In this predominantly Catholic country, no film with a homosexual story has been screened theatrically since cinema’s first inception in the archipelago until Deocampo broke that conservative bubble. Deocampo’s Oliver (1982) could probably be the first Filipino film that dealt with this taboo topic. Introduced to the rich filmic traditions of Europe, and
especially France where Deocampo took residence for a time, he says that Oliver is his angry response to the Marcos regime that produced that society. The film is his own version of “recording the days of the tyrant” (Deocampo interview, 2006).
Tolentino avers that the niche of Philippine cinema in the international film market is one that depicts Third World gayness. He cites the alternative cinema of Nick Deocampo that
helped open doors, especially for the creation of queer films. Since Oliver, a number of films have surfaced that dealt with homosexuality, such as Pusong Mamon (Soft Hearts, 1998),
Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros and Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya (The Man in Her Life, 1997). But none has created queer films with greater regularity and singularity of purpose than Crisaldo Pablo.
The prime-mover for Penniless Production, Cris Pablo said that contrary to many people’s beliefs about Philippine cinema, it is actually in ‘renaissance’. If Philippine cinema is dead or “dying for the longest time, how come it is still alive?” (Pablo interview, 2007). For him, 2003 marked the apex in queer filmmaking, when he directed Duda (Doubt) – the first queer film that was given a theatrical run. Since then, the door has been forever opened for his and other filmmakers’ outputs that dealt with queerness. Although Masahista (The Masseur, 2005) became the first Filipino queer film to garner international awards, Pablo insists that Duda predates it by two years. Owing to a lack of funds, he was unable to send
Duda to international festivals to compete. He also maintains that Masahista is “not a queer film but with a topical theme involving queer characters” (Pablo interview, 2007).
Appearing in queer films can be a career suicide for any actor who is carving an acting career in Philippine films. Pablo has always used non-actors for his films because he observes that they are ‘invisible or anonymous’ and can be good because their lack of training makes for a more authentic performance. Since Duda, he has employed popular actors as a marketing strategy because “walang manonood sa pelikula mo kung wala silang kilala ni isang artista”.55 Despite the lack of actors the film audience recognizes, Duda
became a word-of-mouth phenomenon despite very little publicity. He remembers the time
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when he had to personally talk to the management team of SM Cinema56 to include Duda in their programming. A film patterned after his own life, Duda is also his coming-out film, meant to exorcise himself from his past. Duda may be the first popular queer film, but it is Pablo’s third film (Bathhouse) that grossed the most among his films. He attributes that not only to the growing sophistication of the film audience for non-traditional films with non- traditional themes, but also to the main actor who played the lead role, whose tragic story involving drugs and extreme poverty became fodder for tabloid news.
Pablo observes that the international film audience, especially in the so-called First World, always wanted and expected to see films about ‘squatters’ and slum-dwelling in the Philippines. His own films touched the spectrum of Filipino gay males and females but he says he does not focus on slums, in order not to stereotype Philippine cinema. Interestingly, Pablo never considers his films as ‘art films’ whose main screenings happen in academic institutions or at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). His decision to open Duda
commercially was his own way to distance his film from the ‘art’ crowd. He insists that “I am not an artist who makes art films. I am a communicator and my films are not saddled with artistic pretensions”. He admits that the censors were not kind to Duda because it ‘depicts gay promiscuity’, yet he soldiered on with each of his successive films, which neither compromised his style nor the frank portrayals of Filipino queerness. His other film Moreno
(Bronze, 2007) was slapped with an R-18 rating because of a ‘homosexual point-of-view toward an indigenous tribe’ (Figure 23). He notes that queer films are always given R-18 ratings by default owing to the influence of the Catholic Church, which demonizes
queerness. Pablo observes that “digital films and queer films are two very difficult things to
market in the Philippines”, which explains why no major sponsors associate themselves with queer films. He claims that he had to be savvy in marketing to make sure his films received exposure.
Figure 23. Crisaldo Pablo, Moreno, 2007.
Duda, Bathhouse and his other film Bilog (Circles, 2005) were all released
internationally by Water Bearer Films. His other low-budget films have yet to be picked up for distribution. His willingness to experiment with film styles in a Third World setting allowed him to pursue themes that he feels are not adequately represented in Philippine cinema. He claims that his films have a brisk shooting schedule owing to budgetary
constraints. Working around the budget is difficult, but he always manages to stay within the allotted budget for his films. Pablo plans to make more films because, he observed, his films actually make money. He says, “This is proof that there is a kind of queer economy going on that supports queer films”. He cites the presence of Indiesine in a major mall in Metro Manila that dedicates itself to showing independent and queer films. He laughingly notes that his films never received serious film reviews. Pablo thinks that his films are probably not accorded respect because of their technical imperfections rather than the queer themes.
His next projects will be regional and rural in focus. He was pleased with the reception of Bilog and Bathhouse in the provinces outside of the metropolis. In imagining a queer nation in the Philippines, Pablo thinks that queer stories from the provinces outside of Metro Manila should be heard, and in their own language. Pablo’s insistence on making queer films somehow subversively reversed the popular thinking that no Philippine cinema house will screen a queer film because of a possible backlash from the Catholic Church. In forging a new path, through his daily battles with censors and financiers, he has opened a new door that celebrates the queer nation. Recent films that came out include Will Fredo’s
Pagdapo ng Mariposa (A Butterfly Alights, 2008) and Serbis (Service, 2008), the latter was invited to the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.