Free Movie Tickets, Anyone?

            Have you ever wanted to watch a movie but due to financial restraints and priority conditions you weren’t able to? Money and Time are indeed prerogatives which everyone does not equally have. In times where the Philippine cinema and film industry is still progressing, or to put it bluntly, struggling for a legitimate identity and worthy recognition, finding ways to attain such goals is not only crucial but also necessary. For instance, efforts by national agencies and organizations like Film Development Council of the Philippines, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Cultural Center of the Philippines, and Cinemalaya, which have greatly contributed, in their respective dispositions, to the historical development and critical progress of Philippine cinema and film industry still need further reinforcements to achieve its ‘greatest glory’. Having a macro-perspective in finding means to help solve the said struggle, granting free tickets to every student of the country for them to periodically avail local films seems a potent way to promote, strengthen, and empower the Philippine cinema and its industry. Not only will it benefit the said sector, it would also potentially hit two birds or even more with one stone. Such a proposal, when implemented, would not only increase audience patronage to local cinema but also amplify cultural, social, and political recognition by the public at large through the proposed periodical but constant privilege; form a positive economic phenomenon with regards to the film production, distribution, and exhibition as the industry progresses; and increase students’ film appreciation and hence their social and political awareness. The program shall be both government and industry-driven as to optimize useful and working institutions that will work side by side for an effective and efficient application.

To expound the proposal as a government-driven program, legislation shall firstly be passed in order to assign an official governing body for its implementation and regulation. The said legislation and official agency shall then determine and allocate budget for its effectiveness – primarily sourcing from government funds, the taxpayers’ money. Granting free tickets to students is worth the taxpayers’ money as the youth plays an important role in the society, and motion pictures as an instrument for it to be realized should be made more accessible to them. The proposal provides every student, only from the earliest primary level to the latest secondary level, one free local movie ticket a month until they reach the tertiary level. The privilege shall be available upon presenting a valid school ID regardless of citizenship because local movies are not only and should not be limited to local audiences. For the logistics, a personal record sheet shall be kept by the students themselves which would be officially given to them accordingly to keep track of their privilege use; the beneficiaries shall then present it to any acknowledged movie houses every time they wish to avail the monthly privilege. Digital data shall also be collected by the movie houses for the purpose of subsidy and other technicalities.

            Furthermore, as an industry-driven program, the proposal applies to any local movies made and produced by Filipino filmmakers. This means to say that the students can freely choose from the available local films on their selected screening time of the month in their preferred theater. Although the proposal shall set a compulsory where the beneficiaries should opt to independently produced films, it shall not discriminate the mainstream cinema or any other local movies. The privilege shall also be consumable regardless of the regular movie ticket price set by the cinema. The proposal is only limited to one ticket per month to every student; that is 12 tickets annually per student which guarantees at least 12 movies a year watched by each student assuming they utilized the monthly privilege. Such opportunity shall cease when the students reach tertiary level education and adjusted once the aforementioned goal is achieved by the Philippine cinema and its industry.

Granting one free local movie ticket per month to every student produce greater benefits for the long term than costs in the initial application and the following texts would explain the reasons why that is the ideal case.

Would students not enjoy the privilege of enjoying a movie without spending for it? The student-beneficiaries, composed by children and teenagers, would at least choose a local film which s/he can watch it for free overspend on a foreign film which is usually more expensive (SM Cinema), let alone the price discrepancy between provincial and metropolitan ticket rates due to their respective cost of living. Of course, there are students who can afford to watch any movies anytime anywhere several times at their own disposal and even opt out to utilize the given privilege; however, such cases can be disregarded by the proposal because it chiefly aims to make the local films be more accessible to the Filipino audience especially the students who wish to view but cannot afford.

