Shifting regions; Decentering Philippine cinema

FROM the recently held Margaha Film Festival, two unforgettable entries were from the category "Philippine Shorts," as differentiated against the Sagaynon Shorts.

- Tito Genova Valiente

The former used to be categorized as an "open division" and was created to enable filmmakers from other regions to join as well as compete; the latter was only for those from the city of Sagay. The demarcation is clear, and there's no confusion nor debate at all with regard to said divisions.

For those who have been engaged with the holding of film festivals in the regions, popularly known as Cinema Rehiyon (this specifically pertains to those films under the auspices of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts), the presence of an Open or Invitational category had always been a contentious issue. Up to a particular festival, the approach by regional festivals, i.e. Margaha Filmfest, was of the purist kind. If the festival was held, let's say, in Northern Luzon, then only filmmakers from that region could submit and participate. The classification even was whittled down to a province, in which case some festivals were only limited to that province or, in some cases, district. This situation got to a point where only those films that passed through the respective festival directors were allowed entry to the festival. We, who were part of the circuit, were not conscious that we were gatekeeping.