The cinema of the Philippines began with the introduction of the first moving pictures to the country on August 31, 1897, at the Salón de Pertierra in Manila. The following year, local scenes were shot on film for the first time by a Spaniard, Antonio Ramos, using the Lumiere Cinematograph. While most early filmmakers and producers in the country were mostly wealthy enterprising foreigners and expatriates, on September 12, 1919, Dalagang Bukid (Country Maiden), a film based on a popular zarzuela, was the first movie made and shown by Filipino filmmaker José Nepomuceno."The Role of José Nepomuceno in the Philippine Society: What language did his silent film speaks?". Stockholm University Publications. Retrieved on January 6, 2011. Dubbed as the "Father of Philippine Cinema," his work marked the start of cinema as an art form in the Philippines.
Even with the problems currently facing motion pictures around the world, films are still considered one of the popular forms of entertainment among the Filipino people, directly employing some 260,000 Filipinos and generating around ₱2 billion revenues annually. Among its neighbors in Southeast Asia, Philippine cinema remains as the strongest in the Southeast Asian region with the majority of films made in the region came from the Philippines along with the film industries of Thailand and Indonesia.
The Film Development Council of the Philippines established a national film archive in October 2011. Furthermore, their annually held Luna Awards honor the outstanding Filipino films as voted by their own peers. Meanwhile, the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino hands out the Gawad Urian Awards, which is well known due to its credible choices of winners.
Overview
The formative years of Philippine cinema, starting from the 1930s, were a time of discovering the film genre as a new medium of art. Scripts and characterisations in films came from popular theatre and familiar local literature. Nationalistic films were also quite popular, although they were labeled as being too subversive.
The 1940s and the war brought to the Philippine cinema the consciousness of reality. Movie themes consisting primarily of war and heroism had proven to be a huge hit among local audiences.
The 1950s saw the first golden age of Philippine cinema,"Is the Curtain Finally Falling on the Philippine Movie Industry?". PhilNews.com. Retrieved January 25, 2009. with the emergence of more artistic and mature films, and significant improvement in cinematic techniques among filmmakers. The studio system produced frenetic activity in the local film industry, as many films were made annually and several local talents started to earn recognition abroad. Award-giving bodies were first instituted during this period. When the decade was drawing to a close, the studio system monopoly came under siege as a result of labor-management conflicts, and by the 1960s, the artistry established in the previous years was already on the decline. This era can be characterized by rampant commercialism, fan movies, soft porn films, action flicks, and western spin-offs.
The 1970s and 1980s were turbulent years for the industry, bringing both positive and negative changes. The films in this period now dealt with more serious topics following the Martial Law era. In addition, action and sex films developed further, introducing more explicit subject matter. These years also brought the arrival of alternative or independent film in the Philippines.
The 1990s saw the emerging popularity of slasher movies, teen-oriented romantic comedies, as well as sexually explicit adult films, although slapstick comedies still draw a large audience. Genres of previous decades had been recycled with almost the same stories, and love teams, which had been popular in the past, have reemerged.Anonymous. "History of Philippine Cinema". Philippine Journeys. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
The Philippines, which as one of Asia's oldest film industries, remains undisputed in terms of the highest level of theater admission in Southeast Asia. Over the years, however, the film industry has registered a steady decline in movie viewership from 131 million in 1996 to 63 million in 2004.Cannes entry puts spotlight on Philippine indie films . Grafilo, John. Top News Light Reading. May 6, 2008.A bleak storyline for the Filipino film industry. Conde, Carlos H. International Herald Tribune. February 11, 2007. From a high of 200 films a year during the 1980s, the country's film industry was down to making a total of 56 new films in 2006 and around 30 in 2007. Although the industry has undergone turbulent times, the 21st century saw the rebirth of independent filmmaking through the use of digital technology, and a number of films have once again earned international recognition and prestige.
History
Origins and early development On January 1, 1897, the first film shown was Espectaculo Scientifico and followed by other four movies, namely, Un Homme Au Chapeau (Man with a Hat), Une scène de danse japonnaise (Scene from a Japanese Dance), Les Boxers (The Boxers), and La Place de L' Opéra (The Place L' Opéra), were shown via 60 mm Gaumont Chrono-photograph projector at the Salon de Pertierra at No.12 Escolta in Manila. The venue was formerly known as on the ground floor of the Casino Español at Pérez Street, off Escolta Street. Other countries, such as France, England, and Germany had their claims to the introduction of publicly projected motion picture in the Philippines, although Petierra is credited by most historians and critics.Bautista, Arsenio 'Boots'. "History of Philippine Cinema" . National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Retrieved January 23, 2009.
