TRIBU: TRIUMPH OF THE EVERYDAY MAN

The triumph of Jim Libiran’s TRIBU at the recently concluded 3rd Philippine Independent Film Festival signals the crossing of Philippine cinema from the elitist to one that is mass-based, with ideas influenced and inspired by ordinary lives and projected onto the screen; not for amusement, we hope, but for better understanding of our society which has been wracked for decades by bias, wars, and apathy.

Our only hope is that the interest of writers, directors and cinema in general about the plight of our people, especially that of the poor who compose the majority, is real or else it’d be an exercise in futility. It would a tragedy if the topics in Cinemalaya would just end in the blogosphere or in coffee shops as discourses for the intelligentsia. If cinema is able to make people and systems move in order to effect changes then it has fulfilled its purpose. Only through this can Cinemalaya really live up to its name.

The Writers Guild of SPi sends its warmest congratulations to Jim Libiran and to all our friends from UP LIRA who, we are pretty sure, are currently sharing his joy. We send our congratulations to the participating tribes, and to the entire production crew. Mabuhay po kayong lahat!

TUGISTA, the rapper group in the film (photo above taken at the UP CAL 201 last summer), are our guest performers to close our Poetry Festival 2007. This is sponsored by the Writers Guild, of course.

What: Tara Let’s! An evening of music, rap, & poetry
Where: SPi Night Café, City of Parañaque 6PM

Entrance is free. Coffee, butterscotch cookies and brownies will be served. For non-SPi employees, please register via SMS. Text TUG_(your name)_(email) to 0927.447.8781.