♪ Ride of the Valkyries ♪ ♪ Ride of the Valkyries ♪ One of the most notorious film shoots of cinema history is Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 “Apocalypse Now”, famous for its 238 shooting days, massive typhoons that blew away the set and the lead actor suffering a heart attack.

Remarkably, the production used actual military personnel and helicopters from the government, who got called into battle on several occasions to fight insurgents in the jungle.

But they always returned.

The chaos of this film shoot is apropos for the creative chaos we see on screen.

A fever dream representing the Vietnam War that was still very fresh on Americans minds.

And this epic movie, now considered a masterpiece, was filmed in the Philippines.

Coppola was God.

He was our God at that time.

If Coppola would asked for a pink elephant, everybody shouts, coming!

We will figure it out later.

♪♪ Hi, I'm Stephanie.

The Cinema Nomad.

Join me on brand new adventures.

The world is a wonderful place where people overcome incredible odds to make their mark.

We'll meet filmmakers who are as courageous as they are inspiring.

Cinema Nomad connects across cultures to learn, explore, share and carry on a heritage of cinematic storytelling.

♪♪ Hello, ang Pangalan ko ay Martika Ramirez Escobar.

Ako ay isang direktor ng pelikula mula sa Quezon City, Pilipinas.

Ako ay 31 years old.

♪♪ Marty Ramirez Escobar or Marty to her friends is a cinematographer and director born in Manila in 1992.

Marty graduated with honors from the University of the Philippines, where her thesis film, “Stone heart,” competed at the Busan International Film Festival and screened all over the world.

Winning Best Film at the Philippines own Cinemalaya Film Fest, Marty has made a wide range of short films, from narratives to doc's, experimental to music videos, all with a unique, quirky look and feel, often personal stories sometimes taking place in and around the world of filmmaking.

I think I was in grade school.

I would watch 19 movies straight with my cousin.

We'd never leave the room for three days.

I liked it because it was entertaining, but I think part of it is that it's more exciting than how real life is.

So as a kid, you're like, oh, I like watching other worlds and other people.

From her first short, “Hando,” an experimental film philosophically questioning censorship of thought.

To "Dindo", a narrative story about the son of a film editor from the 1970s who ends up talking with the characters of a film to “Pusan Bato,” a film within a film about a faded actress who tries to relive her glory days as a star to Tisoy, with its sexual foreplay in a library to the poignant documentary, ""Quadrilaterals"" Laterals a po of a family of overseas workers while at home in Manila.

With this strong body of work, it's no surprise that Marty's debut feature film, Leonor Will Never Die.

Was awarded the Amplify Voices Award at the Toronto Film Fest, and it won the Special Jury Prize for Innovative Spirit at Sundance.

In addition to writing and directing her own films, Marty is a sought after cinematographer.

Having been the Director of Photography on such films.

“Love In The Ungodly Hour” “Hello Stranger, The Movie” and “When This Is All Over” for which she won Best Cinematography at Cinemalaya.

At the time of my visit, Marty was dipping a TV series called “Happy Crush,” directed by Carlo Catu.

I accompanied them to a camera test and a location scout in advance of their first shooting day.

It was nice to see Marty in action, 100% in charge, fully respected by her crew.

Meticulous.

Smiley.

She knows what she's doing.

♪♪ Over lunch at Marty's home in Kazan city, where she has a plethora of pets, from cats and dogs to fish, an adorable turtle and a parakeet.

We chatted about her life and her love as a filmmaker.

What are some of the films that really impact you or speak to you?

You know in a way that you say you want your films to do.

What are some of those films for you?

Agnes Varda films that I've seen gave that days of reflection after specifically “Gleaners and I.” I think it's films that tackle mundane situations, but from the mundane situations they make you reflect about big ideas.

A lot of French New Wave films have that.

Eric Romero films are very simple, but they're so philosophical.

It is totally one of my favorites.

The Six Moral Tales is one of my favorite in all of cinema history, and it's just normal scenes with normal people, and I don't even know why it has such a big impact on me.

So maybe it's the fact that these are real people.

They are familiar people, and these are things we don't usually talk about.

And in his films, they openly talk about it.

So maybe and there's a film in Cinemalaya that they say is a film.

It's called Gitlin.

I wanted to see that actually do, but then like screenings over.

I'm really interested in language and language in film, but also like in a culture, a country like this where you have so many different languages but you have the dominant language, then you have like the colonial languages, and then you have the, the languages from because his film is about translating a film.

