The Divine

Pigging out aside, I spent most of my holiday vacation thinking of my future film projects in the next three months. I must emphasize the thinking phase because I never had the chance to actualize them into words. I hope that this exercise can give me a clearer picture of what I really want to do. I never made a short film in two years so I felt a little rustic and self-conscious about my capabilities as a filmmaker. I felt the enthusiasm that once fired me up had been put off and I am having a hard time rekindling it again. I know the passion is still there, I just need some restarting.

So one of my projects this semester is a 2-7 minute short film. I immediately remembered the idea I pitched to my friends Joe, Jed and Kat six months ago. I was delighted upon learning that they liked it but I have my own fears so the whole thing was shelved and I thought I wouldn't do it... but now when the concept comes really handy.



If you ask me what the concept is all about, let's just say it reflects a passage in one of J. Neil Garcia's essays in his collection, Slip/Pages:

"... the only way I can be positive about myself is if my idea of the Divine does not exclude the most important aspect of my being. It is true that one's notion of heaven is already one's concept of earth..."

Not that the movie in my mind could serve as an adaptation of this passage. I rediscovered this as I was re-reading my 2007 journals hours before 2009 had ended (I have the ritual of reading all things I've written every New Year's eve). I recalled two years ago when I nourished myself with truckloads of articles on gay criticism, that included J.Neil Garcia's books, to bulk up my final paper on my Media, Gender and Sexuality class. I bumped on that passage and got carried away that I wrote it down on my notebook. I never used it on my final paper but who would've thought that it will come handy now that I'm writing the abstract of my short film?

But I don't have plans of spilling the beans of my proposal as of now but I believe that readers (whoever they are) may already have an idea what's getting baked based on the passage above.

***

The first movie that I saw in 2010 was neither of the MMFF entries nor a flick done by international auteurs Haneke or Von Trier but that 1996-flick starring Donna Cruz, Regine Velasquez and Mikee Cojuangco. Yup, I'm referring to Do-Re-Mi. I've chanced upon this movie in PBO numerous times for the past years but my new year boredom finally surrendered. I was surprised that Do-Re-Mi wasn't bad at all. It wasn't excellent either, if I have to be strict with my filmic standards, but I enjoyed the whole thing nonetheless. It's a sign for a good movie-watching (and hopefully, movie-making) year ahead.

For those who already have consciousness in 1996, most probably you'll remember this song: