The first film on Rizal was made in 1912. According to Vicente Salumbides’ Motion Pictures in the Philippines, (c. 1952), a certain Mr. Yearsley who owned the Majestic Theater on Azcarrage St. near Bilibid, produced the silent movie, “Life of Dr. Jose Rizal / La Vida de Rizal.” Another American, E.M. Gross who operated the Zorilla Theater at Azcarraga [now Rizal Avenue] and Evangelista in Sta. Cruz, Manila also produced a film on Dr. Rizal’s life. Both films were simultaneously shown in Manila theaters.
100 years later, or this year [2012], A mi Patria – consisting of Rizal poetries in film were produced and soon to be released. In four languages, the Filipino Sign Language [FSL] version has a 10-min short biography of Rizal. It was finished last December but will be released this year. The spoken language versions: Spanish, English and Filipino were finished in February. Honorio Lopez acted in Rizal film in 1912; our versions have Aldrin Gabriel, Mark Steven Gaspar and Romalito Mallari as Rizal. All three of them are Deaf.
I have just readied the preview copy of A mi Patria / Inang-Bayan / To my Motherland. Since it may be too long to preview over two hours of the film in all four language versions – I will just project the FSL version [50 mins], and the spoken language versions totalling to nearly 27 mins as follows: Sa Filipinas [Read in Filipino, Interpreted in FSL, Captioned in English]; To the Philippine Youth [Read in English, Interpreted in FSL, Captioned in Spanish]; Awit ni Maria Clara [Read in Filipino, Interpreted in FSL, Captioned in English]; A las Flores de Heidelberg [Read in Spanish, Interpreted in FSL, Captioned in English] and Mi Ultimo Adios [Read in Filipino, Interpreted in FSL, Captioned in Spanish]. All poems were written by Dr. Jose Rizal. The preview is temporary scheduled on May 11 and will be limited to all those involved in the project: production staff members, performers and a few stakeholders. Public viewing will be held on June 19, 2012 in celebration of Dr. Jose Rizal’s 151th birthday.
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