Right?

And it uses llacio?

and Japanese and English and Tagalog.

No.

I'd be very curious to see it.

When did you first fall in love with cinema or filmmaking?

Was it from really little or did it come later in life?

Yeah, I really little.

It's my mom's fault.

It's getting so.

My mom used to.

She had me when she was in college, I think she was 19 or 20, and she studied mass communication and made the short.

She made a few short films before your mom did.

Yeah.

Oh.

That's awesome.

And it's really.

We come from a creative family, but they're not institutional artists.

So I think at a young age we were encouraged to just create without thinking of it as something serious.

And when my grandpa brought a video camera I think that's where it started.

They allowed me to use it and it became one of my favorite toys, probably because I didn't have siblings.

So the most entertaining things would come from objects around.

And I was surrounded by adults who were always away.

And I just found it fascinating how you can replay moments in through a camera.

♪♪ As luck has it, my timing in the Philippines was perfect to attend the Cinemalaya Film Festival in Manila.

The fest was abuzz with Filipino cinephiles lined up and excited for the movies.

Martika was involved in many aspects as a juror for the festival and having worked on several films that screened, notably “When This Is All Over,” for which she won Best Cinematography.

It was fun to see Marty approached by young fans remembering her from the success of Leonor Will Never Die.

I attended a book launch at the Film.

Fest for Nick Deocampo film history series “Sine Tala” So impressed was I. I saw them out afterwards to talk to him.

More about the cinema history and legacy of the Philippines.

Cinema is communication really more than anything?

Cinema is communication more than art?

I think art has hijacked cinema as a moving picture.

This is Nick Deocampo, film scholar, teacher and mentor to many film literacy advocate, filmmaker, and an author to many, many, many books, including the three volume Cinta series, which explores the Philippines cinema and history, culture and literacy.

He is known for his documentary films that he describes as chronicling the lives of common people under the shadows of an authoritarian regime.

Let's get back to the to the to the foundation of what cinema is.

In the same way that the hero glyphs provided a language for the ancient Egyptians.

This is our modern day hieroglyph language the oral and written language, the printed language.

You need to overcome a lot of racial, linguistic, even political obstacles in order to understand.

But the language of the image is universal.

Sometimes the world feels small, and sometimes the world feels big.

Being in the Philippine Islands, over 7000 of them, it feels big and different from back home.

There's so much to see and discover.

If only you had years.

Around 2000 of these islands are inhabited.

The Republic of Philippines, as it's officially called, has a population of around 110 million.

Education is highly valued here.

The Philippines has been a republic since 1946, with its current constitution from 1987.

Tagalog, also known as Filipino, is the national language, with English being the second official and many others spoken over 150 dialects and counting, including Sibuyan, Ilocano and War.

Having a unique colonial history, the Philippines has been described as living through three centuries of the convent and 50 years in Hollywood.

Due to its 333 years of colonial Spanish occupation, followed by almost 50 years under the United States colonization and three years with Japan until World War Two struck.

It is a very.

Catholic country, as evidenced by the tricycles, similar to what some might call a tuk-tuk.

These often have Bible verses painted on the back.

The islands have over 200 active volcanoes, and every year at least 30 typhoons pass through.

The people here have proved their resilience time and time again, and many Filipinos have a fervent love for basketball, so much so that the government once rescheduled a voter registration drive after hearing it conflicted with an NBA finals telecast.

And from 1975, the PBA.

The Philippines Basketball League, is the second oldest professional basketball league in the world after the NBA.

♪♪ In a sense, “Apocalypse Now” is about a conflict of cultures.

America and the West coming into Vietnam or the East and imposing their values, ideas, and philosophies onto the place.

It's not lost on me that “Apocalypse Now” was filmed in the Philippines, which only a few decades prior had been an American colony, and the U.S.

imposed a Hollywood culture onto this island nation as well.

Ironically, part of why Kabila went to the Philippines is because the U.S.

Department of Defense turned down his request for assistance, as they did not want to support Coppola's vision of the Vietnam War.

With further boggles my mind is that “Apocalypse Now” was shot in 1976 and 1977, when the country was under martial law under President Ferdinand Marcos, which the US supported, who had been in power since 1965 and maintained it until 1986, ending after the People's.

Power Revolution.

By 1976, Marcos was leading what was largely considered a military dictatorship, inhibiting freedom of the press civil liberties.

