LET’S SUPPORT GLOBAL FILIPINO MOVIES

A few Filipino movies have made it to the Netflix movie streaming platform. I have seen most of them, and I would say that they are world class, meaning that they are as good as any other movies shown in Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime and all other streaming platforms. I have observed that many of the movies that are shown on these platforms were made with the support of their national film development agencies, such as our own Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). It’s either I missed the movie credits at the end of the films, but I do not remember seeing the name of the FDCP in any of the Filipino films shown on Netflix. In fairness to the FDCP, I do not think that they lack the interest to support the production of Filipino movies for global release. Obviously, what they are lacking in is the funding to do it, and that is a problem that only the Congress can solve. But to begin with, what is needed perhaps is a change of perspective, meaning that our lawmakers should realize that spending for the production of world class movies is an investment, and not a one-way expense. While waiting for the support of Congress, perhaps the Office of the President (OP) could invest in the FDCP, since it is directly under the OP. but the first thing that the people in the OP should do is to watch all of those movies that have been globally released so far, to convince them. IKE SENERES/2-11-24