NABUNTURAN, Compostela Valley (MindaNews/20 September) —IN SITU, the Latin phrase that literally means “in its (original) place or position” as well as “on site” or “in position”, “locally”, “on the premises” or “in place” to describe an event where it takes place – is not what one would think of when the name of Nabunturan, capital town of Compostela Valley Province, comes up in a conversation.
But these past four days – 17 to 19 September 2015 – I was just amazed howin situwas the appropriate term to use when referring to an event that took place in this ordinary Mindanawon town. This rather amazing event is the NABIFILMEX or the Nabunturan Independent Film Exhibition where most of the films were shown in situ. Meaning, there were short films made by the ordinary folks of Nabunturan showing in their original place of origin, that is, films locally produced. And the actual site where the films were shown was the local plaza of the town where there is a park where people can sit on cement benches or grass.
This was alsoin situ,referring to the yesteryears of my youth when films were shown for free in the town plaza of Digos where I grew up; the original drive-in theatre or as the NABIILMEX would label – an open air theatre or cinema in open spaces. What a delight these past four nights were for those who made it to the film showings of this very local (very yano ngafilm festival). The goings on of this film exhibition paralleled the thrills of cinema romantically profiled by the award-winning Italian film CINEMA PARADISO, now considered an extraodinary film classic.
Through my elementary years and early high school, there were those vehicles owned by merchandising corporations selling soap, cigarettes, etc. that traversed the small towns delivering goods to the sari-sari stores. While going around town, the driver announced that he would be showing films in the evening in the town plaza in case there was no rain. At night, the driver unfolded the gadgets for film showing; most films were old Hollywood films including those about cowboys, comedians and Christ Jesus. In-between, there were the endless advertisements. We had to bring chairs if we wanted to sit comfortably. Of course, there were enterprising vendors selling boiled peanuts.
NABILMEX brought those memories back as we satin situto watch the films at the town open air plaza in Nabunturan. A big screen – the size corresponding to what cinemas have – was set up facing the park and the people could either sit on cement benches or on the grass. The sound system made it possible for everyone to clearly hear the films’ sounds. This time, however, these were no longer long feature films from Hollywood. Instead, we and Nabunturan’s madlang people watched short films made by budding filmmakers, most of whom are ordinary folks including those who are citizens of Nabunturan. On an average, these were films that lasted from 10 to 20 minutes and these were in Bisaya and Tagalog with English sub-titles. - From mindanews.com
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