He abolished.

Congress and arrested opposition leaders or activists.

He claimed to be creating a new society.

“Apocalypse Now” is adapted from the Joseph Conrad novel.

Heart of Darkness, but instead of placing it in Conrad's Belgian Congo, director Francis Ford Coppola sets the story in war torn 1970 Vietnam, with Captain Willard, played by Martin Sheen, taking a journey up the river to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, who has allegedly gone mad.

The stranger than fiction behind the scenes making of the movie was documented by Francis's wife, Eleanor, in her now highly regarded documentary, “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker Apocalypse.” Our end through into films was with my father, with her late father, who was a military retired Army major, and his sideline, which got to be the main line of the of the family, was we were renting out movie guns.

When my father passed away, my brother took over.

He's the eldest, I'm the youngest.

Then my brother luckily got involved with the “Apocalypse”.

Now he was at first assigned or asked to be the main military liaison officer in charge of all of the military hardware, the guns, the helicopters, all of that.

Of course, that was the summer when they came in.

So he took me in as PA, so I was directly under him.

My main job was to take care of the Philippine Air Force.

Pilots made sure that they were fed.

I was 15 years old.

I mean, to me, it was sort of, you know, it was fun and something for summer.

I in fact, I was even driving for him when we were on a scout and me and my brother Coppola Dean to the back and I was 15, I was unimpressed.

I was for this guy.

To me and my brother, these are big shots from Hollywood.

Just keep your mouth shut and just write.

And luckily we were able to get the project in.

So my brother later on was upgraded, promoted to being the Philippine coordinator.

And I had two summers.

Then it was supposed to be a three month production, but they ended a year and a half.

So.

Founded in 1979 by.

Lope Jun Juban Jr., Philippine Film Studios is the go to outlet for foreign films coming in to shoot on the islands.

Jun has worked with everything from “Apocalypse Now” to overseeing the “Survivor” series franchise and other reality TV shows that come to the Philippines, including “The Amazing Race.” He has worked with Oliver Stone on both “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July,” Tony Gilroy on “The Bourne Legacy,” also on “The Year of Living Dangerously” “Thirteen Days” “An Officer and a Gentleman” “Broke Down Palace” and a bunch of Chuck Norris films, along with many more productions that we know and love.

Jun was kind enough to invite me to his home to share his war stories, producing for some of the greats.

♪♪ Well, “Apocalypse Now” has become in the kind of canon of Hollywood history, like this epic story of everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong on production.

Now, I'm sure that's not entirely true, but what do you remember from that production?

And especially they talk about the issues with the helicopters and the army and all of that.

What can you remember about that?

If it's a production that goes here for a year and a half, you're going to get hit by monsoon no matter how you look at it.

We got hit by monsoon.

Now that was the main set that was in.

I was right beside my brother when Capaldi said I never did like the set anyway, so we built another one.

But that said, could have been built probably in a week or two weeks time.

It could have been built up, but again, that is directors producers prerogative.

As far as the helicopters were concerned, yes.

There was an instance where there was a skirmish about an hour or two hours away from the set in Jalajala and then they said, oh, they took the choppers away.

They took choppers away.

Well, the deal we had with the military, with the Philippine Air Force was they will support, obviously, like in any other country, they supported productions, but operations takes priority.

There's a skirmish and yet helicopter is being used in the film.

Of course they had to respond, but they came back.

So again, it was just.

But I would like to argue that there were a thousand times when we had the 7 or 6 helicopters I█d be sitting by and people were just twiddling.

We don't know how we were going to end the film.

And but I know deep within my heart, especially with our family, we did everything possible.

We did everything possible to make that movie a reality.

But that was one helpful experience.

I was right, I was a foot away.

Even when Robert Duvall said, I love the smell of napalm in the morning, I was literally a foot away.

And as I told you, my brother is still Coppola's director and Marlon Brando's director said it's it's in his house as a memento that is given to him after the production.

Situated on the island of Luzon, the biggest island in the Philippines, Manila is the bustling bayside capital city.

With a population around 15 million, the city is a mix of Spanish colonial architecture with modern skyscrapers.

At the heart of Old Manila lies Intramuros, a walled city in Spanish colonial times, home to the 16th century San.

Augustine Church and Fort Santiago Citadel, and former military prison colonized by the Spanish in 1571, it rose to be akin to the Paris of Asia by the 19th century, much of which was destroyed during World War Two.

