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Philippine Cinema cinema
Bakal Boy (Chrome Man) - first Philippine-made computer generated 3D character to interact with
live actors. Designed by Storm Visualization. Cool, huh?
1895 - year that the first film projected into the screen happened
in the Philippines. The program was billed as Espetaculo Cientifico
de Pertierra, a presentation of stills and chronophotographs by
businessman named Sen~or Pertierra.
September 28, 1897 - Two Swiss businessmen, Leibman and Peritz,
introduced the first real cinematograph (Lumiere cinematograph along
with several Lumiere films). The ticket prices were so steep that only
Spaniards and their wealthy native friends could afford admission.
1898 - Antonio Ramos, a Spanish officer, was the first to shoot
moving pictures in the Philippines with titles like Escenas
Callejeras, Fiesta de Quiapo, and Panorama de Manila which were{
less than one minute shots of Manila street scenes.
In the same year, Admiral Dewey who sailed into Manila Bay brought
a camera man to record daily life in the Philippines. The films still
exist in the US Library of Congress. *Also included in a documentary
called First in the Philippines shown in A&E cable network.*
Albert Yearsley - the first resident to shoot local films
(December 30, 1909). He filmed the Rizal Day celebration
at Luneta which was shown in theaters in April the following year. He
also filmed the Manila Carnival of 1910, the eruption of Taal Volcano
in 1911, the first airplane flight over Manila by flyer Bud Mars in
1911 (another entry to this trivia page!), the Manila fires of 1911,
the trip of the Igorot to Barcelona and the Cebu typhoon of 1912.
The first kissing scene in Philippine cinema was between
Elizabeth 'Dimples' Cooper and Luis Tuazon in the film Tatlong
Hambog which came out in 1926.
The Three Tramps was the title of the first full-length comedy
film made in the Philippines (1927). It starred Manuel and Augusto Silos,
Miami Salvador and Enrique Espinosa.
Fred Waring's Pennsylvanian Syncopation - first talkie shown in
the Philippines. This was achieved by synchronizing phonograph records with
the film.
Collegian Love - first Filipino film to be synchronized with
phonograph records. It was produced by Carlos Vander Tolosa and was shown
on March 4, 1930.
Ang Aswang - was the first film made in the Philippines to feature
optically recorded sound. It was produced by George Musser which despite of its Tagalog title was actually a film in Spanish and English. The film opened
to great acclaim at the Lyric theater on January 1, 1933.
Brigida Perez Villanueva - first woman filmmaker (1933)
Ang Sawa sa Lumang Simboryo won the first FAMAS best picture
in 1952.
The most FAMAS best actor awards were won by Fernando Poe Jr.
for Mga Alabok ng Lupa (1967), Asedillo (1971), Durugin si Totoy
Bato (1979), Umpisahan Mo, Tatapusin Ko (1983), and Magnum 357 (1987)
and by his kumpareJoseph Estrada who won his awards for
Markang Rehas (1962), Ito ang Pilipino (1964), Geron Busabos (1966),
Patria Adorada (1969), and Kumander Alibasbas (1981).
It is Eddie Garcia however who has won the most FAMAS Awards:
3 as Best Actor, 5 as Best Supporting Actor, and 5 as Best Director - total
of 13.
Uhaw, 1970. The first bomba movie. The bomba movie
was a melodrama that was as moralistic as the traditional sarswela. The values
were as old-fashioned as those found in earlier forms of popoular culture. What
gave it its sensational character was the subject of sexual realtions and the
frankness with which the camera recorded bed scenes only coyly suggested
in earlier movies. Uhaw was about a woman named Lorna, her "thirst,"
and the two men who would quench it: her husband and her husband's friend.
The movie was an instant hit, prompting every producer in town to outdo its
sexual acrobatics that sold so well. Starred Merle Fernandez, Tito Galla and
Lito Legaspi. - From B.L. Lumbera's An Essay on the
Philippine Film, 1961-1992. CCP, 1992.