Manila, circa 1970s, was a bustling and emerging metropolis sugar-coated with propaganda and false advertising; but for directors and National Artists for Cinema, Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal, they saw Manila for what it truly was: a city suffering from the clutches of corruption and a cesspool of poverty-ridden streets under a tyrannical dictatorship. Using the medium of cinema as a means of protest and a way to voice their advocacies, Brocka and Bernal proved that artists can use their chosen medium to fight for their respective causes.
To recognize these two brilliant revolutionaries of Philippine cinema, the Center for Campus Art (CCA) will hold an exhibition next year on their life and works with a focus on how they perceived the nation’s capitol.
Two of the most talented and brilliant auteurs of their generation, Brocka and Bernal were two of the key and most prominent figures during the Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema, which lasted from the 1970s to the early 1980s. Releasing a cadre of films that have long been etched in the collective memories of Filipino viewers for generations, it is Brocka’s work in Maynila, Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Light) and Bernal’s in Manila By Night (also known as City By Night) that these two directors truly shined, thus will be the focus of next year’s exhibition Brocka, Bernal, and the City.
Organized as part of the 30th anniversary of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, along with the celebration of the 100 years of Philippine cinema, the exhibit will examine the two films’ use of Manila as the milieu and as well as a character in each of the directors’ film.
In an interview with The Benildean, Ar. Gerry Torres, Head of CCA, shared that the exhibit will have a “three-punch” approach to the project. Majority of the project will be the exhibit which will have three viewing rooms with each one dedicated to screening Brocka’s films, Bernal’s films, and films inspired by the two directors’ works.
As part of the CCA’s experiment, students and guests will be given the chance to choose from a selection of films to view from each director removing the usual scheduled screenings. Aside from the film screenings, an exhibit of photos and mementos from the directors’ lives on and off the camera will be showcased.
A documentary composed of interviews from directors, actors, and script writers who have worked alongside Brocka and Bernal will also be produced with the help of the Film Department of Benilde.
Meanwhile, a book is also in the works, which will be a compilation of essays from faculty members of the College’s own Architecture program describing how the two directors saw Manila through their films. CCA eyes to publish and release the book before the end of the exhibition.
“This project is really for our students for them to be aware that once upon a time in Philippine cinema there were these great directors who did not only [produce] films that reflected what it was to be a Filipino during those times, but also gave international recognition to Philippine cinema,” Torres added. Brocka, Bernal and the City will open on January 25 and will run until April 27 of next year. It will be open to both students and outside guests who would want to experience and see Manila through the lens of two of the country’s most influential directors.