Rebuilding after the war was sporadic.

Manila split into different districts that are essentially their own cities, including Kazan City, where both Marty and Nick live.

It's 15km north of downtown Manila, with a population of around 3 million people.

♪♪ Martika feature film debut, which she wrote and directed, “Leonor Will Never Die,” is a quirky homage to 1970s cult classic Filipino action movies much beloved on the island, and it's a visual feast for the eyes.

Marty puts a twist on the action hero genre by making her hero Leonor, a screenwriting granny.

After a television accidentally drops on “Leonor”, putting her in a coma, she enters a fantasy world of the action films that she's used to writing.

This time, she's the protagonist, finding catharsis for some of her personal demons along the way.

So I'm curious because I've heard you say in interviews.

When talking about “Leonor”, that your grandmother inspired you because she's such a positive person.

And you say life sucks.

And, like, it's hard to understand how somebody who's lived for long can be so positive about life, but you don't.

The life sucks.

And so, where does that kind of mentality come from?

I'm a very smiley, happy outside prison, but a lot of times.

I think I'm a grandma inside.

I often complain, I often question decisions.

I often think like, why are you like this?

Why is life like this?

Why is this shoot like this?

Why is today like this?

Why am I so stressed right now even if nothing is happening?

But when I look at my grandma, the circumstances are not in her favor.

She can just go through it with a smile.

Like for example, she doesn't have money, but she needs to buy food for the week.

And she's like, oh, I don't have money.

That's okay.

Are they?

I think it's that mindset.

I can get pretty petty with small, problems.

But my grandma particularly is just so, you know, understanding that life isn't always good.

And I think I want that to always be good.

Does that make sense?

Like, I think I'm not I'm not a perfectionist, but I think I'm an idealist.

Like I try to think of what's the best decision, most sensible, logical decision sometimes.

And I know that's not how life actually is because she she lived through a lot.

I am how old is she?

76.

And so she's lived through.

She was probably born right after the war.

Lived through a lot of changes within Philippine society.

So, you know, I wonder if it's, I've seen so much, gotten through so much.

Let you know.

So this is not a big deal.

Probably.

Probably.

♪♪ So was, filmmaking for you at that time, were you sucked into the world of cinema?

Did you want to be a part of it as the 15 year old on that set, or was it more just the family business that you.

Well, I never knew I would have a career in the in, in filming, but when my brother died, obviously, since it's a family business and before me were four sisters, it's hard for it's hard for females to be into the gun rental business.

So I gave it a try.

I gave it a try, but instead of just renting out movie guns, I expanded to handle productions.

And in my, I graduated... my brother died in 1978.

“Apocalypse” was 75 to 77.

78, I graduated.

79, I tried to resuscitate.

1980, I did my first production, “Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder.” It was in Susan Saint James.

It was about an orphanage in Vietnam.

Then the rest is history.

Of course, we had a lot of, after that, we had a lot of Chuck Norris movies.

We did “The Year of Living Dangerously” with Peter Weir.

I remember Oliver saying, Jun, we're not doing a Chuck Norris movie.

What's interesting to me is how many Americans of my generation know the Vietnam War, largely through the Vietnam.

War films made by Hollywood from 1976 onwards.

It's ironic that many of these films were made about this Civil War in another Southeast Asian country, while they were in the midst of their own civil conflicts.

♪♪ Outside of “Apocalypse Now”.

Perhaps the most famous of these films is Oliver Stone's.

“Platoon” which is actually one of my favorites of the genre for its more realistic approach.

Also, interestingly, “Platoon” stars Charlie Sheen, whose father Martin starred in Coppola's version of the war.

“Platoon” put Oliver Stone on the map, and it ended up winning four Oscars, including.

Best Picture and Best Director.

Stone returned to the Philippines to make born on the 4th of July, based on the true story of Vietnam War veteran turned anti-war activist Ron Kovic, which also won two Oscars for directing and editing.

Other Vietnam War era films shot in the Philippines include the British film “The Boys in Company C”, following the lives of five Marines training in a boot camp set in 1967 and 68.

This is not my favorite of the war genre films.

John Irvin's 1987 flick “Hamburger Hill” with Don Cheadle and Dylan McDermott and Chuck Norris█ action filled prisoner-of-war series.

“Missing in Action” had some scenes filmed here, too.

And then “Platoon” was kind of unique because it was shot during our People Power Revolution.

They were here.

The entire cast was here.

