Film Critic Oggs Cruz Resigns from Cinemalaya in Response to Disqualification
Posted by Zig Marasigan on Monday, March 05, 2012 in Cinemalaya, Images, News, Zig Marasigan
It looks like the controversy surrounding this year’s Cinemalaya is far from over.
Film critic, and Lagarista.com contributor, Oggs Cruz has recently tendered his resignation from the Cinemalaya Selection Committee.
It now seems that Director Emerson Reyes isn’t the only one dismayed by Cinemalaya’s move to disqualify his film, MNL 143.
The disqualification has stirred a good amount of talk within the indie community, and it isn’t any surprise that there is dissent within the committee itself.
In his resignation letter, Cruz doesn’t mince words:
“Clearly, the current film festival and I are working on two different principles as to what independent filmmaking is and should be. I simply can no long be a part of a system which I can no longer believe in.”
Oggs Cruz has managed to be an influential voice in local film criticism. And though that may be tooting our own horn in a way due to his contributions to Lagarista.com, it does not remove from the fact that the Philippine’s leading independent festival is now being questioned for decisions that may undermine the very independent spirit the festival was founded on.
You can catch go over Cruz’s original resignation below, or his original post in Lessons from the School of Inattention which is definitely worth a read.
