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44 filmmakers

This book is the fruit of the collaboration among Filipino and Spanish institutions and artists.
In 2008, as a result of Instituto Cervantes’ invitation to the Barcelonan photographer Oscar Fernandez Orengo to exhibit in Manila his series of photographs of Spanish film directors, Orengo decided to embark on a new project: to photograph his favorite Filipino filmmakers in their own environment. He wanted them to collaborate on this project by picking out the background and the location in Manila where they would have their photograph taken.
An unconditional cinephile, moved by his passion for photography and for the extraordinary zeal for life that marks his character, Orengo went around the megacity from point to point. Only a Manileño would know the tremendous investment in time, effort, and knowledge in the medium which that venture would entail. But the mythical proportions of the task did not deter the enthusiastic photographer. He fell in love with Manila and came back for a second trip to photograph more filmmakers. He was able to complete a series of 43 photographs which was exhibited in the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2009, under the Spanish Film Festival PELÍCULA. Now, two years later, thanks to the generous collaboration of the Spanish Embassy of the Philippines, the AECID, the Committee for the Celebration of the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day, and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Instituto Cervantes de Manila presents this volume, which is a compilation of the portraits of Oscar Fernandez Orengo, accompanied by the biographical sketches and filmographies of the filmmakers, edited by the Filipino writer Shirley O. Lua. The result represents a suggestive combination which, on one hand, recreates the beauty and acute insight of the photographs of Orengo, and, on the other, provides a snapshot of one of the most dynamic and interesting cinematographies of the present.