PH cinema needs another ‘Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang,’ says FDCP

FDCP Chair Jose Javier Reyes  highlights the need for another masterpiece like “Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang” to inspire local audiences.

Philippine cinema needs another film that can capture audiences’ imagination and restore their respect for local movies, according to Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) chair Jose Javier Reyes.

Reyes drew a parallel between the current state of the local film industry and the period before the country’s Second Golden Age of Cinema, when Lino Brocka’s “Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang” helped change how Filipinos viewed Philippine films.

“Considering the state of Philippine cinema, we need another ‘Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang,’” Reyes said in an interview ahead of the Philippine Film Industry Month (PFIM) celebration.

“We need another movie like this which will bring back the honor and dignity and the respect of the audience for Philippine cinema,” he added.

Released in 1974, Brocka’s film helped challenge the perception among middle- and upper-class audiences that Filipino movies were merely “bakya” or lowbrow entertainment.

Reyes said the film opened audiences’ eyes to what Philippine cinema could achieve and paved the way for the Second Golden Age.

“Who would have thought that two years later, you will have an entire bouquet of masterpieces?” he said. “And it only took two years because of Brocka’s ‘Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang.’”

For Reyes, the film’s significance makes it an appropriate choice to open this year’s PFIM, which celebrates the Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema.

The PFIM officially opens tonight, Sept. 4, with a screening of the 4K digitally restored “Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang” at Red Carpet Cinema, Shangri-La Plaza. The event will also feature the announcement of the Philippines’ entry to the 99th Academy Awards, courtesy of the Film Academy of the Philippines.

Reyes described 1976 as a “golden year” for Philippine cinema, pointing to the concentration of works by some of the country’s most influential filmmakers.

“In a single year, you have the masters doing classic films all within 12 months,” he said.

The month-long celebration, themed “Ang Ginintuang Ikalawa,” looks back at filmmakers who shaped modern Philippine cinema from the mid-1970s through the late 1980s, including National Artists Ishmael Bernal, Lino Brocka and Eddie Romero, as well as Mario O’Hara, Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara and Mike De Leon.

For Reyes, however, the restoration of “Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang” carries a personal significance.

As a college student at De La Salle University in 1974, Reyes had the opportunity to interview Brocka when the director visited the university to promote the film. “After that interview, I decided to become a screenwriter,” Reyes said.

Decades later, Reyes is now helping oversee the restoration of the very film that inspired him to pursue cinema. “It was an uphill climb to restore ‘Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang.’ But we were determined to do so,” he said.

Bringing the film back to audiences is not simply an act of preservation, said Reyes. It is also a reminder of the impact Filipino cinema can have, and perhaps, a call for the industry to find its next landmark film.

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