Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Cesar Montano in the set of Jose Rizal.
TWO Filipino cinema icons will be given tribute in this week’s Cinemalaya screenings.
Official poster of Jose Rizal in Cinemalaya 2024.
Cinemalaya poster of Celso Ad. Castillo’s Asedillo.
The first is National Artist for Film Marilou Diaz-Abaya, whose remastered work Jose Rizal will be screened Wednesday, August 7 at 4 pm. The second is Celso Ad. Castillo, whose landmark film, Asedillo, is up for viewing Friday, August 9, 2024 at 1 pm. The films will be screened as gala events to be held at the historic Metropolitan Theater in Arroceros, Manila.
Celso Ad. Castillo and Gloria Diaz on the set of Ang Pinakamagandang Hayop Sa Balat Ng Lupa..
Abaya’s film is a must-see especially for the new generation of film lovers. The film made history both as a critical and box office attraction. Jose Rizal bagged 17 awards in the 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival: Best Picture, Best actor (Cesar Montano), Best Director (Marilou Diaz-Abaya), Best Supporting Actor (Jaime Fabregas), Best Supporting Actress (Gloria Diaz), Best Screenplay (Ricky Lee, June Lana, Peter Ong Lim), Best Cinematography (Rody Lacap), Best Production Design (Leo Abaya), and Best Musical Score (Nonong Buencamino), plus The Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Awards, among others. The film broke the notion that period films are a jinx in the box office.
The monumental Jose Rizal produced by GMA Films transformed Abaya into a blockbuster film director, and was followed by the equally successful Muro-Ami and Bagong Buwan.
Initially, Abaya had second thoughts about doing Rizal. But her sons, Marc and David, begged her to do it since they were all enrolled in the alma mater of Rizal, the Ateneo de Manila.
After saying yes to the GMA executives, Abaya quickly assembled the writer team of Ricky Lee, Jun Lana, and Peter Ong Lim. Lee (now National Artist for Film) recalled that the discussions on how to approach the subject were bloody.
Abaya’s sons, Marc and David, begged her to do Rizal since they were all enrolled in the alma mater of the hero, the Ateneo de Manila
The director and her writers agreed that they would write the film from the point of view of Rizal as an artist-intellectual in a web of flashbacks from his life and recreations from his novels, while exploring the interconnections between his life and works.
As part of the preparations, Abaya assigned a three-month syllabus for the lead actor, Cesar Montano. It consisted of deep immersions in history, politics, poetry, fencing, penmanship, and Spanish diction. Abaya also required her team to read or re-read the Noli and the Fili and do independent research on Rizal’s life.
The result of the finished product was a tsunami of awards from several award-giving bodies. As it was, José Rizal became one of Abaya’s most internationally seen films, as it was invited to festivals and retrospectives from Busan to Tokyo, Madrid to Paris, and Berlin to Chicago and New York.
For the musical scoring of Jose Rizal, multi-award-winning film scorer Nonong Buencamino used the services of cellist Renato Lucas and classical guitarist
Lester Demetillo, plus members of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra string sections and an eight-member male choir. “I rented the old University of the Philippines Theater for two days and brought the studio recording equipment there. I also composed Agnus Dei, the piece for the all-male choir.”
Asedillo is Castillo’s landmark action drama about a schoolteacher turned rebel leader played by Fernando Poe Jr. In this film, he lives up to his persona as a champion of the poor and oppressed.
Film critic Noel Vera considers Asedillo (1971) as one of the finest early films of Castillo. Wrote Vera: “Asedillo set the template for Filipino movie legend Fernando Poe, Jr.’s persona, as deadly gunslinger and champion of the poor. His best work was yet to come, but even this early on, you could see his mastery of film language. Poe’s action movies are almost always well-produced, but this is the rare picture of his that shows touches of genuine poetry—deep orange sunsets, elderly villagers expressively lit and photographed.”
He noted the iconic shots of Poe on his horse climbing an impossibly steep slope (the camera tilted to make it look even more impossible), his body bent forward as if to keep from falling off. “At one-point, Poe reads a crucial letter from his arch-nemesis, offering parley: Ad Castillo cuts to the people outside waiting for the results of the fateful letter, and as they chat Castillo drops all sound except the wind blowing. The effect is remarkably ominous.”
The screening is also a tribute to the actor’s 85th birthday on August 20. It is also a fitting tribute to Castillo’s coming birthday on September 12. He passed away on November 26, 2012 in his hometown in Siniloan, Laguna.
Looking back, Castillo was one of the first Filipino filmmakers to invade foreign film festivals abroad. His Burlesk Queen and Alamat ni Julian Makabayan made it to the Berlin Film Festival and World Film Festival in Montreal, while his Nympha made it to the Venice film fest.
Before his death in 2012, he was doing post-production work on his new film, Bahay ng Lagim (his first digital movie), and had hoped he could work on a new project titled Dungis. Also on his mind was a remake of the award-winning, if not controversial, Vilma Santos-starrer Burlesk Queen.
A week before his demise, he was announcing the launching of his autobiography which he said would hit the bookstores within the month. To one’s knowledge, no such book launch took place.