For instance, elementary students are too young to watch alone thus they would be more or less accompanied by someone, their parents or guardian perhaps, which translates to more moviegoers who are not covered by the privilege. There surely will be a proliferation of student-patrons and the film industry will consider this to produce films that will target and cater them. The mainstream will take advantage of this as it feeds their commercial disposition; the independent cinema will also utilize this opportunity to make more socially relevant movies for the said target audience, particularly high school students. Then there is the potential that students may watch and spend on other available movies after using up their privilege for the month which will indicate their level of enthusiasm for the cinema. Consequently, the film industry will not only have higher recognition but also a better economic status as both the independent and the mainstream are consumed by a particular audience and possibly become more commercialized in a sense of product placement and advertising that attend to the involved demographic and invitation for sponsorship in film production.

Ultimately, there will be an increase in students’ local film appreciation as they now have the privilege of access. Considering the demographics, it can still produce a massive impact on the industry despite the limitations of the privilege, particularly its frequency. Once a month is already a big thing for the beneficiaries because such opportunity is unprecedented. Watching movies as entertainment holds more impact than their superficial value. As motion pictures depict society and serve as the bearer of culture (Sarmiento 124), the potential habit of student-movie goers will make them recognize the real value of cinema while only initially getting entertained by it.

The extent of the privilege of granting all students means extreme funding from the state. The obstacle lies on convincing the state to pass such legislation to officially execute the proposal because such great proposal demands great risk, let alone the massive cost, but the government and its people shall consider it as an investment – a stepping stone for a progressive industry. The challenge to bring back the Golden Ages of Philippine Cinema can be dealt with by giving people the motivation to patronize it once more. Remember the time when movie houses and theaters were full as the Filipino people considered watching films as a prime entertainment until television and other broadcast media took over, and the Philippine Cinema has struggled since then to retrieve such ‘glory’. Producing so-called quality films in the disguise of independent movies does not evoke national patronage due to its tacit exclusivity and limited screening in the locality. The objective of the proposal is to uplift once again the patronage of the Filipino by targeting the young demographic who cannot always afford and almost do not have the access to enjoy the crafts of its fellowmen.

            The possibility of making the industry more commercialized can be mitigated by the on-going efforts of film institutions for independence. The proposal can bridge the exclusivity of the independent cinema to have commercial releases. This is already done and proven by the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino (PPP) in 2017, a nationwide week-long screening of Filipino films organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippine in celebration of Buwan ng Wika in the month of August, which set a ticket price of 150 pesos for students in Metro Manila and 100 pesos for students in provinces outside Metro Manila and a promo of 4 +1 tickets scheme. Success was claimed as the festival was extended and has grossed P149.5 million in just a week (CNN Philippines). Although inclusive of commercial film entries, the celebrated festival had already its second year and has proved that Filipinos are still capable of patronizing the Philippine Cinema. This means to say that granting monthly free tickets to students will evidently entice them more to keep patronizing local movies. It would have a national impact as there are over 700 theaters nationwide (UNESCO Institute for Statistics) which will accommodate and be accessible to the beneficiaries.

How about the non-beneficiary sector of the same age like out-of-school youth and children in rural areas? The proposal seems to marginalize that sector as there are no movie theaters in rural areas. In the long run, the film industry shall be able to address such unreachability in the form of bringing the cinema into the remote communities (film showing in schools, the establishment of more movie theaters in the locality as the country develops) which will counter the notion of cinema made for a particular social class. Although it is true that certain movies are made for the middle-class and the bourgeoisie, I challenge to break this reputation as films are made to be watched even by those who cannot afford it. I find it ironic that Filipino movies, especially the indies, usually, tell the stories of the impoverished yet are the subjects of the film able to watch their own stories or are they only used as a tool to deliver a message to those above the social class? I got nothing against the latter as the cinema has been a useful tool for social and political enlightenment. That is why the proposal specifically targets young audiences, the students, because I believe, as universally as it is claimed, it is the youth who can and will form a better society and making them exposed with stories with social value and cultural representation will shape their political awareness.

