1. 1919-1929 | “Dalagang Bukid”
The film medium came to Philippine shores as early as the late 19th Century prior to the revolution years, and was called "cinematografo". Later during the American period, Filipinos started to find newsreels and silent films as a new platform of regular entertainment as the said medium slowly gained popularity. But it was only in 1917 when a Filipino built a motion picture company and released in 1919 what would be considered as the first Filipino-produced and written film.
Dalagang Bukid (Farm Girl), is a silent film directed and produced by José Nepomuceno, the Father of Philippine Cinema. It was based on a zarzuela written by Hermogenes Ilagan, about a young flower vendor named Angelita forced by her parents to marry a wealthy old man, Don Silvestre, despite her love for Cipriano, a law student. The film was officially released on September 12, 1919 with English, Spanish, and Tagalog subtitles.
We may or may not associate the perennial fondness of the Filipino masses to romantic-comedy films with this film, but what Dalagang Bukid achieved besides being the first full-length Filipino film was the paradigm shift it created. From moro-moros, zarzuelas and bodabil, a new mode of entertainment was born. Unfortunately, none of Nepomuceno's early works survived the war period as the materials used at the time were very fragile.
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