Castillo told this writer a week after his 69th birthday that the book was a no-holds barred story with colorful details of some interesting transitions in his life. He actually returned to Siniloan, where he led a quiet life while working on his autobiography.
Cover design of the autobiography of filmmaker Celso Ad. Castillo.
In a last interview with this writer, Celso talked about his return to his hometown. He said he has had enough of the big city since he started schooling at Legarda Elementary School, high school at Far Eastern University (FEU), and college at Manuel L. Quezon University, where he took up AB Literature. His journey to manhood, he said, was largely shaped growing up in Quiapo, Avenida Rizal, Escolta, and other parts of Metro Manila.
Before his demise, on Castillo’s mind was a remake of the award-winning, if not controversial, Vilma Santos-starrer ‘Burlesk Queen’
On the other hand, he also lived overseas, in California, Nevada, Hawaii, and Malaysia. “It’s been a long journey,” he admitted. “I just felt it was time to come home. I am enjoying my life in Siniloan, where I am totally de-stressed and spared from the daily pressure of living in the big city.”
The multi-awarded filmmaker has come full circle with 64 movies to his name, most of them getting citations in awards ceremonies. Among his landmark films, he singled out Nympha as one of them.
He explained: “In Nympha, I was dealing with a movie hovering between art and pornography. Directing sex movies is the most difficult because you have to arouse libido without offending the sensitivity and sensibility of your audience. That was my first real effort to test my innate creative artistry. I exerted 100 percent of my creative energy and it paid off. It was hailed as truly artistic, a box-office smash and elevated me to a new level as a filmmaker.”
Another favorite was Asedillo. “In this film, I was working with the King of Philippine movies at the age of 26, and had to prove my worth as a director to earn his respect. I also wanted to prove my versatility as a film director, and that I could come up with a film of an epic scale. FPJ won the FAMAS Best Actor in this movie and the film was cited as one the 10 best films produced in the Philippines in the ’70s.”
His 1977 film, Burlesk Queen, won 10 out of the 11 awards of the 1977 Metro Manila Film Festival, but the results were contested by Lino Brocka and defended by juror Rolando Tinio (now National Artists for Film and Theater), respectively.
He reflected: “I wanted to vindicate myself as a filmmaker in this movie. The media referred to me as a reluctant artist and a filmmaker who had yet to arrive. Not only did the film run away with awards; it was also the top grosser. It broke the myth that quality films don’t make money in the box-office and commercial films don’t win awards.”
Celso described the evolution of filmmakers thus: “Artists are not born overnight, in the same manner that wine tastes better with age. It takes years for a Johnnie Walker whiskey or a Jack Daniels bourbon or a cognac or champagne to be fully satisfying on your palate. A filmmaker goes through the same stages. As a result, a mature filmmaker can dissect life to its fullest.”
‘Artists are not born overnight, in the same manner that wine tastes better with age,’ said Castillo
Born on Sept. 12, 1943, Celso was a comics writer before he became a filmmaker. With the help of his father, put out a comics magazine where he wrote all the stories using different names. A movie producer commissioned him to write a script on the character of James Bandong, named after Britain’s superspy. The film made money and it was followed by a sequel, Dr. Yes, 1965, a spoof on the British film, Dr. No.
He wrote and directed his first movie, Misyong Mapanganib (Dangerous Mission), in 1966. Castillo also won the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) awards for Best Director and Best Story for Pagputi ng Uwak, Pag-itim ng Tagak (When the Crow Turns White, When the Heron Turns Black) in 1978, and also won the Urian awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay for the same picture.
He won the FAMAS Best Director trophy again in 1985 for Paradise Inn, a Lolita Rodriguez–Vivian Velez starrer. He also has a FAMAS Best Supporting Actor award, for Sampung Ahas ni Eba (Ten Snakes of Eve), in 1984.
When asked what chapters in his autobiography would be of interest to filmgoers, he answered, “The early chapters will be very interesting because they depict my early childhood and the circumstances that molded and shaped my innate talent as an artist. Equally interesting is how I managed to get through with my first shooting day as a movie director and my encounters with FPJ doing Asedillo and the making of Pagputi ng Uwak, Pag-itim ng Tagak and Paradise Inn. The last chapter will be very interesting, too, as it delved into my life as a father and as a filmmaker. Because at the end of the day a question still persists: After a long journey, was everything that I went through as filmmaker all worth it?”
Asked what it would take for an aspiring filmmaker to make it in this country, Celso replied, “There is no way this country can shape you to become a good director. The level of comprehension in art is low and the arts are the government’s last priority. You don’t need to go abroad to become a good director. Just keep watching movies, and better to study the works of film directors. These exposures are better than going to film schools.”
(The Metropolitan Theater will host the screenings of José Rizal by National Artist Marilou Diaz and co-written by National Artist Ricky Lee, and Asedillo by Celso Ad Castillo as a tribute to National Artist, Fernando Poe Jr., and a selection of short films in tribute to Teddy Co. The screenings are free. To register, you may visit these links:
𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝗱𝗱𝘆 𝗖𝗼: https://tinyurl.com/cinemalaya20tributetoteddyco
𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘀é 𝗥𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗹: https://tinyurl.com/cinemalaya20joserizal
𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝘀𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗼: https://tinyurl.com/cinemalaya20asedillo