The assurance that the program will deliver its intended goal becomes unfeasible if the industry succumbs totally to a commercial disposition –a historical failure to produce quality films with social responsibility, progressive narrative, and better cinema culture because of the mainstream formulaic, generic, and overused style. The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), with its mandate and functions to “initiate plans and cooperate with the movie and television industries as source of fueling the national economy; empower the Filipino family, particularly parents and the grassroots level, such that family members are able to evaluate and intelligently choose media and entertainment content; promote a value-based media and entertainment culture” among others (MTRCB), shall regulate and reinforce better standards for media releases as their review and ratings are used for appropriate commercial screening. This government agency responsible for rating television and films for the Philippines shall not compromise their function to cater commercialism; it should be able to figure out setting better standards that can still fuel the national economy that does not only concentrate on commerce but also empowering culture and society.

Then another question will oppose the proposal: how can commercial movie theaters opt to show local movies instead of foreign films where profit is more guaranteed as Filipinos apparently patronize the mainstream – the Hollywood blockbusters more? As the program is government-driven, the subsidy shall not fail to satisfy the commercial establishments. That should be enough to sustain local movie screenings in theaters for both beneficiaries (students) and non-beneficiary (adults) to enjoy and watch. More compliance can be achieved when the program gradually proves its worth: more moviegoers that patronize local movies, a cinema culture of the public-at-large, and active and progressive film industry. Navigating through the status quo – industries plagued by capitalism, the proposed program takes advantage of this while being a stepping stone for a better realization of a national identity of the Philippine cinema.

Yes, the proposal might be ‘too good to be true’.  It can be true if and only if the significance and vision of such proposal is considered which is to reinforce a progressive film industry through stimulating a higher patronage level and an after effect of rising in film production annually. The golden ages of Philippine cinema in the 20^th century have shown an average of 140 movies per year, whereas local film production had a dramatic decline at the start of 21^st century as only an average of 73 movies per year were recorded. Fortunately, the local movie industry has been trying to cope up from the domination of foreign films being shown in the local cinemas through the rise in production of local independent movies and the mainstream as well (Virola). The proposal can further reinforce better economics: the local film production will increase when the patronage level of the audience increases too. This is also to combat the main distributors to the cinema of the Philippines namely Disney and United International Pictures (Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures) or simply the Hollywood which account for 33% of market share as combined in 2013; the top local distributor, Star Cinema, takes 27% of market share (UNESCO Institute of Statistics).

The proposal gives a lot of promising impacts especially on Philippine cinema and film industry. It will have a ripple effect in the economy as students will frequent cinemas which are usually inside malls, revenues will be generated, and employment in the film industry will also improve. The students’ lifestyle will be adjusted as they will allot time to avail their privilege which in return may contribute to their personal development and especially their socio-cultural and political awareness, hence Filipino family and its members would have another type of social discourse as the cinema will be a valuable addition to their lives. I end this proposal by expressing that the Philippine cinema and film industry shall always be progressive and relevant and the government should reinforce constant efforts and mechanisms to guide and uphold the movie industry of the country.

Works Cited

CNN Philippines. Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino films extend screening. 23 August 2017. Web. 22 November 2018.

MTRCB. Movie and Television Review and Classification Board Mandate and Functions. 2018. 2018. <http://www.mtrcb.gov.ph/transparency/mandate-and-functions.html>.

Sarmiento, Ramon Felipe A. "Depictions of Culture in Filipino Independent Films." Asia-Pacific Social Science Review 13.2 (2013): pp 120-138.

SM Cinema. SM Cinema Movies. n.d. 14 December 2018. <https://www.smcinema.com/>.

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Cinema infrastructure - Capacity. April 2017. 1 December 2018. <http://data.uis.unesco.org/index.aspx?queryid=56#>.

UNESCO Institute of Statistics. Share of Top 3 Distributors. April 2017. 1 December 2018.

Virola, Romula A. Statistically Speaking. 13 February 2012. 1 December 2018. <http://nap.psa.gov.ph/headlines/StatsSpeak/2012/021312_rav_mpg.asp#tab1>.

Paper 3 - Conversational

ENG 13 (Writing as Thinking)

14 December 2018