For Open House Kino, Access Is King
For Open House Kino, Access Is King
Feature art by Abigail Manaluz
In the last few years there have been efforts to decentralize moviegoing culture and break free from a Manila-centric mode of cinephilia. The burgeoning localized film festivals and exhibitions in the provinces of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao puts us on the right track to developing a national consciousness for cinema and especially our cinema.
At the heart of Central Luzon, Open House Kino hopes to foster an inclusive film community in Pampanga by “traveling” to its cities and barangays and make films accessible for everyone.
“The key word in organizing Open House Kino is ‘accessibility,’” filmmaker Kyle Jumayne Francisco, who serves as project lead, told SINEGANG.ph.
Open House Kino is produced by Panas Pictures, a Pampanga-based project incubator. The entire concept was conceived in July of last year. But things only began to move earlier in January with a cultural exhibit in Angeles City.
“We didn’t want film education and appreciation to only be centered in one major city in Pampanga,” Francisco said. “Now we really want to tap the major cities: Mabalacat, Clark, Angeles, and San Fernando.”
“Then around next year we will be doing grassroots screenings in barangays, plazas, and municipalities in Pampanga,” he added.
“We didn’t want film education and film appreciation to only be centered in one major city in Pampanga,” he added.
For this edition, Open House Kino will set foot in The Infinity, a big commercial complex out of Angeles City. While there were other location candidates such as Holy Angel University, the team ultimately went with the open spaces of The Infinity to emphasize the project’s goals.
“It’s an open-air venue, it’s non-ticketed, and people can just come and go,” Francisco said. “[Accessibility] is important to the aim of Open House Kino—that’s why it’s named as such.”
Opening Scene, the film screening event, will showcase eight short films from all over the country that center around the theme of family. Francisco said that the “universality” of family will likely appeal to the Infinity crowd.
“When we select films, we customize them based on the market of the venue,” he said, adding that it took almost two years to find the right films.
Divided into two sections, the Kapampangan lineup features Carlo Catu’s Mis Da Ka, Reeden Fajardo’s Quing Lalam Ning Aldo, Kristelle Tapang’s A Trip to Pampang Market, and Francisco’s Gulis.
And to round out Opening Scene: Zig Dulay’s Black Rainbow, JP Corton’s Nalumos Akong Papa Sa Sabaw, Dwein Baltazar's Nananahan, and Aedrian Araojo’s Hondo.
Francisco said that the films will give a glimpse of the state of families and how family stories are told in the different regions of the country, as well as the new techniques in telling them.
Kapampangan film culture
What do Jason Paul Laxamana, Petersen Vargas, and Carlo Catu have in common? Besides being Cinemalaya alumni, they all hail from Pampanga.
“We had the Kapampangan Cinema Movement led by [Laxamana], and he engaged young filmmakers including [Vargas and Catu] to participate,” Francisco said.
“We had a manifesto of creating at least one Kapampangan short film every year to keep Kapampangan cinema alive as well as to preserve the language and culture,” he added.
Come the late 2010s, however, these emerging talents, now professionals, moved to Manila, where “everything is centered.” It wasn’t until the pandemic when Francisco and his colleagues returned home and realized there were no holdovers from the movement. They also observed a decline in the unique usage of the Kapampangan language in the films being made.
“That’s when we started to think that we need to reintroduce doing Kapampangan films and not just pushing [filmmakers] to use the language, but also educating them about doing films,” he said.
Aside from the film screenings, Open House Kino will also offer a panel discussion with industry people, including producers Marienel Calma of Eximious Produkt and Geo Lomuntad of Super! Entertainment, director BC Amparado (Gulay Lang, Manong), and actress Jorrybell Agoto (Cross My Heart and Hope to Die).
While the discussion will revolve around how to watch films, it will still adapt to the interests of non-cinephiles and what they can grasp in real time. There will also be audiovisual installations at the event to further hone in on film culture and expression.
“When it comes to audiences, it’s harder to find an avenue for them to appreciate films,” Francisco said. “But if there’s only one person that can spark their interest in those discussions, then that would be of great help to them, especially if they’re aspiring filmmakers.”
And Francisco and his team are excited for the Kapampamangan film community to be reintroduced and reconnected to each other—so much so that they’ve already secured the venue for the next Open House Kino in July (teaser: it’s a cafe).
But for now he hopes the Kapampangan community will find a unique experience in Open House Kino: The Infinity: for audiences, to feel that cinema, especially regional cinema, is accessible, and for young filmmakers, that a community is ready and waiting to support them.
