’s theme of the movie, watching Independent films which the themes were different and beyond my concern was something that made me uncomfortable to watch it.

When I had the chance to watch Jay, all my thoughts between the Independent and Mainstream films changed, I realized that Mainstream movies were quite shallow and presented one theme with different twists, while Independent film like Jay presented a problem, not about love. A problem that can be seen in our everyday life and they presented it in a deeper point of view. And this made me changed my beliefs. I was amazed on how the Independent films presented different problem with a different approach to the audience. In a way that audience will not forget the movie, not because of the effects, not because of the actors, not because of the promotions and tactics they did, but the lesson it taught to the audience.

Independent films were brave enough to go to the path less taken, thus making their work one of a kind. I never thought that watching Jay will change my perspective between the two industries. I enjoyed Cinemalaya not just because I was with my friends, or I saw many actors and actresses, but because it gave me a lot of NEW and IMPORTANT things that will help me to understand the society I was living and the field I chose.