The audience is ready
Wonders never cease. Conventional wisdom says a four-hour arthouse film with neither blockbuster stars nor traditional feelgood storylines will die at the box-office, even if it’s been named one of the best films of the year in the world. Sometimes conventional wisdom needs a good tweaking.
The weekly screenings of Lav Diaz’s Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan (Norte, The End of History) at the Ayala Cinemas in March were sold out, often days before the actual show. A regular theatrical run would probably not be sustainable: given its length, the film would get only two screenings a day, and nobody wants an empty house on a weekday afternoon (nilalangaw). But special screenings once a week, promoted in the social media and friendly news outlets, championed by reviewers and academics, and fueled by excellent word of mouth—those work.
Photos by Moira Lang
The screening last Monday at Glorietta 4 was sold out on sureseats.com several days earlier, but 50 people still showed up without tickets, in case there were cancellations. Most of them could not be served.
More Norte playdates at Ayala Cinemas will be announced shortly, including a weekend screening. Thank you to Ayala Cinemas for supporting this venture.
Norte opens in the US in June. Watch for the feature on Norte in Artforum this month.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
April 2nd, 2014 at 23:29
I was there. Saw Moira at the entrance. And Sid Lucero inside the cinema. Also Alex Medina.
Struck up a conversation with the lady beside me, who said she was lucky to have obtained a ticket at the last minute (guess someone had cancelled). She pointed out that at the entrance she’d been observing two foreign-looking teenage girls lollygagging nearby and she’d thought they were about to watch Divergent. She was surprised to see them enter with the crowd for Norte. She chortled when I said, “Maybe they’ve already seen Divergent,” knowing that teens wouldn’t pass up the first chance to see their beloved book come to life onscreen.
But we could be wrong.
April 7th, 2014 at 02:17
I’d go insane too if my boarding house’s room was painted Kremil-S peenk! Ang husay-husay ng pelikulang ito, langya.