We had to deliver about a week.

They were there.

In fact, Oliver and the director of photography even went to the People Power just to just to get some footage.

So luckily “Platoon” was made in spite of in spite of it being shot during the revolution, and they finished on time and on budget.

I guess nobody expected “Platoon” to win even I they invited me to go to the Oscars at that time, but I was doing another Chuck Norris movie.

They did it, another Cannon film.

I think that was Delta Force.

But when it won, I mean.

That made everybody.

It was a very important film at that time.

We were just lucky to be part of it.

What bred in this country, what was nurtured in this country was the Hollywood paradigm of what cinema is.

So there is entertainment there where in sit back and relax and forget all your troubles.

All right.

So you can just imagine the position I had to take and the effort I had to do in order to establish the cinema of memory, which is the cinema of what I would claim as maybe the truth.

When I was growing up, I grew up, spent 20 years of my life under a dictatorship, and what kind of a father which he claimed himself to be, this Marcos, you know.

You know, what kind of memory did he foster?

Violence, brutality.

Paranoia?

Fear.

I grew up during those years.

I was just building my memory.

And yet it's a memory of trauma and violence and indifference.

And you just didn't fit because you're a homosexual.

Again, that's another repressed memory.

Because in a patriarchal, macho society, you just don't keep that kind of a memory because you were denied that kind of a reality.

So there were a lot of these negative things.

Then you go into the Catholic Church, and we are very Catholic here in the Philippines, and then suddenly you see another set of negativities, you see another set of memories that would best be kept to yourself, because it is not the traditional accepted memory of the body of the church.

And so memory becomes my last bastion of who I am as a person, of who I want to be.

And so holding a camera, I just felt like now I have a tool, you know, to at least to deposit, you know, or to express what I cannot express publicly.

I had the pleasure of viewing Nick Deocampo█s 1983 documentary “Oliver,” which was screened alongside two other short alternative films from the 1980s.

“Oliver” follows a female impersonator who supports his family by performing in Manila's gay bars during the Marcos dictatorship.

It's the first in a trilogy Nick made about hidden people during Marcos martial law.

It's a very personal look at this young man's life, a 20 something who has to support all of his siblings, his grandmother, and now a young son.

His emphasis on family and patriarchy contrasts with his means of making money performing in drag and burlesque shows.

Meanwhile, Oliver lives in a very poor area on the outskirts of the city.

Completely neglected at the end, he manages to move his siblings and his son into Manila, where he works to send his siblings to school.

It took Nick six months to film “Oliver”.

At a post screening Q and A, Nick mentioned wanting to give the Invisible People under martial law a voice.

And that's why here I am.

Shameless, that I am, I'm shameless, I know, but that's part of my advocacy and my activism.

Look, you need to look at me and the context I came from.

I came from those 20 years of military regime.

Our language is to fight back.

Our action is to deconstruct, to challenge, to critique.

As if I'm always angry.

Maybe I am, because, you know, but it's a creative anger because we need to change what's out there.

And happily, I would like to think that, hey, after 40 years, thank God, within my own lifetime, I'm seeing change.

In 1965, Fernanda and Marcos became president under the campaign slogan of this nation can be great again.

He was a lawyer from a prominent political family from the region of northwest Luzon.

Imelda, his wife, founded the expensive and lavish Cultural Center of the Philippines, a controversial place today.

Imelda became a political force in her own right, and there's a nice, balanced documentary by Filipina American filmmaker Ramona S Diaz called Imelda.

It's Worth a Watch.

In 1972, Marcos imposed martial law, citing the rise of leftist student groups and communists.

Even though the constitution did not allow for a third term, he managed to stay in power.

Curfews were initiated, the media silenced, international travel was banned, and thousands of anti-government suspects were rounded up and placed in military camps.

Approximately 50,000 of Marcos opponents were jailed, exiled or killed.

In 1983.

Nino Aquino, a journalist and senator politician who opposed Marcos, was assassinated as he stepped off the plane.

Returning from exile.

Three years later, his widow, Corazon.

Aquino, ran against Marcos after contested elections, where the National Assembly declared Marcos the victor, the people rallied behind Corazon.

Hundreds of thousands marched in the streets in a show of the people's power, without a drop of blood being shed.

Marcos was overthrown and Aquino took office.

I want to dig a little deeper into the concepts of cinema as nationhood and how it shapes national identity, and maybe tie into the next question, which is cinema as propaganda and how it's been used by the people in power.

