Cinemathematique

For the sixth Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Competition, I bought three Day Passes, July 10, 11, 17, each day with five tickets, each ticket one screentime. I noticed in the program brochure that none of the entries in competition will ever show at 10:00 AM screentime. In one theater, there's an extra screentime of 11:45PM but not on my Day Pass dates, and the feature films are not in competition (more about this on a later post).

On my Day Pass dates, 10:00AM screentimes feature "Cinemalaya Kids Treats" and a special screening of Chito Rono's Emir (on the 17th). All features for exhibition. If you're like me, whose objective is to watch all those in competition, the 10:00AM tickets are essentially worthless. So the Day Passes will only afford me 12 of the 16 entries. I will need to buy an extra four tickets at 150 pesos each, or 600 pesos extra.

Twelve entries for the Day Passes worth 1,500 pesos, plus extra four worth 600 pesos, total 2,100 pesos or 131.25 per competition entry (note: ten entries under Competition Shorts are counted here as two units, Sets A and B). If I had the Festival Pass, it would have cost 93.75 pesos per entry. If all entries' screenings were bought on-the-spot, 16 screenings will cost 2,400 pesos. So with this "investment package", I am alleviated 300 pesos from the profiteering or 18.75 per competition entry.

With 300 pesos savings, I have 60 pesos per day of Cinemalaya experience to defray for allowances in transportation, food, and the occasional yosi break. In addition to the three days for the Passes, the program brochure tells me I can watch two other entries on Monday, 12th and another two on Friday, 16th, working hours factored in.

This is simple poor man's economics - it may not yet be a discourse on whether Cinemalaya, for its potential contributory value in cultural development, actually is accessible to benefit greater numbers.