Rumors will be dispelled, the future clarified

A DOCUMENTARY on the iconic original Pilipino music (OPM) band Eraserheads will have a theatrical run from March 21 to 23 The film will include rare footage and new interviews with the four band members.

Eraserheads: Combo on the Run, which takes a deep dive into the history, struggles, and triumphs of the band, as well as an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the Huling El Bimbo reunion concert in 2022, is an attempt to “reclaim their narrative,” according to the band.

“I believe in keeping something for yourself and not spoon-feeding your audience. You can see that in the music. It’s not very literal. So, I guess the boys and I like mystery and keeping things vague. But there comes a time when it’s used against you,” said Eraserheads frontman Ely Buendia, at a press conference on Feb. 17 in San Juan City.

“There are misconceptions, urban legends, and myths regarding the band, which is not necessarily good, so this time we chose a different path and decided it’s high time to reclaim our narrative,” he added.

Directed by producer and filmmaker Maria Diane Ventura, the documentary aims to be an intimate portrayal of the Eraserheads, filmed in Dolby Atmos for audiences to fully appreciate the music.

It will also be a vehicle for a surprise pop-up performance by the band, who will grace one lucky screening audience as a special treat during the limited three-day run. The iconic band will perform in one of the participating cinemas screening the documentary, the location and time of their visit remaining a complete mystery until the very last second.

Warner Bros. Pictures Philippines’ head of distribution Rico V. Gonzales explained that the three-day screening format is meant to generate interest among music lovers.

“The audience are used to watching them in concerts, arenas, and coliseums, their tours having three days of back-to-back shows. So, we thought, with this documentary, we want to maintain that format also. We give them a whole weekend of it,” he told the press.

AN INTIMATE LOOK
For the documentary’s director, Ms. Ventura, the film aims to be a “candid and honest, as well as careful and balanced depiction of the band’s complexity.”

“What the fans can expect is that nothing is swept under the rug. Everything is explored. This is a documentary, and I’m honoring the truth,” she said.

Mr. Buendia also acknowledged the changes that he, Marcus Adoro, Buddy Zabala, and Raimund Marasigan have undergone over the years that allowed them to do a documentary.

One such change was being upfront about the urban legend that the song “Spoliarium” was written about the Pepsi Paloma rape case involving comedians Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon.

“I think that’s the most ridiculous rumor ever. That’s not about them,” he declared.

The director’s perspective also allowed her to bear witness to the band’s maturity. Ms. Ventura said: “We shot the interviews with each band member independently, and I saw that every time they would unload their feelings or speak their truth, the next time they’d meet each other it would feel as if something was lifted.

“It’s as if the fact of expressing themselves and being honest was, in and of itself, healing and cathartic for them,” she explained.

Despite this progress, Mr. Buendia dashed any hopes of the Eraserheads ever getting together to make more music.

“The analogy here is like when you meet up with your ex. Is it a good idea to sleep with them again? There’s so much baggage there. It might be enjoyable of course, while you’re doing it, but you also have to think about the consequences,” he said.

However, the OPM legend admitted that the four of them have gotten “pretty good at reconciliation.”

“I see the efforts of everyone to move forward in a more optimistic and positive light. It’s a far cry from 20 years ago.”

Eraserheads: Combo On The Run is presented by Dvent Pictures and WEU, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It will be the first Philippine documentary to be screened in the immersive sound technology of Dolby Atmos.

Its limited run in cinemas nationwide will be from March 21 to 23. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

Memorare Manila 1945 produces Battle of Manila documentary

CHILDREN of the War is a documentary film about survivors of the Battle of Manila, now in their 80s and 90s, as they recount the harrowing experiences they lived through as children and teenagers who witnessed the most brutal urban battle of the Pacific War.

Produced by Memorare Manila 1945, a foundation that aims to honor the 100,000 innocent non-combatant civilians who were killed in the Battle of Manila, the film was made in time for the 80^th anniversary of the tragic event.

Its director, Mike Alcazaren, previously did 11,103, a documentary about survivors of Martial Law. With Children of the War, his purpose of filming shifted — from battling historical revisionism to capturing the last, firsthand memories of a war from eight decades ago.

“It started out as a short film, with the goal to get survivors on camera, since they are already getting old and dying,” Mr. Alcazaren told BusinessWorld in a voice call.

He explained that, in the process of looking for funding, they decided to expand it into a feature-length documentary. They started filming in May last year, while the foundation was still raising funds.

“The challenge was getting firsthand accounts. Memorare had a few leads, but most of them had passed on last year. After a lot of cold messages and calls, it was by chance that we found some,” he said.

FOR YOUNGER GENERATIONS
Fely Zafra-Reyes was the first source they got. A 96-year-old woman living in Padre Faura, Manila, the shoot was attended by family members who referred them to even more leads.

Some of their stories are horrific — witnessing parents, siblings, relatives, and friends mercilessly gunned down; women molested and murdered; men stabbed by bayonets or beheaded by swords.

However, it is important that these accounts are properly documented for future generations, Mr. Alcazaren said.

“I wanted their perspectives as children at the time, to make it real for younger generations. How do we make it more real for them? It has to be a firsthand account of what it feels like to be there,” he explained.

But even before approaching the subject matter as a documentary filmmaker, his interest in the Battle of Manila was piqued in the early 2010s, when his son was in grade school and their class needed a resource speaker to talk about World War II.

“My late father was a survivor of the Singalong district, where there were shellings and massacres,” said Mr. Alcazaren. “It was around 2012 and he was talking to grade schoolers about the houses they evacuated, the bloodshed, the escape. Interestingly, these kids were riveted, and the teachers were crying.”

Aside from having a strong educational curriculum that includes historical events like Martial Law and the Battle of Manila, the younger generations are best reached through pop culture, he said.

TV series like Pulang Araw on Netflix, and short-form online content on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok made by the likes of The Filipino Story and history professor Xiao Chua are some examples.

“We just need to get the discussion going by putting out stories in formats that younger people will watch,” Mr. Alcazaren said.

WHAT’S NEXT
Children of the War will premiere on Feb. 23, 4 p.m., at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila, but its journey will not end there. Memorare Manila 1945 aims for the commissioned material to be used in curricula in schools and universities.

Mr. Alcazaren will also rework the documentary into a festival version, with the help of a grant from the Film Development Council of the Philippines.

“We’ll apply for more funding because it’s difficult to get more archival footage and make dioramas for reenactments. Part of the budget is also to get licenses for photos,” he explained.

While photos in the US National Archives are free for use as they are in the public domain, they are of low quality and it requires a fee to access the high-definition versions. There are also many powerful pictures from the Associated Press and the Library of Carl Mydans, an American photographer who covered the Battle of Manila.

Mr. Alcazaren told BusinessWorld that improving the documentary and going a festival route will reach a wider global audience.

“Documentaries do well in festivals. There are several documentary festivals, too, and we want to do that to get more attention to the story,” he said.

The Battle of Manila was the only battle in the Pacific theater of war that involved house-to-house combat, which is the worst kind to conduct. It is facts like these, according to the director, that are not well-known within the Philippines, and even less so in other countries.

He said that it should place a burden on Filipinos to give importance to Manila as a historic city. “It’s real proof of how Manila was never restored to its real glory pre-war,” he said. — Brontë H. Lacsamana