Good News for Cebu's Digital Filmmakers

[Blongkoy]

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Crispin Ramos is soon to formalize the revival of the Cebuano/Visayan film industry.

Right now, Crispin is busy converting his already established theater venue, the Bantawan, at Visitacion Street, into a digital cinema house. Swarming all over the place are carpenters and masons practically tearing the Bantawan to the ground to pave the way for the rise of the Bantawan Digital Cinema. In the meantime, Mr. Ramos is in the United States, particularly Los Angeles and New York City, to source out equipment and lighting for a digital cinema.

Mr. Ramos is an institution in the performing arts and three-time Palanca award winner for playwriting. Starting as lead performer in the college-based The Pushermen Players, Mr. Ramos became executive producer and assistant director of Amazaldy Films of Ms. Vivian Velez. His concluding assignment from Amazaldy Films was as first assistant director to Celso Ad Castillo in “Pag-itim ng Tagak, Pagputi ng Uwak.” He then joined his wife Linda in the United States where the Ramos family is engaged in a sizable enterprise in care-giving industry.

Since then, Mr. Ramos kept on coming back to Cebu every summer of every year purposely to conduct summer workshops in stagecraft. It was for this reason that he had the old Ramos house in Visitacion Street converted into a theater now widely known as Bantawan. Soon enough this Bantawan is going to become Bantawan Digital Cinema.

Mr. Ramos is intent on sourcing his materials from local filmmakers on a sharing basis of the gates. And, to guarantee himself of fresh materials for exhibition, Mr. Ramos also did organize the in-house digital film production outfit called the Bantawan Film Digital Productions. In fact, as soon as Mr. Ramos returns to Cebu mid-May, next month, the production of Bantawan’s initial film offering will start production, with Mr. Ramos at the helm. Titled “Ang Hardinero”, this full feature movie drama will be starred by Bien Fernandez (of St. Theresa’s College and University of the Philippines), Anne Suarez (of the University of Southern Philippines), Kara Muga (of the University of the Philippines) and stage veterans of the Bantawan coming from various schools and colleges here in Cebu. This will be shot using the AgDVX100A 24P Panasonic digital camera and Lowell Lights system. Blongkoy has been chosen to do technical direction of many flying points-of-view (the story is about a pilot crashing in the jungles of Samar) and NLE work using an Avid workstation.

Next in line for the Bantawan Digital Film Productions is “Memories of Santander” which Mr. Ramos adapted from his original stage play.

Once completed on or before July 2005, the Bantawan Digital Cinema is widescreen (16:9 ratio), air-condition and comfortably sits 80 persons.

[MrBiddle]

I take it most of the movies that will be exhibited in this theater have to be on the Digital Versatile Disc format.

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But will this theater also screen movies that are on Video CD? ... or on MiniDV or Digital 8 videotape? (perhaps they have a tape deck equipment, if n0t, play it off the camera of the particular videocassete format)

[Blongkoy]

I take it most of the movies that will be exhibited in this theater have to be on the Digital Versatile Disc format.

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But will this theater also screen movies that are on Video CD? ... or on MiniDV or Digital 8 videotape? (perhaps they have a tape deck equipment, if n0t, play it off the camera of the particular videocassete format)

MrBiddle,

Bantawan Digital Cinema will attempt to run all forms of digital media, including running the material from hard disks.

One important consideration is that the media runs full length feature productions without interruption i.e. without having to change disks or digital tapes midway.

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