Sangandaan (Crossroads). 2022. Philippines. Directed by Mike De Leon. DCP. 4 min.
Borrowing a beloved song from his own 1984 feature Sister Stella L., Mike De Leon made this video in a damning response to the victory election of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as president of the Philippines. In a prepared statement at the Cannes premiere of his recently restored Itim, he wrote, “Horror has now acquired a more sinister meaning. It is no longer about a ghost but about the monsters of Philippine politics, monsters that, after a long wait in the subterranean caverns of hell, have returned to ravage and rape my country all over again. The crazy thing is that we invited them back.”
Maynila, Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila, In the Claws of Light). 1975. Philippines. Directed by Lino Brocka. Screenplay by Clodualdo del Mundo Jr., based on the novel by Edgardo Reyes. Photographed and produced by Mike De Leon. With Hilda Koronel, Rafael (Bembol) Roco Jr., Lou Salvador Jr. DCP. Courtesy Janus Films . In Tagalog; English subtitles. 124 min.
A haunting, beautiful landmark of Filipino cinema, Manila launched the international careers of director Lino Brocka, cinematographer and producer Mike De Leon, screenwriter Clodualdo del Mundo Jr., and actors Hilda Koronel and Bembol Roco, and firmly established a bold and often controversial new style of filmmaking in a movie industry primarily known for lavish musicals, prestige melodramas, and other popular fare.
As De Leon reminisces in Last Look Back, “I didn’t give serious thought to those anti-Marcos politicians who had been imprisoned. I was ignorant of the military atrocities committed all over the country and the unchecked greed of Marcos and his cronies. I was more enthusiastic about filmmaking and the ‘idea’ of Maynila because it promised to become an ‘artistic’ film in the tradition of the social realist Anak Dalita (The Ruins) that my father produced with great critical success in 1956. But I hoped Maynila would achieve not only critical but some measure of commercial success…..”
Maynila, Isang Pelikulang Pilipino (Manila, A Filipino Film). 1975. Philippines. Directed by Clodualdo del Mundo Jr. DCP. In Filipino; English subtitles. 23 min.
This short features rare on-location footage from the making of Manila as well as interviews with Lino Brocka and members of his cast and crew.
Program 151 min.