A Day with Mr. Shooli

At long last! After weeks of school work, I was able to finish transcribing the recorded video of our interview with Mr. Jun Urbano. I won't be posting the video for copyright purposes but will paste our conversation below. Sorry for the overdue entry. 

This interview was held last August 18, 2008 at Starbucks Matalino St.. 

Have fun reading.. :p

"Ikaw Manong Wag Ka Kotong" :p

JG (Justine Galvez): How would you gauge the success of the recent tribute to your father, Mr. Manuel Conde in terms of attendees?

JU (Jun Urbano): Well, puno yung theatre. Actually, it was a group of people. Some of them were writers, movie critics, etc. headed by a professor from U.P., Nick Tiongson. He teaches masscomm and some other independent filmmakers, writers and producers who pushed for writing a book about my dad because they say my dad should have been made a National artist long before. The unfortunate thing is that there were no films in existence in spite of the fact that he did about 40 or more films, only one or two were preserved… and one of them were Genghis Khan. Tapos the movie was shown in 1950s and it was acclaimed in Cannes festival in Italy. That was the first time a Filipino movie was honored in a venue like that. So sabi nila dapat mga movie na ginagawa ng tatay ko, all showed Filipino culture, Philippine tradition, etc, very nationalistic si daddy. Like when he did ‘Ikaw kasi’, I think it was about the mining industry and he did ‘Bahala Na’. It was the wood-carving people in Paete. And then he did ‘Molave’ which was about the denudation of our forests. So ganun siya.

So back to the honors, kami na lang ang nagcecelebrate niyan kasi my dad never knew he was a great director e. He was just doing film in fact, he was not even a businessman. Pag sinabing showbiz, it’s show and then it’s business. Ang tatay ko halimbawa, artista ka, bibigyan ka niya ng favor, susuklian ka niya, tataasan pa niya talent fee mo. That’s how he is, he works with his heart. Basta gumawa lang siya ng pelikula, happy siya enjoy siya. And he was one of the first independent yung indie ngayon. By indie means it doesn’t go with the usual… yung business because there are big motion picture producers.. the mainstream. Siya yung lumabas doon. On his own he made his own movie.

JG: What is the most memorable part of the tribute to your father?

JU: Maganda lahat eh. Well it’s the.. hindi naman nakakaiyak. Ang nakakaiyak doon ay naiyak yung mga tao nung nagsalita ako. Kasi hindi nila inaasahan na magsasalita ako. I had to come out as Mr. Shooli kasi they featured ‘Genghis Khan’, the movie of my dad, kaya sabi nila, “Come out as Mr. Shooli.” Nandun si Eddie Garcia, Perla Bautista, Delia Razon, mga contemporaries.

JG: Do you think it was successful on the basis of educating the youth about your father’s works?

JU: Well, they wrote a book. I don’t think it’s educating the youth. That was not the intention. The intention was to recognize Manuel Conde as the one of the pillars that time of the movie industry. Educating the youth, I doubt, maybe to know something about him, maybe they can be inspired by what he went through, through the book. He is actually bringing to the attention, the persona of Manuel Conde. He is a director, an actor, producer, maybe they can pick something from that.

JG: Who among the new breed of directors would you say could be a modern-day Manuel Conde and why?

JU: Magagaling sila naman eh. Each director has its own mark. Each director has its own way of doing things. So it is difficult for anybody to compare. Kanya kanya yan e. So hindi pwedeng i-compare.

JG: How about artists today that can serve as inspiration for the quality of movies in Philippine Cinema?

JU: Magagaling naman silang lahat. You know, everybody can act. All of us are actors and actresses. Actually, sa totoo lang, hindi ako nanunuod ng t.v. sa Tagalog channels. Ang pinapanuod ko, Discovery, National Geographic, educating channels because I learn. Kapag nanuod ka kay ‘Wowowee’ or sa ‘Eat Bulaga’, ano matutunan mo? Ang natututunan ko sa mga programang iyon, mga contest-contest nila, eh.. napakatanga ng Pilipino. Nalulungkot ako.. hindi ko pinagtatawanan. Pero Makita mo dun mga masa karamihan. They ask simple questions in the process of elimination, eventually the winner will have a chance to win the jackpot. Pero yung mga simple questions hindi masagot. Kaya sabi ko “Ganito na 

ba kababaw mga Pilipino?” na simple things, no brainer talaga, hindi nila alam. Kaya nung minsan nakausap ko kaibigan ko, may-ari ng istasyon at sabi ko “Alam mo, hindi ako nanunuod ng local program kasi lalo ako nabobobo. Bakit ganoon ang mga programa natin?” Sabi niya, “Tito Jun, wala ako magawa negosyo yan e.” So yun, hindi ako nanunuod ng local programs kasi sayang (para sa akin).. sayang ang panahon.

