Briccio G. Santos may not sound familiar to present generation of young Davaoeños. For the film cognoscenti, he is credited for bringing to the city Cinematheque, a mini-archive that was put up during his watch as head of the Film Development Center of the Philippines (FDCP).
Aside from the other cinematheques in Manila and Iloilo, the FDCP also provisionally opened its Cinematheque Nabunturan, in Compostela Valley Province, in September 2018, the first FDCP mini-film center built from ground up with the help of the local government.
Briccio’s ties to Davao City is deeper than the movies. Aside from being a skilled painter, poet, cinematic lensman, professional photographer, and one of the country’s earliest independent filmmakers, he is the eldest son of the late Davao City mayor and interior government secretary Luis Toribio Santos. He also helped organized the first Davao Film Festival in 1977.
Aside from his father, who was incumbent mayor at the time, Briccio’s brainchild to host the city’s first film extravaganza (complete with a parade of stars) got the attentive support of former brother-in-law Silvestre Bello III, then city administrator and now labor secretary, and mother Catalina Garcia, who was chair of the Davao Beautiful Foundation.
An interesting feature of the festival was the introduction of the first gay-themed movie, Manikang Papel, to Davao audience, which Briccio directed starring Joseph Sytangco, who later on went to play noteworthy roles in films like Hindi Sa Iyo Ang Mundo, Baby Porcuna (1978), Sa Akin Ka Magpakasal (1980) and Super Gee (1973).
For his part, Briccio also distinguished himself in Damortis, an indie movie he produced in 1970s; the Cavalier of the Winds, filmed in Moscow in 1994; and the much-commended Ala Verde, Ala Pobre, winner in the 2005 Cinemanila Festival.
The festival took place at a time when movie houses were sprouting in the city, a testament to the long history of film distribution in Davao, which dated back to prewar years when theater business was controlled by the Carriedos from Manila and the Borgailys from Lebanon.
After the conflict, new theaters started to sprout. The Carriedos owned four movie houses, namely Liberty, along San Pedro street; Victory (renamed to Tagumpay); Clifford (after the American soldier informally honored as the ‘liberator of Davao’ and later rechristened to President), along Bonifacio street; and Ideal, along Claveria street (now C.M. Recto).
Elsewhere, there were also new film houses. At the Santa Ana district were Avenue and State, later changed to Stars. There was also Gems at the junction of Bolton-San Pedro; and Eagle, owned by the Escano family; Davao, owned by the Aquino family; and Lawaan, owned by Rep. Constancio Maglana, along Claveria street. There was also Ever along Uyanguren street.
In the mid-1960s, Universal, Liberty, Lyric and Gems were burned down in the February 1964 conflagration but the Borgailys later rebuilt Lyric and introduced Crest, which became the first airconditioned movie house in the city. Both were located along San Pedro.
With the demographic landscape expanding, the Garcias joined the fun by putting up Golden, along San Pedro street; Garmon and Galaxy, along Ilustre street; and Emerald (renamed to Garnet) in Sta. Ana district. In later decades, theaters like Roxy, along Uyanguren street; Ace, along Ilustre street; and Rey, along Lapu-lapu street would rise but were later showed x-rated or adult films, the equivalent of today’s pornographic flicks.
The invention of Betamax, laser disc, VHS (video home system), DVD (digital video disc), and the introduction of computers, with complex features and applications that allow remote video viewing, either by built-in CD (computer disc) players or by internet, eventually led to the closure of old-style theaters.
With the rise of malls, which began with the conception of Victoria Plaza, movie houses became built-in features of supermarkets, allowing moviegoers to see films, do shopping, and buy groceries altogether under one roof. This concept did not take long to spread with the rise of shopping centers such as Gaisano, NCCC, and SM.
These technological changes have also given rise to a new despicable practice—the pirating of films. Anybody with hi-tech camera, mobile phone, or similar gadgets can copy originally produced CDs in the privacy of their homes and peddle the reproductions as ‘clear copies’ with high-end computer printers producing the covers.
To address this anomaly, Briccio, as chair of FDCP, tried to counter piracy by establishing film centers in strategic urban centers in the hope of encouraging people to view films in cinematheques. It was a small step but a move that needed stronger government intervention.
Given the impact the initiative produced, other state agencies with interest in films should unite to push forward the laudable Santos enterprise of showing the Filipino films in other places outside the entertainment scene and building an archive that brings together copies of all locally produced movies under one structure.
With the Optical Media Board (OMB) doing selective closure of stores selling pirated discs, it may well be right to say the campaign to bring back the halcyon days of originally-produced films (as opposed to the film industry that’s controlled by oligarchs), without zest and zeal, may become the metaphor of a paper doll, a manyikang papel.
