December 17 ------ “That’s actually the easiest part of the job,” said award-winning indie filmmaker Brillante Ma Mendoza when Inquirer Entertainment sought his reaction to the news that the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP), the government agency tasked to choose a film to represent the country to the Oscars, failed to come up with one for 2022. Two of Mendoza’s films, “Ma’ Rosa” (chosen in 2016) and “Mindanao” (2020), as well as Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s “Verdict” (2019), which the former produced, were the Philippine representatives in the best international feature film category of the Oscars.
“The work doesn’t stop there, though. To be honest, the hardest part is when you start campaigning for your film. The process is complicated, tiring, and super expensive,” Mendoza pointed out. “Honestly, I think it was so irresponsible of FAP to blame the pandemic for this,” said film and TV director Mark Meily. “’Yan nga lang ang gagawin n’yo. There weren’t many FAP activities this year. You could’ve at least chosen a good film representative. Obviously, somebody is not doing his job.” Meily’s comedy “Crying Ladies” represented the country to the Oscars in 2004.
“I hope somebody will come forward to explain why this happened,” said Adolfo Alix Jr., whose dramatic piece, “Donsol,” was the Philippine entry in 2007. “More than the pandemic, we want to know if there were technicalities that were not met. We want to be informed to make sure that this will not happen again in the coming years,” Alix explained. The FAP, established in 1981, is the Philippine counterpart of the United States’ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas), which is known around the world for its annual Academy Awards, now officially known as the Oscars. The Ampas picks five nominees through secret balloting.
FAP’s reason
The FAP, on an irregular basis, has been submitting film entries since 1984. This year, for the Oscars that will be held on March 27, 2022, the FAP did not pick any. This was because “organizing and vetting an entry to the Oscars is not an inexpensive and simple process,” according to FAP deputy general Vivian Velez. She explained that unlike other government agencies, the FAP “never had guaranteed funding, but solely relied on contributions from the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority).” The FAP is one of the beneficiaries of funds collected through the MMDA-organized Metro Manila Film Festival. “The only funding stream dried up quickly in early 2020,” Velez said, adding that “the FAP is equally disappointed (with not being able to pick an Oscar representative), but had to deal with the realities of today.”
Source: inquirer.net
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