Antonio Ramos, a Spanish soldier from Aragón, was able to import a Lumiere Cinematograph from Paris, including 30 film titles, out of his savings and the financial banking of two Swiss entrepreneurs, Liebman and Peritz.
By August 1897, Liebman and Peritz presented the first movies on the Lumiere Cinematograph in Manila. The cinema was set up at Escolta Street at the corner of San Jacinto Street. A test preview was presented to a limited number of guests on August 28 and the inaugural show was presented to the general public the next day, August 29, 1897. Documentary films showing recent events as well as natural calamities in Europe were shown.
During the first three weeks, Ramos had a selection of ten different films to show, but by the fourth week, he was forced to shuffle the 30 films in various combinations to produce new programs. These were four viewing sessions, every hour on the hour, from 6:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. After three months, attendance began to slacken for failure to show any new features. They transferred the viewing hall to a warehouse in Plaza Goiti and reduced the admission fees. By the end of November, the movie hall closed down.
The next year, to attract patronage, using the Lumiere as a camera, Ramos locally filmed Panorama de Manila (Manila landscape), Fiesta de Quiapo (Quiapo Fiesta), Puente de España (Bridge of Spain), and Escenas Callejeras (Street scenes), making him the first movie producer in the Philippines. Aside from Ramos, there were other foreigners who left documentary evidences of their visits to the Philippines. Burton Holmes, father of the travelogue, who made the first of several visits in 1899, made the Battle of Baliwag; Kimwood Peters shot the Banawe Rice Terraces; and, Raymond Ackerman of American Biography and Mutoscope filmed Filipino Cockfight and the Battle of Mt. Arayat.
American period Film showing in the Philippines resumed in 1900 when a British entrepreneur named Walgrah opened the Cine Walgrah at No.60 Calle Santa Rosa in Intramuros. The second movie house was opened in 1902 by a Spanish entrepreneur, Samuel Rebarber, who called his building, Gran Cinematógrafo Parisino, located at No. 80 Calle Crespo in Quiapo. In 1903, José Jiménez, a stage backdrop painter, set up the first Filipino-owned movie theater, the Cinematograpo Rizal in Azcarraga Street (now C.M. Recto Ave.), in front of the Tutuban Railway Station. In the same year, a movie market was formally created in the country along with the arrival of silent movies and American colonialism. The silent films were always accompanied by gramophone, a piano, or a quartet, or when Caviria was shown at the Manila Grand Opera House, a 200-man choir.
In 1905, Herbert Wyndham, shot scenes at the Manila Fire Department; Albert Yearsley shot the Rizal Day Celebration in Luneta 1909; in 1910, the Manila Carnival; in 1911, the Eruption of Mayon Volcano; the first Airplane Flight Over Manila by Bud Mars and the Fires of Tondo, Pandacan and Paco; and, in 1912, the Departure of the Igorots to Barcelona and the Typhoon in Cebu. These novelty films, however, did not capture the hearts of the audience because they were about the foreigners.
The Philippine Commission recognized early the potential of cinema as a tool of communication and information, so that in 1909, the Bureau of Science bought a complete film-making unit and laboratory from Pathé, and sent its chief photographer, the American, Charles Martin, to France to train for a year. When Martin completed his training, he resolved to document, in motion pictures, the varied aspects of the Philippines.
In 1910, the first picture with sound reached Manila, using the Chronophone. A British film crew also visited the Philippines, and filmed, among other scenes, the Pagsanjan Falls (Oriental) in 1911 in kinemacolor. In 1912, New York and Hollywood film companies started to establish their own agencies in Manila to distribute films. In the same year, two American entrepreneurs made a film about the execution of Jose Rizal, and aroused a strong curiosity among Filipino moviegoers. This led to the making of the first Filipino film, La vida de Jose Rizal.
By 1914, the US colonial government was already using films as a vehicle for information, education, propaganda and entertainment. The Bureau of Science tackled subjects designed to present an accurate picture of the Philippines before the American public, particularly the US Congress. By 1915, the best European and American films were shown in Philippine theaters. When World War I (1914–1918) choked off the production of European studios, Manila theater managers turned to US for new film products. With the variety they offered, American films quickly dominated the Philippine film market.
The first film produced by a Filipino is José Nepomuceno's Dalagang Bukid (Country Maiden) in 1919 based on a highly acclaimed musical play by Hermogenes Ilagan and León Ignacio. Early filmmakers, even with meager capital, followed some of the genres provided by Hollywood movies. The main sources of movie themes during this period were theater pieces from popular dramas or zarzuelas. Another source of movie themes at that time was Philippine literature.