What I teach the students is that history is, not an immutable reality that never changes, but rather history is shaped by the politics, by the social realities, all of these things.

So considering all of that, therefore national identity should also not be, thought of as an essentialist thing, even such a thing as identity is created and invented.

The same with the nation.

Nation is a modern day invention.

If people don't know that yet and those who are listening to us.

Nation is an invention.

We know exactly when it was born.

Who were the founding fathers?

What was the Constitution that was created?

All of these are instrumentalities of a nation.

But than that we were all tribes.

We all didn't have an idea of a nation when the Japanese came and they were only here for three years, there was a strong idea of what the national cinema is patterned after the nationalist cinema that emerged under the fascist regime in Japan.

So one would see fascism as the motivating factor in creating that national cinema.

And true enough.

All right.

While we went through a period of glorious golden years right after the war, were in the national cinema was articulated here and there, but it was not a sharp an articulation as when the Marcoses came into power.

And this is where I will connect with your notion of propaganda that, once again, Marcus, with Imelda Marcos as a the wife, as the impresario of Philippine arts, including Philippine cinema, she was the one dictating exactly, you know, and promoting, Filipino culture in cinema.

Of course, long before there was the Shanghai.

Film Festival, the Busan Film Festival, all these major festivals in Asia, Imelda Marcos already had her Manila International Film Festival.

Having said that, now, all of this was, of course, motivated by her idea of creating and promoting Philippine cinema as a national cinema.

So there you are.

It took again another dictator, another right wing dictatorial government to really conceive of that national cinema.

But in the end, of course, what we see is that it was a failed experiment.

Nick Deocampo states in his book that the birth of cinema in the Philippines coincided with the birth of the Filipino nation, just two days after the national hero and martyr doctor Jose Rizal was executed by firing squad.

The introduction of motion pictures arrived through the first film screenings held in Escola de Manila on January 1st, 1897.

On June 12th, 1898, the Philippines declared independence from Spain, though this independence was squashed by the Americans who invaded and defeated the Filipinos in the Philippine-American War of 1899 to 1902, and the U.S.

ruled over the Philippines until 1946.

So three key historical events happened when cinema first arrived to the islands the decline of Spain's rule, the birth of the Filipino nation, and U.S.

imperialism.

Next cites traveling American filmmakers as the first to shoot films in the country, such as the travelog filmmaker Burton Homes.

Meanwhile, without leaving the soils of the USA, James Henry White shot silent newsreels in new Jersey, creating fake reenactments of battles that were fought by U.S.

soldiers in the Philippines, showing Filipino freedom fighters being gunned down.

Nick states in his book that, “The motion picture device became complicit in the unfolding colonial history, serving as chroniclers favoring the forces of colonization.” It is said that Edward Meyer.

Gross filmed the country's first feature length film about the life of Doctor Jose Rizal.

In 1919.

“Country Maiden” became the first Filipino film produced in the Philippines.

Directed by Jose Nepomuceno, who became known as the Father of Philippine cinema.

His 1933 film “Golden Dagger” premiered at the Lyric Theater and is considered the Philippines first talkie.

The 1950s brought upon a first golden age of filmmaking, producing approximately 350 films a year, Genghis Khan by Manuel Conde became the first Asian film to screen at Venice.

♪♪ And what about from like, an audience point of view?

What do you want the audience to get out of your films to take away from it?

When I watch a film, I always look for what is this film mean to me?

Or what did I learn?

Or is there any way stem from this?

And as a filmmaker, I thought I'd also like to provide that spark for reflection somehow, even if it's super shallow.

Like why or why are friends not always there for you?

As simple as that.

And sometimes I think we have a lot.

I'm just assuming a lot of things.

I think people tend to have a lot of concerns and problems and anxieties about life, and sometimes watching a film gives answers or gives comfort to those anxieties, and.

I like that.

I like the fact that art not just feels like art can do that in general, like I noticed in “Pusan Bato” you had her film poster, and then that film poster shows up in “Leonor”, right?

Which was great.

And then that.

And then I saw your music video.

The same clips are used in.

“Pusan” as the old film.

Yes, yes.

So you see all these interconnectedness between your, your films.

So if you have film fans who start watching your films, they're going to start looking for all these cool connections between the films.

You know, for “Leonor”, my production designer went to my grandmother's house, collected all the things he wanted to use and put it all in, Leonor said.

So my grandma's like, what is he doing?

