RVQ Productions Inc.
presents

Eric Quizon • Loren Legarda • Jeffrey Quizon
and Dolphy

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GIL M. PORTES

QPHS Class 1961

Contributor, THE COCONUT

Independent Film Director

It is easy to spot Gil’s presence among the movie theater’s multi-ethnic crowd during the Toronto International Film Festival  last September 7, 2001.

First, you hear the constant flow of chatter and the  intonation of his fellow Pagbilao kababayans left and right, you know, that upbeat and notable accent that musically swells.  Then next  you spot the throng of fans surrounding Dolphy’s sons, Eric and Jeffrey escorting our very own Gil M. Portes, director of the movie Markova, Comfort Gay, one of two Philippine entries in the 2001 festival.

“Gil, your picture with Jeffrey is right on the front page of the FESTIVAL DAILY newspaper, what an honor,”  I woke him up in a phone call.

Over a cup of coffee, while glancing at the newspaper, Gil remembered a turning  point in his early life when he was chosen as Malakas in the 1961 QPHS annual play, Malakas at Maganda.

As a young third year high school student, his timid manner, clean-cut posture and  nervous tics prevented him from landing a major role in the annual play.  But former principal Mrs. Francisca Abcede remembered his instantaneous wit and razor-sharp memory in delivering his lines.   The following year he auditioned for the role of Malakas beefed up by his constant reaching for better or worse,  beyond what he really achieved for.

While other hopefuls memorized their lines, Gil performed a carefully calculated audition by not memorizing any lines at all but providing the judges his skill in improvisation.  He would stoically go through with his lines, mimic his own punch lines with facial expressions that project the savage brilliance of his wit.

He finally got the Malakas role- that of a sturdy Arnold Schwarzenegger type,  reminiscent of that description  “unaffraid of the raging flood” he said in the words of I.V. Mallari’s Pliant Like The Bamboo.

Today, Gil’s films are officially selected in various international film festivals.  This year, his film GATAS is one of the nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film in the Oscar derby in March.  Two years ago, his film Saranggola (The Kite) was also chosen as one of the top 15 official selection among 47 films for the same award.

Eric Quizon, who performed in Markova, considers Gil a gem in the Philippine cinema.  “In filming, he has a vision, he would constantly expand his techniques towards this vision  and his direction would simply bristle with notable screen moments”  related Eric while both of us waited for Gil and his family at the back entrance of the theater after the screening.

In an interview with the Philippine Reporter, Gil expressed his laments towards the Filipino perspective in filmaking.  “To be a filmaker is not respected in our town.  It is unusual but I let my dream lead me to where I am now”.

The movie Markova, Comfort Gay is the true story of a gay person named Walter Dempster Jr. (Walterina Markova) a half Jamaican, half Filipino who was forced to be a sex slave during the Japanese occupation in World War II, a time when the word “gay” connotes “lively, cheerful and merry”  in the Merriam Webster dictionary.  Homosexuality was then considered a cardinal sin and society’s taboo.

Technically the film’s editing is extraordinarily quick and riveting.  In today’s sexual permissiveness standards, nobody would believe the story of  a gay man crying “foul” while being raped by a phalanx of Japanese soldiers.  Say it isn’t so for LAPD would quickly dismiss these allegations no matter what the gravity is.

But Markova has a message to tell.  At any cost, we should denounce sexual exploitation of the Filipino Comfort Women (and Markovas) during the war along with thousands of Koreans, Chinese comfort persons who suffered the same fate.  In Pusan International Festival in Korea, Gil noted the strong interest and sympathy among the Korean women who watched the movie.

The Q & A portion after the screening just basically lasted longer compared to other festivals.

Gil used a montage of events to depict the transition of the Philippine society from the ashes of the Japanese occupation-  the zany Pugak and Tugak, the Manila Grand Opera House, the rising Chiquito and some splendid choreography.   The three generations of Markova, portrayed by Jeffrey, Eric and Dolphy proved that acting blood runs thick within Dolphy’s DNA.

When the Oscar awards for Best Foreign Language Film is handed over this spring, win or lose, Gil M. Portes has already  earned himself the honor of being the only film director from the Philippines whose films have been nominated twice in three years.

And the envelope please…….

by Bal Yujuico