It is apparent that the film industry in the Philippines has been reduced to a shell of its old potential these days. These new films prohibit the creative filmmakers of our nation from making their works known to a wider audience. Not only do these creative filmmakers make films that truly speak their hearts out, but they are also able to enlighten the country’s citizens on sociopolitical issues deserving of their awareness, contrary to the overshadowing hot mess of adult jokes and product placements, or in some cases, the blatant distortion of the truth that Filipino films send nowadays.

To truly understand why the current status of filmmaking in our country is an issue, we must take a step back and look through the history of Filipino films.

Films in the 1970s were used as allegories and vessels of messages against the brutal Marcos regime. During this era, the Marcoses only wanted to show the Philippines as a utopia of sorts, ignoring all the injustices their family had committed. Directors such as Lino Brocka, however, denounced this censorship by depicting our nation’s crude and harsh realities in their films, such as Manila in the Claws of Light which portrays life in urban poverty and images of the deathstrikes, corruption, and exploitation of the time, with the intention of opening the eyes of Filipino audiences. 

With the decline of societal awareness in recent years amongst Filipinos, entertainment companies capitalized on this by generating comedy flicks that send no general message yet continue to garner millions of pesos at box offices. In other instances, these companies produce movies that ultimately alter the public’s perception and knowledge of facts yet are hidden under the veil of being a “historical” film. One example of such film is Darryl Yap’s 2022 film, Maid in Malacañang which undoubtedly aims to create a vision of the Marcos family as wronged by history; this melodramatic depiction and vastly incomplete illustration of a dark chapter in Philippine history does not only distort the truth, but it erases the tens of thousands of Martial Law victims from the Filipinos’ memories. 

These same films, some of which populate film festivals such as the Metro Manila Film Festival or the MMFF, take away the chance of independent and creative filmmakers, and people in the industry from displaying their talents and sending meaningful and truthful messages to the Filipinos of today. For instance, Filipino films such as Cleaners by Glenn Barit, showing the experiences of students of different cliques from a provincial public school while highlighting the shortcomings of authority, only premiered limitedly in small-scale film festivals both local and international. Films like these are being ignored by the general public and entertainment and distribution companies in favor of low-quality films with shallow substance made for passive entertainment, and worse for their personal and political agendas.

The decline of quality in the Filipino Film industry is evidently seen in how the current pool of filmmaking and acting talents leave our country’s industry in search of greener pastures in other countries. Actresses such as Golden Globe nominee Dolly de Leon have not starred in any of the aforementioned films. She is known and honorably recognized for starring in the award-winning dark comedy film Triangle of Sadness, which is an allegory of the different social classes found in our country. There is an apparent lack of creativity in the country’s film industry, and the prevalence of a culture of simply publishing films at face value, failing to, “produce films that will hurt, films that will disturb, films that will not let [one] rest,” as one of the most acclaimed Filipino directors of all time Lino Brocka once said. This phenomenon not only prohibits audiences from learning and being more aware of their history, as well as pressing societal issues, but it also prohibits local talent from flourishing and growing as a whole.

Film is a beautiful art form that can uniquely capture the realities of our society and tell stories that would otherwise be left untold. However, this creative potential of the art form is limited by the commercialization of Filipino films today. To progress our film industry, we must not be passive consumers of media as this only continues to fuel and profit the shallow films made for our passive entertainment. Lastly, we must support independent filmmakers, all in all, to bring to light stories that truly matter and have the ability to spark change and awareness. If we were once able to do so during a time of terror 50 years ago, what’s stopping us now in an era of freedom?