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RP Issues of 2015

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2015, October 15 (6).  Manuel Conde, National Artist for Cinema, Birth Centenary

Litho Offset, Amstar Company, Inc.,  Perf 14

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10p  Manuel Conde (Portrait)  -  Singles  (55,000)

 

Layout Artist:  Victorino Z. Serevo

 

 

First Day Covers:  Manila

  

       

         

Note:  This issue was available as of October 6, 2015 although FDCs are dated October 15, 2015.


MANUEL CONDE - NATIONAL ARTIST FOR CINEMA - BIRTH CENTENARY

Born on October 9, 1915 and christened Manuel Pabustan Urbano, Manuel Conde grew up and studied in Daet, Camarines Norte.

In the decades before and after World War II when Philippine society was being inundated by American popular culture, Conde invested local cinema with a distinct cultural history of its own through movies that translated onto the silver screen the age-old stories that Filipinos had told and retold from generation to generation for at least the past one hundred years. Among the narratives that Conde directed and/or produced for the screen were three of the most famous metrical romances in Philippine lowland culture: Siete Infantes de Lara, Ibong Adarna, and Prinsipe Tenoso.

Through the more than forty films he created from 1940 to 1963, Manuel Conde contributed in no small measure to the indigenization of the cinema, specifically: by assigning it a history and culture of its own; by revitalizing folk culture with urgent issues, fresh themes and new techniques; by depicting and critiquing Filipino customs, values and traditions according to the needs of the present; by employing and at the same time innovating on the traditional cinematic genres of his time; and by opening the local cinema to the world.

With a curious mind and restless spirit that could not be contained by what is, Conde went beyond the usual narratives of the traditional genres and ventured into subject matter that would have been deemed too monumental or quixotic by the average producer. Conde dared to recreate on screen the grand narratives of larger-than-life figures from world history and literature, like Genghis Khan and Sigfredo. In doing films on these world figures, Conde had in effect forced the Filipino moviegoer out of the parochial and predictable concerns of the run-of-the-mill formulaic film and thrust him into a larger world where visions and emotions were loftier and nobler and very very far from the pedestrian whims and sentiments that constituted the Filipino moviegoer’s usual fare.

Serendipitously, as these movies opened the vistas of the Filipino film to other cultures, they also unlocked the doors of western cinema to the Filipino film, allowing it entry into one of the most prestigious film festivals of the globe.   Later, when these films were bought by foreign distributors, they were exhibited in all parts of the cinematic world of the time, establishing the presence of the Filipino cinema in the eyes of that world.

Major works: Ibong Adarna (1941), Si Juan Tamad (1947), Siete Infantes de Lara (1950), Genghis Khan(1950), Ikaw Kasi! (1955) Juan Tamad Goes To Congress (1959).

Genghis Khan was the first Filipino film to be acclaimed at an international film festival in Venice in 1952. His Juan Tamad Goes To Congress is considered the best Filipino satire ever filmed. Some films intended for international release were planned by Conde but these were not pushed through because of some financial and production problems such as Saranggani, a film about the Ifugao rice terraces, a collaboration between James Agee as scriptwriter and Conde as the actor-director with United Artists as the distributor, the Rickshaw Boy and The Brown Rajah.

Manuel Conde died in 1985. He was honored posthumously in 2006 with Presidential Medal of Merit (for Films) by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for his contribution to culture and the arts. From the words of Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, Executive Director the of National Commission on Culture and the Arts, “This is the President’s gesture of giving rightful honor to various artists who showcased Filipino excellence in the arts and cultural traditions in the international scene, underscoring the wealth of talent and heritage in our country”. In 2007, he was awarded posthumously the Lamberto Avellana Memorial Award by the Film Academy of the Philippines.

 

http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-profile/national-artists-of-the-philippines/manuel-conde/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Conde 

 

 

TOPICAL CATEGORIES

 

  • Arts / Artists

  • Theatres / Movies

  • Famous Filipinos

 

Articles by Dr. Ngo Tiong Tak

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