Is he getting all my stuff?

And then it ended up with a lot of missing items, but at least we were able to make it feel real.

♪♪ The 1960s saw a rise of new and independent film productions introducing genres such as westerns, musicals, action films and bomba, a popular genre of a erotic film that grew in popularity during the Marcos dictatorship.

Ironically, because sex was one of the few things that wasn't censored.

By the early 1970s, propaganda films became rampant as the Marcos regime strove to retain their control and power over the country.

A censorship board was created, and films that criticized the government were banned.

The second Golden Age occurred in the late 70s and 80s, as independent filmmakers were starting to rise up despite the censorship.

Notable filmmakers of this period include Lino Brocka, who made films that served as social commentaries for the harshness of life on the streets of Manila, including “Weighed, But Found Wanting” “Manila in the Claws of Light” and “Insiang,” which follows the life of the title character, a young woman who was raped by her mother's lover, then blamed for it.

She enacts revenge.

In “Insiang” we█re with her every step of the way, as she does everything and anything to survive.

Other filmmakers to arise were.

Ishmael Bernal with Himala meaning miracle in English, which has interesting commentary about truth versus faith.

Celso Ad.

Castillo with “Burlesque Queen” Mario O'Hara with “Three Godless Years” and Mike de Leon with “Kisapmata,” and one a Marty's favorites by De Leon, “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?” or “Does Your Heart Beat Faster?” A silly, fun and entertaining film crime-caper turned musical.

My all time favorite Filipino filmmaker is Kidlat Tahimik, especially his 1977 feature film debut, “Perfumed Nightmare.” It's a movie that, on the surface, is almost in homage to the Jeepney, a public transportation vehicle found all across the Philippines full of colors.

And yet it is also about the disillusionment of American presence on the island.

And it's about so much more tradition versus modernity.

The movie is narrated, and throughout the film, the facts of the voiceovers we here change.

It's absolutely brilliant writing.

Just for my own curiosity, because I love the Bourne movies, but those scenes are huge.

The Manila scenes in Lebanon.

How it was that.

How?

Yeah.

How did you manage to that?

And you shut down the streets, presumably.

So how did.

Of course.

I mean, we.

Proper coordination.

Proper coordination.

You see, one advantage that we have is Philippines is Hollywood friendly.

But of course, we have to work within our our limitations.

Shutting down the main boulevards on the weekend.

The touring them.

Sometimes after the production.

I also asked myself how the hell would be able to do that?

Modern Filipino cinema seems to be flourishing with the likes of La Diaz, Brilliant Mendoza and Isabel Sandoval carrying the torch into the 21st century and building up international acclaim for the cinema of the Philippines.

What types of stories or themes do you think is important for a young generation of Filipino filmmakers to kind of be focused on for the Philippines, for your your society?

That's really hard to answer because sometimes I feel it.

There's a divide between personal films and social commentary films.

When you're making a film, there should be at least something about the society reflected in it.

So I think younger filmmakers need to know how much more valuable a film is than just a form of entertainment or a form of fun.

I mean, I do it for fun, but I also don't just do it for fun.

There's much bigger picture in there, especially after reflecting on what, like what I mentioned, how much money is spent on it, how many people work on it, how many brain cells, souls, hours, effort.

You know, you'd better make sure that what you're making actually contributes something good.

♪♪ I took a road trip around the island of Luzon and made my way to Batad to see the 2000 year old Ifugao Rice Terraces, a UNESCO heritage site.

The terraces are incredibly beautiful, and the best part was the homestay with the local family four generations strong, who welcomed me with open arms.

From Batad, I drove to Sagada, a small town in the mountains known for their tradition of hanging coffins, and I stayed at the Shire, a “Lord Of The Rings” inspired hobbit house.

Then on to Vegan City on the west coast of Luzon.

Vegan is an old preserved Spanish colonial town, also UNESCO site, known for its cobblestone streets.

It's horse drawn carriages called kalesas and its talented weavers and potters.

I even got to try my luck at silk weaving.

The highlight of my trip to the Philippines was visiting some of the “Apocalypse Now” locations.

Arranged by Jun, I was treated with royalty.

First to Pagsanjan in Southern Luzon, where I got to canoe down the same river that courses through the film.

I saw the bridge where they first enter Cambodia in the movie, and later blow it up onto cavity where the bulk of the “Apocalypse Now” river scenes are filmed.

