Philippine cinema’s “˜golden ages’ debated anew1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWE THOUGHT THAT the issue had already been settled years ago, but at a recent media forum, an argument flared up yet again over the “golden ages” the Filipino movie industry has had over the decades.
A resource person opined that there have been two golden ages or particularly productive periods in terms of quality movies. He cited the 1950s, which saw the production of award-winning films by Gerry de Leon and Lamberto Avellana, who were later hailed as our first two National Artists for Film. And the 1970s, paced by the prodigious output of two more future National Artists, Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal.
However, an interpellator begged to disagree: In his opinion, golden ages in the film world come every 20 years, so a third unusually productive period was chalked up in the 1990s and into the new millennium.
That’s an interesting proposition, especially in the light of the “new millennium” angle, because the start of an epoch is supposed to usher in a period of significant achievement.
