MANILA, Philippines?Sometime back, we observed that, due to the surge in indie productions, we now have two pretty much distinct film industries in the country: The traditional, mainstream studios on one hand, and the new crop of digital filmmakers on the other.

Some attempts are being made to effect a ?cross-pollination? between the two filmmaking sectors, but with minimal success.

Different reasons

The wide divide separating the two groups is due to the difference in their filmmaking philosophies?no more, no less. Meaning, they make movies for different reasons?mainstream mainly to entertain and make money, and indie to express, reveal, espouse, expose?and then some.

In terms of significance, therefore, the indies generally run circles around mainstream movies. But, in the key area of reach and exposure, mainstream has the indies beat, because it has access to most of the moviehouses in this country.

More significant

The ideal, therefore, would be for indies to reach the mass audience through the huge theater circuit?and for mainstream productions to become more significant, in the indie mold.

That ideal is not being realized and attained, for many reasons. How to understand them, the better to eventually rise above them?

One productive way could be to compare the two sectors? separate lists of new movies?the indies for the recently concluded Cinemalaya film festival, and mainstream for the year-end Metro Manila Film Festival:

Cinemalaya 2008 fielded 10 feature films about violinists and battered children, bucket lists, call center agents, media manipulation, Negros cuisine, etc.?in other words, characters and themes you don?t generally get to encounter in your typical mainstream production.

On the other hand, these movies have been approved as entries in this year?s Metro film fest: ?Baler,? ?Desperadas 2,? ?Shake, Rattle & Roll X,? ?Magkaibigan,? ?One Night Only,? ?Escaleras and Ungasis (20 Years After)? and ?Tanging Ina N?yong Lahat.?

Creativity

As you can tell from all of the ?2,? ?X? and ?20 Years After? tags, quite a number of these productions are sequels to or updates on past hit productions. This affirms the observation that freshness and creativity generally elude mainstream filmmaking, which often opts to play it safe by banking on past successes.

Truth to tell, we don?t favor either indies or mainstream movies. We just want viewers here to enjoy better and fresher viewing options, regardless of where they come from. So, we trust that both indie and mainstream filmmakers get their acts together, to be of better service to the viewing public.