We canoed again to the spot where the Cambodian temple set was built.

We walked a bit on shore through a small village and some jungle terrain, and then we drove to a big open field next to the river with a nice field of palm trees.

This is where the scene where Martin Sheen first meets Robert Duvall, and where the helicopters take off from the preceding.

Valkyrie scene.

I absolutely loved traveling to Baler, where I had the privilege to meet a group of local gentlemen known as the Original Filipino Surfers.

Baler is a laid back beach town, largely known for the historic events that took place in the Church of San Luis de obese.

Now known as the Siege of Baler Church, this was the last stronghold of the Spanish occupiers in 1898 to 99.

Even though the war had ended in Spain gave way to America, there was a Spanish garrison in Baler who refused to give up, took over and holed up in the church for 11 months, fighting their last stand.

Several movies have been made about this.

Los Ultimos de Filipinas from 1945 and in 2008, a dramatic historic Seabourn Beach and Baler is where the “Charlie Don't Surf█ scene from “Apocalypse Now” was filmed, where the most quoted line in the movie takes place.

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” This helped jump start a surfing craze in the Philippines.

♪♪ Right around the time of my visit.

The president had signed a bill that passed naming Baler as the official birthplace of Filipino surfing.

The surfers Noel, Raymond, Phillip, Gil, and Ricardo escorted me to Charlie's Point and shared stories from their observations as youngsters watching the shoot, along with their passion for surfing.

The surfers I met, now in their 50s and 60s, were kids and teenagers when “Apocalypse Now” came to film.

For three months in 1976, and they loved surfing, but they lacked the surfboards to do so.

They'd borrow from visiting tourists who passed through.

Watching the surfing scene being filmed boosted the boys interest in surfing, and once the “Apocalypse Now” movie was released.

Other Filipinos became interested in surfing and started to flock to Baler to partake in the waves.

But these boys were the first, a fact they're proud of.

♪♪ The people you meet going up at the same people you meet going down.

Now don't ever.

Don't ever make the mistake of.

Because your success is dependent on the producers.

Dependent on the directors.

So don't you have to treat them fairly?

Don't say that.

All this guy from Colombia or Universal.

And this guy is independent.

No, they're all they're all they're all the same.

You shouldn't be odd.

It's just filmmaking.

We all know that you want to.

And always tell my kids, keep in touch with them, no matter how trivial.

No matter.

Send them Christmas cards just to say that you're still here.

Or you have friends in the Philippines, because you cannot really compete with countries with humungous incentives.

But it's a friendship, as I told you.

It's the people.

More than anything else it█s the Filipinos.

What is your biggest desire for your future?

My dream is to have a simple life, a simple house, maybe a family, and to be able to keep on making films with a team that's compensated correctly and films that I like to make without having to think about, like, what the production needs, what the what the company needs.

So maybe what I'm explaining is freedom.

I just want to be free from all the troubles and problems of life and just have a simple.

♪♪ cheers and clapping ♪♪ What a warm welcome I received all across the Philippines.

It was such a pleasure to meet Marty.

She's so approachable and likable, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching through her canon of films, of which she is prolific and consistently entertaining, always pushing form and telling heartfelt stories.

I felt so lucky to be able to see so much of this beautiful country.

From the chocolate hills of Bohol to the paradise of Palawan to the ancient Ifugao rice terraces.

Hiking through this landscape causes one to pause and reflect on the pace of life.

I will never forget the generosity and joy of the original Filipino surfers in their beautiful Baler beach town.

And thanks to June and all the production work he's done to bring international films of the Philippines, and Nick, whose scholarly works puts new meaning on cinematic symbols and reading the literacy of a film.

I'm reflecting on themes of how much the past and present merge.

As an American, I never thought much about colonization.

That was always something the Europeans did.

But visiting the Philippines and learning about their history and the multiple forms of colonization and our involvement in that, and then through the Vietnam War and our direct impact on the history of this region.

I look at my country in a way I was never taught to.

For better or worse.

But I see the impact of storytelling worldwide.

How did I learn about Vietnam through the movies, and how can I see a modern day Philippines through the movies?

It's a cycle of life and storytelling.

History comes full circle, and Marty is a shining bright light in it all.

♪♪ ♪♪ To learn more about the Cinema Nomad filmmakers and dive deeper into the exciting world of global cinema, visit our website Cinema Nomad TV.

[ footsteps ] Steadee On!

[film slate claps] [Alice, Adam]