A new book, “Sine. Pelikula. Film: The 100+ Greatest Films of Philippine Cinema,” brings together more than eight decades of Filipino films in a single curated volume.
Published by Summit Books, the 300-page release presents 127 synopses and reviews of films produced between 1937 and 2020. The selection was curated by Jo-Ann Maglipon in collaboration with film scholar Joel David.
The book includes titles across genres and periods, from Lino Brocka’s “Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag” and Ishmael Bernal’s “Manila By Night,” to independent works such as Kidlat Tahimik’s “Mababangong Bangungot” and Arnel Barbarona’s “Tu Pug Imatuy.”
Also included are commercial releases like Ronwaldo Reyes’s “Ang Panday” and Jerrold Tarog’s “Heneral Luna,” as well as romantic comedies such as Antoinette Jadaone’s “That Thing Called Tadhana” and Cathy Garcia-Molina’s “One More Chance.” Older titles like Gerardo de Leon’s “El Filibusterismo” and Gregorio Fernandez’s “Malvarosa,” along with comedies including Mar S. Torres’s “Jack and Jill” and Jade Castro’s “Zombadings: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington,” are also featured.
Interspersed throughout the book are profiles of filmmakers who have been declared National Artists, including Manuel Conde, Eddie Romero, Mike de Leon and Fernando Poe Jr.
The book was launched on March 15 at the Philippine Book Festival held at SM Megamall. During the event, screenwriter Ricky Lee, whose works account for 16 entries in the book, joined Maglipon in a discussion on filmmaking.
Maglipon said the process of creating a film canon was not intended as a ranking exercise.
“We committed to a Greatest Films’ List, not fully understanding that ‘greatest’ was not what we were going for,” she said. “Certainly not, if listing the greatest meant comparing and ranking, pitting and judging, voting and awarding.”
Instead, she said, the aim was to assemble a list of films considered “wondrous, esteemed and outstanding.”
Reflecting on the process, she said that responses to film are shaped by personal factors.
“It is taste. It is exposure. It is age. It is moral grounding. It is class background. It is education. It is time and place. It is country. It is culture. It is emotional makeup. It is IQ. It is bias,” she said.
Maglipon described the book as a collection shaped by writers with an interest in cinema, adding that readers are free to form their own lists.
