The Imperial Manila Film Festival Celebrates Mediocrity

It's December and we know it's time once again for the Metro Manila ahem Imperial Manila Film Festival. I haven't given a f*** for some time about the festival and neither would any Filipino of decent mind and thinking. Any Filipino with a sound mind wouldn't care if the film were Filipino, American, Japanese, Chinese, or whatever as long as it's got a good plot. Now it's time for me to challenge myself by writing this article on the Imperial Manila Film Festival.

I just take a bit of a time machine myself with what happened last 2014. The Rurouni Kenshin event really challenged One Direction's line in terms of length. Somebody even dared to brag that she filed a fake sick leave to attend the event. I haven't heard of anyone doing that for Kris Aquino or any of the Imperial Manila film artists. The next thing to happen was that Kyoto Inferno and later The Legend Ends both broke the box office twice in a row. It really broke the record on both August and September. Whether it's the fan greeting to the premiere nights - you know that a lot of Filipino entertainment are in rapid decline. It would have been fun if the second movie The Legend Ends premiered on December which would have rubbed more salt on the wounds of the ridiculous Imperial Manila films.

So why should the Imperial Manila Film Festival be called a celebration of mediocrity? It's based on one fact of business and economics: no competition means no competitiveness. Innovation will be on a standstill unless there's competition. Businesses innovate in order to survive competition. Yes, foreign investors will ruin Filipino businesses only if they don't get out of their safe spaces. The reason why so many Filipino businesses refuse to innovate properly is because the current economic policies discourage competition and encourage people to be crybabies.

The worse part is competition is already showing them they need to innovate for the better. Instead of seeking how to properly define, discover, develop and deliver they just want their safe spaces. One of the most cliche thing to do is to shout "colonial mentality" whenever it's convenient. Since when was a film festival even a Filipino concept? All this call for "nationalism" is nothing more than excuse to allow mediocrity to reign in the Philippines.


Yes, it's time to ask them whether or not their films were filmed without imported equipment. Many digital technologies today are Japanese inventions. Want to release a DVD of their really horrible films? They have Panasonic, Toshiba, and Philips to thank for it. Are they enjoying a lot of high definition and new filming techniques? Well, plenty of equipment and techniques came from Japan and other countries involved in the electronic revolution.

If they could produce any of their stupid films without the use of any imported equipment then they have every right to complain against foreigners. The problem is since when were all the equipment they're using made in the Philippines or even Filipino inventions? It would be funny to think about how often they may be badmouthing Japanese while using Japanese equipment or badmouthing China while using legitimate stuff that was manufactured in China. Doesn't that have stupid written all over it? Hmmm... and if they're so nationalistic why are they still on social media? Why are they still using stuff made by foreigners?

Besides, if there's one quote about insanity, it's Albert Einstein's quote, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results."