JG: There is an attempt to create awareness and appreciation of Filipino Classic movies like the 2007 Kool Pinoy Klassiks by Cinema One, Juan Tamad goes Indie and a Tribute to Dolphy held last July. Do you think that a tribute to the Golden Age of Philippine Cinema would be patronized particularly the youth? What do you think could be a communications strategy for such event?

JU: Alam mo, by the youth in general, hindi. By some youth who wanted to know how movies were before, maybe. Pero, as a popular medium, hindi kasi ako rin e h

indi ko rin naeenjoy e. I’ve been directing commercials for almost 40 years and I’ve done about 2000+ commercials in my career. And if I look at the very first few commercials I did when I was starting, comparing them to the commercials I did now, technically... ang layo. The way I make movies before… ang layo. Kaya sabi ko, maybe I can go back and say “Ganoon pala noon.” But I will not be able to learn. Kasi ang proseso nandiyan naman na. Computer-Generated Images na nung araw di namen makuha yan. Curiosity is the word.

JG: What do you think should be the motif of the said event? Classic and Elegant or Young and Vibrant?

JU: How was it then, how was it now. Ico-compare mo e.It will be interesting if you show what it used to be without comparing to what is now. You have to compare para may interest. Kung ipapakita mo lang yung noong araw ang dating niyan ay.. “Oh, ano yan?”

JG: What decade do you consider the Golden Age of Philippine Cinema and why? What are your favorite movies from this era?

JU: Nung mga 50’s. Magagaling ang mga director nun. At tsaka ang mga tema nila noon about the Philippines. Kasi alam mo tayo, gaya-gaya tayo eh. If I do mga movies na maraming effects, etc., hindi ko tatalunin Hollywood diyan., paramihan ng extra… libu-libo ang extra. May pera sila e at ang market nila worldwide so they can afford to spend so much because they can get them back. Pero marami ring nalulugi dyan. Ngayon, kung kakayanin ko iyon, unang-una, copycat na ko, hindi pa maganda pagkakagaya ko. We don’t have the vans, the machine to do these things kaya siguro maappreciate nila l

alo if I did something really Filipino that they have nothing to compare it with. Yun ang mga movies ng 50’s. Mga ‘Badjao, ‘Anak Dalita’… pinoy na pinoy talaga. Eh ngayon sa tuwing may festival, ano bang mga nakikita mo ngayon? Mga gaya-gaya.

JG: How do you think the stars from the Golden Era would feel about such event? Would you think they would give their support by being present at the said event?

JU: Oo, they will be present. Because they associate with that and they will relate to what you will be doing. 
Actually, yung mga movies naman natin ngayon magaganda naman eh. Gaya nung kay Aga, setting niya sa Bicol. Maganda ang pagkakagawa.

JG: In your opinion, what could such tribute contribute to the betterment of the Filipino film industry?

JU: Tingin ko wala. Kasi wala nang industriya ngayon eh. Per se, as an industry. The movie industry is now confined to the two television stations. They are the ones who have the stars and they are the ones who have the means to advertise. Kasi kapag gumawa ka ng commercial ngayon whether it’s a movie or what, ang charge nila mga 250,000 per 30

 seconds. Ganoon kamahal. Eh para naman kumita ang pelikula mo dapat may advertising ka. Kapag sila naman ang gumagawa, hindi naman nila sinisingil sarili nila. I-wwrite off nila yun to something else. So nakakapag-advertise na nga sila, kumikita pa sila. Eh kung outsider, where will you get that money to advertise my film?

JG: How about if ABS-CBN or a giant network would back up the event?

JU: Hmm.. Maybe. Yung kay Dolphy kasi, artista nila si Dolphy eh kumbaga self-serving ginawa nila. Yung kay Rudy Fernandez, sila kumikita noon, binayaran nila iyon eh. Negosyo lahat iyan.

Signing his father's book for us. :)

Thank you sir Jun, your words are truly inspiring. This would be of great help for my thesis. :)