Mula sa mga Aninong Gumagalaw by Cesar Hernando - "Cesar Hernando's Mula sa Mga Aninong Gumagalaw: Behind The Scenes 1971-2001 collects snapshots taken by the artist over te course of three decades working in Philippine Cinema. A Fine Arts graduate from the University of Santo Tomas, he begas as assistant director to National Artist Ishmael Bernal for his debut feature, Pagdating sa Dulo (1971). Later on, he would garner accolades and awards for his meticulously researched and imaginative designs for Mike de Leon's kisapmata (1981) and AKO Batch '81 (1982) as well as for Maryo J. de los Reyes's Tagos ng Dugo (1987) starring Vilma Santos. But aside from the mainstream, he was also a key figure in the underground cinema of the 1980s -- a precursor to the "indie" scene in the 2000s -- by collaborating with a new generation of filmmakers including Palm D'Or recipient, Raymond Red. He would do production design on the latter's first full-length feature, Bayani (1993). Hernando would also design Lav Diaz's five-hour film, Batang West Side (2001). The term "aninong gumagalaw" is a literal translation in Filipino of "moving shadows" and was commonly used to refer to motion pictures in the 30's and 40's. All the images in the exhibition were all photographed using film. Likewise, all of the movies from where these images were taken were shot on Super 9 and 35mm films. Hernando has done some short deature films in 35mm like Maalinsangan ang Gabi (1993), Motorsiklo (2001), and Kagat ng Dilim (2006) starring Piolo Pascual. He is also a graphic designer and a professor at the University of the Philippines' College of Fine Arts." ****The exhibit runs from 15 July to 28 AUgust 2011 at the Bulwagang Fernando Amorsolo (Small Gallery) 4th floor, Cultural Center of the Philippines, CCP Complex, Roxas Boulevard, PAsay City. Museum Hours: 10am to 6pm daily, except Mondays and holidays. Admission is Free. For particulars, contact CCP Visual Arts at 8323702. - masscomm.upd.edu.ph (READ MORE)
Cesar Hernando's Mula sa Mga Aninong Gumagalaw: Behind The Scenes 1971-2001 collects snapshots taken by the artist over te course of three decades working in Philippine Cinema. A Fine Arts graduate from the University of Santo Tomas, he begas as assistant director to National Artist Ishmael Bernal for his debut feature, Pagdating sa Dulo (1971). Later on, he would garner accolades and awards for his meticulously researched and imaginative designs for Mike de Leon's kisapmata (1981) and AKO Batch '81 (1982) as well as for Maryo J. de los Reyes's Tagos ng Dugo (1987) starring Vilma Santos. But aside from the mainstream, he was also a key figure in the underground cinema of the 1980s -- a precursor to the "indie" scene in the 2000s -- by collaborating with a new generation of filmmakers including Palm D'Or recipient, Raymond Red. He would do production design on the latter's first full-length feature, Bayani (1993). Hernando would also design Lav Diaz's five-hour film, Batang West Side (2001). - masscomm.upd.edu.ph (READ MORE)
Haven't work with Nora Yet - "...Cesar feels sad that he didn't get to work with Nora Aunor in any of her movies and to this day regrets not having accepted the late director, Ishmael Bernal's invitation to visit the set of "Himala" in Laoag at the time of its shoot in the early '80s. Nevertheless, it was Cesar who designed the famous poster of "Himala," which he says, Bernal liked very much. Moving shadows: Cesar Hernando's "Mula Sa Mga Aninong Gumagalaw: Behind The Scenes 1971-2001" collects snapshots taken by the artist over the course of three decades working in Philippine cinema. A Fine Arts graduate from the University of Santo Tomas, he began as assistant director to National Artist Ishmael Bernal for his debut feature, "Pagdating sa Dulo" (1971). Later on, he would garner accolades and awards for his meticulously researched and imaginative designs for Mike de Leon's "Kisapmata" (1981) and "AKO Batch '81" (1982) as well as for Maryo J. de los Reyes' "Tagos ng Dugo" (1987) starring Vilma Santos. But aside from the mainstream, he was also a key figure in the underground cinema of the 1980s - a precursor to the "indie" scene in the 2000s - by collaborating with a new generation of filmmakers including Palm D' Or recipient, Raymond Red..." - Nestor Cuartero (READ MORE)
Kamera Obskura - "...A fictitious Filipino silent film is unearthed and unspooled in "Kamera Obskura." Creating a "lost" movie about a prison escapee who acquires a magical movie camera and becomes a political pawn, helmer Raymond Red succeeds marvelously in conceptual and visual terms, but his soundtrack strategy is likely to sharply divide audiences. World-preemed at Cinemalaya, where it won a director prize, "Kamera" looks set for limited theatrical exposure locally and high visibility on the fest circuit. Real-life Filipino film archivists Teddy Co, Cesar Hernando and Ricky Orellana call a press conference to announce that an old film has been discovered in a warehouse. Minus credits and its final reel, the technically sophisticated black-and-white feature is thought to date from the late 1920s or early 1930s, a barren period in Filipino cinema. With tantalizing mystery surrounding its authorship and precise date of production, the movie is presented without interruption for approximately 70 minutes. Red and his technical team expertly capture the look and feel of silent cinema with the first images of Juan (Pen Medina, also co-scripting), a bedraggled prisoner who has served 20 years in solitary. Crawling through a tunnel into a dank cell, Juan uses a tiny shaft of sunlight and his spectacle lenses to create a camera obscura effect and "see" the outside word..." - Richard Kuipers, Variety, Aug 12 2012 (READ MORE)
The Writer - "...I’d say I’m not really a writer. I always think in images. And from the images, I create concepts. I took up a film course at the Film Institute of the Philippines, held at Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (University of the City of Manila). Among my classmates was Doy del Mundo, who would write Lino Brocka‘s Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag, and Mike de Leon’s films - Itim, Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, Kisapmata, Batch ’81. Doy introduced me to Mike de Leon, the grandson of Dona Sisang and owner of LVN Studio, and he’d bring me there to watch old LVN movies in 16mm or 35mm film formats (!) (Now, you can watch these films on DVDs). From FIP, I got to work as assistant director to Ishmael Bernal‘s first film Pagdating sa Dulo in 1971...Mainstream writing for a film means having big budgets like the English-titled rom-com movies of Star Cinema. Writing for independent movies are more experimental in nature. The films I’ve worked for as production designer for Cinemalaya projects of Raymond Red (Kamera Obskura) and Mes de Guzman (Diablo) have scripts but don’t have dialogues (!) kaya manipis ang scripts. They improvise on the set and let the actors do their own dialogue as long as it’s within the concept of the story. I’ve tried this with my own film Puso ng Kadiliman [Heart of Darkness] which is still on post-production stage. It is about an hour or so, and has no dialogue..." - Charlene F. Sawit, Postcards on Writing 5: Cesar Hernando tells stories through cinema, July 5 2012 (READ MORE)
Cesar Hernando - "...a University of Santo Tomas Fine Arts graduate, started as an as assistant director to National Artist Ishmael Bernal for Pagdating…
Since then, he has emerged into one of Philippine cinema’s respected figures, winning awards for his designs in films like Kisapmata and Tagos ng Dugo, among others. He has also worked with some of the best directors in the independent cinema like Raymond Red in Bayani (1993) and Lav Diaz in Batang West Side.
A filmmaker himself, Hernando also directed some films like Maalinsangan ang Gabi (1993), Motorsiklo (2001), and Kagat ng Dilim (2006).." - Terence Krishna V. Lopez, Behind the scene photos of Philippine cinema’s greatest films, Bulatlat, July 20 2011 (READ MORE)