Pure Imagination

Revising Philippine Sex Cinema Book

AT THE RECENTLY concluded “Dia del Libro,” a one-day bibliotheque event organized and managed by the Embassy of Spain’s Instituto de Cervantes Manila, I bumped into Sally Eugenio, one of the top brass of Vibal Foundation, Inc. which is also a mass media conglomerate.
Eugenio was the same person who hosted a luncheon for me in 2009 days after I launched the original Filipino edition of “SekSinema,” the maiden off-the-press edition of The Word Publishing which I immediately dissolved after a chaotic registration.
Sally and I had pleasantries beside the prospect of a possible reprint of my English version of “SekSinema” which has a subtitle of “Gender Images of Philippine Sex Cinema Enfolding Pandemia” published by my multimedia company BVV8 Media Productions and had an online launch in 2021 and an on-site launch in 2022 at the Cinematheque Manila of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).

REPRINT PITCH
At the “Dia del Libro,” among other publishing houses, Vibal had a booth of titles.
I told Eugenio that I plan to reprint my predominantly English material.
I don’t remember exactly if I teased her about Vibal reprinting it but she welcomed the idea.
Initially, Sally had agreed to some terms and conditions so I became curious and excited about the deal.
I told her I would immediately revise and update the book that covers from the first Filipino screen kisses between Fil-Irish sultry singer and actress Elizabeth “Dimples” Cooper and sportsman Luis Tuazon in “Tatlong Hambog” (1926) produced and directed by the Father of Philippine Movies Jose Nepomuceno; and between Miss Cotabato Sofia Lota and Vicente Salumbides, considered the Second Father of Philippine Movies in “Truth or Consequence” (1926) produced, directed, written and made up by the latter to the hot sex scenes in live streaming, particularly of Vivamax and other digital platforms being beamed in the country.
At the book event held at the Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati City, ten new books of diverse genres and topics were launched by VFI that added excitement in me.
There was a presentation of the authors of the books.
I wished I could also participate in a panel discussion like that facilitated by Vibal’s Executive Director Kristine Mandigma. One of the panelists was award-winning TV and screenwriters Jerry Gracio.
National Artist for Film Ricardo Lee, also known as Ricky Lee, was in the audience although I think he was there as a plain walk-in.

THE REVISION
So, I began to revise my sex cinema book.
It wasn’t easy revising and updating, though.
Technically, in 2020, I sent my final draft to my artist Rannie Lao for final bedding but when we were already laying out, there were still polishing and finishing touches, some of them different from the earlier copy I sent him.
Today, I have to refer to the hard copy of the book, page after page (in Chapter 1 alone and I am still stuck in its many pages) where I made changes, corrected, deleted and/or added words, sentences or even paragraphs against the earliest final draft/soft copy I forwarded to my artist.
It was a laborious act.
A friend came to my rescue, though.
He said that I should ask my artist for the original material in in-design format so that I can directly revise from there, no sweat.
I’ll do that later.

OVER THE TOP
For the meantime, since sex in Philippine cinema is evolving I should keep track of what has been introduced in the field during the pandemic to the interest of the many, obviously the emergence of the controversial OTTS (Over-The-Top Services) Vivamax and lording it over the screening, both in cinemas and online, of Filipino films.
Aside from facts and figures Vivamax can supply I should also include some epistemological backgrounds to the texts.