For the Love of Philippine Cinema and What I Would Wish to Thank You in Person

"The first impulse of any good film critic, and to this, I think you would agree, must be of love. To be moved enough to want to share their affection for a particular work or to relate their experience so that others may be curious. This is why criticism, teaching, and curating or programming, in an ideal sense, must all go hand in hand."

- The Letter I Would Love to Read to You in Person (Alexis Tioseco, 2008)

Link to the whole letter of Alexis Tioseco to Nika Bohincthat was first published in Rouge (2008) and later on reproduced once again in 2019 in Nang Magazine with the permission of Tioseco's family.

When I read this back in 2019, I remember how it made me cry. How it felt so emotional and filled with passion. It was my first time being introduced to Alexis Tioseco, and what a wonderful introduction work to start with. He was one of the emerging film critics of the early 2000s, slowly being internationally recognized as well. Until a horrifying incident happened to him and Nika Bohinc in their residential home in 2009. I only discovered this about a decade later. I was just starting to venture out and explore what I really wanted with film. I was not given the opportunity to study at the UP Film Institute, but I took the plunge to get a Filipino degree (BA Malikhaing Pagsulat), which ironically, is a language, I have always been struggling with since I returned to the Philippines in the early 2000s. When I came across this article, a friend shared it on their Facebook profile to boost and promote the project being released at that time. It was a blessing in disguise that allowed me to be invested in the life and works of Alexis Tioseco. I finally found people that have been showcasing their love for cinema in ways that were not in the usual sense of creating films, but more of wanting to share that same love and interest for the craft.

Now fast forward to 2022, reading this again in a COVID stricken, restricted world. In limbo and currently struggling even as I write this now at present-- I am once again emotional. I am once again in tears but now filled with more empathy and understanding of what Alexis had wished for Philippine Cinema. The quote extracted from the letter that I have included in the first part is what has tugged at my heartstrings and pushed me back into the depths of Philippine Cinema and criticism. A poetics of someone, that has inspired my poetics. His life, even after his passing, still inspires many people (myself included) up to this day. I came back to Alexis's letter because Richard Bolisay mentioned him in one of his lectures in yesterday's film criticism mentorship under UP Cinema's Pelikolektibo, where he mentioned having friends that support you in your endeavors will really push you and inspire you. I got to know Alexis through the writings, anecdotes, and personal experiences of those who got to know him up close, who interacted with him while he was still with us. He is so alive in those memories and writings, that I feel as if I could also believe that Alexis is my friend. His passion and love for Philippine Cinema transcended through time and has inspired not only Filipinos but also those who have the same interests as him.

The Nang Magazine project (which was started by Davide Cazzaro) is a 10-issue Asian Cinema magazine dedicated in memory of Alexis and Nika.

Back in 2010, Khavn has mentioned Alexis as well in "Philippine New Wave: This Is Not A Film Movement", a book he wrote for MovFest International Digital Film Festival. Here, a page was dedicated to this wish written by Alexis Tioseco which was part of the addendum in his 2008 work titled, "The Letter I Would Love to Read to You in Person"

Reading his letter, especially the addendum section, felt like reading the next course of action to what we can do for Philippine Cinema. A lot of it is still relevant, a lot of it still needs to be done. Some have been fulfilled, and how I wish Alexis could see and be proud to find how much has changed. What a great loss in the field of criticism. I could sometimes think, "What would Alexis say about this?" or I would try to imagine how happy and passionate he could be speaking and interacting in our existing spaces such as Cine Spaces, Cine Files, Cine Sundays, and other Facebook and Discord film communities. He would definitely pioneer one of the online communities, and might have created movements and mentored a lot of students and writers who have the same ideologies as his.

For the love of Philippine Cinema,

Your life and works live on.

Thank you, Alexis.