Cover A film still from Mike De Leon's 'Kisapmata'
A film still from Mike De Leon's 'Kisapmata'
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The first Filipino filmmaker to have a showcase at NYC's MoMA
The Museum of Modern Art, located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City is a world-renowned home of an extensive modern art collection founded in 1929. Its expansion involved six other departments, one of which was Film and Media in 1935. Up to date, the museum is esteemed to house a genuine, creative, and rich collection of a variety of art—books and prints, architecture and designs, paintings and sculptures, drawings and films. MoMA specialises in sharing thought-provoking contemporary artistry through its diverse gallery and this year, their idea is to pay tribute to a Filipino director distinguished for his gripping films.
See also: QCinema’s November Queue: A Celebration of Classics
Above A film still from Mike De Leon's 'Itim'
A film still from Mike De Leon's 'Itim'
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Throughout November, the Museum of Modern Art holds a month-long screening of Mike de Leon’s films with the title Mike de Leon: Self-Portrait of a Filipino Filmmaker. The first-ever presentation of the producer’s character and masterpieces in North America is to honour his works that firmly shaped Filipino cinema by fiercely introducing social and political issues in his stories. Apart from eight De Leon short films including Signos and Aliwan Paradise, nine of De Leon’s features that make it on the screen are Itim, Kung Mangarap Ka’t Magising, Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, Kisapmata, AKO Batch ’81, Sister Stella L., Hindi Nahahati ang Langit, Bayaning Third World and Citizen Jake. The majority of the films were restored by Italy’s L’Immagine Ritrovata and some by the Philippines’ Sagip Pelikula. MoMA’s Department of Film Curator Joshua Siegel organised the complete retrospective also featuring nine LVN Pictures classics with films such as Mutya ng Pasig, Malvarosa, Anak Dalita, Pag-Asa, Giliw Ko, Huk sa Bagong Pamumuhay and Ibong Adarna.
LVN Pictures is a Filipino film studio co-founded by Mike de Leon’s grandmother, Narcisa Buencamino-De Leon fondly called Doña Sisang, in 1938. The production company was established as one of the Philippines’ greatest during the ‘60s studio era and significantly influenced De Leon’s filmmaking career path. Despite the poor condition of LVN Picture’s rare films, MoMA still decided to present its costume dramas, musicals, and noir masterworks to inspire its New York audience in discovering and appreciating an unaccustomed overview from a Southeast Asian cinema perspective. Additionally, the retrospective consists of special previews of behind-the-scenes footage and documentaries of De Leon and LVN’s films.
Above MoMA building (Photo by Jamison McAndie from Unsplash)
MoMA building (Photo by Jamison McAndie from Unsplash)
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“De Leon’s own films mix the genres of melodrama, crime, supernatural horror, slapstick comedy, and the musical with blisteringly critical stances toward his country’s history of corruption and cronyism, state-sponsored violence, feudalist exploitation, and populist machismo: the festering legacies of the nation’s colonial past made even more purulent by the dictatorships of Ferdinand Marcos and Rodrigo Duterte,” defines MoMA of Mike de Leon’s cinematography. Self-Portrait of a Filipino Maker is not only dedicated to De Leon’s flawless craftsmanship and its incorporation of strong sensed historical standpoints, but it is likewise respectively built from relative matters that are timely as they are in a global viewpoint, specifically illuminated from the reality within the cinematographer’s country. New viewers and Filipino moviegoers who can witness Mike de Leon and LVN’s vintage films in New York City are in good fortune to experience a striking look back exhibition of the scion and the pioneer’s legacy revolving around the heritage of the Philippines, and for the latter, perhaps a glimpse of nostalgia from their childhood. Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said that life is meant to be lived forward yet to be understood backwards, and MoMA perfectly shed light upon this relevant truth.
“The opportunity to show a retrospective of my work at MoMA, interwoven with the films of LVN, means something more primal than political to me. As the last 'cinema' heir of the family, it is strange to imagine what the future might hold during these disturbing times and after giving my family’s legacy one last, hard look. All I can hope is that you, the audience, find much to cherish in looking back with me on the cinematic evidence of my family’s life in the movies. I mean so figuratively, of course, because I'm not here with you physically” declared Mike de Leon in his MoMA statement. The veteran nobly acknowledged MoMA’s appreciation although he's not present in Mike de Leon: Self-Portrait of a Filipino Filmmaker’s opening.
The film series runs until November 30, 2022 at T2/T1 of The Debra and Leon Black Family Film Center, Museum of Modern Art.
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Kristina's passion to write came from her love for books. If her nose isn't buried in one nor her fingers are tapping away on a keyboard working on a write-up, you'll find her having a feast at a new restaurant or savouring coffee in the nearest shop listening to rock music. Also interested in computer games and all things Japan, she spends her free time playing Dota 2, watching anime, as well as reading manga.
