MANILA, Philippines--GMA 7 news reporter Cesar Apolinario took a circuitous route before attaining his big dream.
After high school, he worked as food attendant in Bahrain for two years. “I wanted to save up for my college education,” he recalls.
That’s why he felt a certain kinship with “Katas ng Saudi,” Jose Javier Reyes’ movie on OFWs, which competed with his “Banal” at the Metro Manila Film Festival, he explains.
After Bahrain, Apolinario took up Accounting at the Philippine School of Business Administration, before shifting to Communication Arts at the University of Santo Tomas in 1994.
On the side, he studied Film at the University of the Philippines.
Short films
He also entered two short films “Luksa” (1995) and “Kulto” (1996) in the Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video. “I didn’t win, though,” he recounts.
While in school, he worked as researcher on the RPN 9 show “Helpline” and, later, as production assistant in the Peque Gallaga-Lore Reyes film “Magic Kingdom (Perlas ng Damortis)” in 1997.
He also studied filmmaking at the Mowelfund, under Nick Deocampo in 1998. “That’s where I honed my craft.”
In 1999, he joined GMA 7 as cameraman/researcher in “I-Witness.” “I didn’t mind starting from the bottom because I learned a lot,” he says.
Two passions
After six months, he became a full-fledged reporter and his “baptism of fire” was the Payatas landfill tragedy on “Brigada Siete.”
Entitled “Promised Land,” the one-hour docu on Payatas was screened at the Hawaii and Zanzibar International Film Festivals in 2001, he notes.
For his directorial debut, “Banal,” he combined two of his passions: Movies and journalism.
Last year, he collaborated on the movie’s concept with friend Mac Cruz, who is quite knowledgeable about the internal workings of the police force.
Real people
Cruz complained to him that cops “are always portrayed in local movies as arriving late in the crime scene.”
With “Banal,” they aimed for a more realistic portrayal of policemen, without ignoring issues like corruption.
“We interviewed cops,” he says. “The characters are based on real people.”
The Papal assassination try, which was the film’s climax, was inspired by the Bojinka Plot, he relates. “In 1995, an apartment burned down in Manila and arson investigators discovered files that contained a terrorist plot to assassinate the Pope. I read about it in the newspapers. I’ve always been interested in current events.”
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It was also while reading the papers that he saw a print ad about the MMFF. The script (co-written with Cris Lim) he submitted became the film that won him two awards: Best Original Story (with Cruz) and Best Director.
Joey Reyes says he’s glad that a new filmmaker won. “Cesar was the first one I hugged [when the winners gathered] onstage.”
Overwhelming
It’s overwhelming, Apolinario says of the good reviews and awards.
“It’s my first directorial job,” he quips. “I shot it for 12 days. I have a talented cast and crew to thank for this.”
For his next film, a comedy, he’s teaming up with fellow GMA 7 reporter Jiggy Manicad for the script and with Marnie Pulumbarit for the direction.
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