Just finished watching ANC's Shop Talk hosted by Pia Hontiveros. The topic was Independent Filmmaking as a career and indie filmmakers Jim Libiran and JP Carpio were the guests. JP actually alerted me to the replay at midnight (Wednesday) -- I missed the Tuesday afternoon initial broadcast because I had to be somewhere.

Anyway, I think the show was one of the more interesting shows on Filipino Indie Filmmaking I've seen in a while. Jim Libiran's account of how he made his film 'Tribu' about youth gangs in Tondo with real gang members as cast was fascinating. Fighting among the gangs actually stopped because the gang members were provided with a creative outlet for their energies. And not only were the gang members tapped as cast, but their rap songs were used in the movie as well.

The positive impact on the gang members were undeniable. Members of enemy gangs were now text mates, and they wanted to continue what Jim started. A few, according to Jim, are now attending a poetry workshop in U.P. (I think this could be the LIRA workshop, Filipino poet Virgilio Almario's brainchild).

Jim also held Intellectual Property workshops for the members so that the gang members earn from their art. Actually the gangs sell their rap CD's at 35 or 65 pesos a pop, but these CD's are immediately pirated. With the workshops, Jim hopes the gang members would learn how to protect and value their art further and eventually earn a living from it. Indeed, Jim's art helped the youth of Tondo not just during the shooting, but will affect these young people long-term.

Jim also appealed to civic groups to continue what he started, and to music producers to take a chance on these young people. Jim had actually approached music labels, but all of them turned him down. We do hope producers -- of movies and music -- eventually find their social conscience and put their faith in these kids. Alternatively, Jim says that we need a new breed of independent producers.

On another note, I was amused to learn that Jim, and his movie 'Tribu' were also products of one of Armando 'Bing' Lao's 'Real Time Workshops,' which I think Jim took during his graduate studies at U.P. Diliman. Real Time scriptwriting is a kind of screenwriting which Bing Lao espouses, and which he developed throughout the years to enable filmmakers to create films which are easy and cheap to make, but still of excellent quality and at par with international tastes and standards. I will be writing more about this when I will share with you my experience with Bing Lao during his Advanced Scriptwriting Workshop at the UP Film Institute last summer. :)

The second segment meanwhile featured my friend JP Carpio, his latest movie 'Hilo' ('Thread'), and the rest of his past movies. I think this is JP's best appearance on TV to date. He was able to articulate his passion, and more significantly, his philosophy in filmmaking, which is to be honest about life, and in the process, remind people of what it means to be human.

Social filmmaking and personal filmmaking -- two sides of the same coin: to uplift the human spirit and condition. Watch Jim Libiran's 'Tribu' and JP Carpio's 'Hilo' ('Thread') and 'Balay Daku' ('Big House') at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival 2007, which Jim and JP say will feature around 130 films, the biggest collection of Filipino films in a single festival to date I think, and support independent filmmaking -- art which makes a difference.