A COPY of the 1936 pre-war film “Diwata ng Karagatan,” directed by Carlos Vander Telosa and produced by Jose Nepomuceno, was located at the Royal Belgian Film Archive or Cinematek in Belgium, according to film historian Nick Deocampo.
In a lengthy post on Facebook on Oct. 31, Deocampo shared how the film was located decades after it was lost during the height of the war. He added that it is one of the oldest Filipino pre-World War 2 films.
“Important news! Oldest Filipino film produced by pioneer Jose Nepomuceno found in Belgium. A national film treasure has just been found! A copy of ‘Diwata ng Karagatan,’ long-rumored to be existing but not found, has finally been located at the Belgian film archive,” he said.
“Using my personal money to buy a plane ticket to go to Brussels, Belgium from Berlin, I linked-up with the daughter of a pioneering Ilonggo-language film director, Louise Baterna, to liaise with the Cinémathèque royale de Belgique in finding the film. Happy to announce, the film’s been found!” he continued.
Deocampo, who had the chance to watch the “only-known existing copy” of the film said it only exists in 35 mm print. This is because no copy “has yet been digitized” since its nitrate original was placed at the now-closed Belgian film laboratory CineLabor in 2016.
“The film’s 1936 provenance dislodges the claim earlier held by the 1937 Fernando Poe Sr.-starrer, Zamboanga, as the oldest Filipino pre-World War II movie, a film that I also discovered abroad while on a Fulbright-funded research scholarship at the Library of Congress in 2004,” he said.
According to the historian, “Diwata ng Karagatan” will mark its 90th year anniversary since its creation in 1936. After its Philippine premiere, it was re-screened three years later to celebrate its success abroad.
“After its first screening that year, it was re-premiered in 1939 to celebrate its successful exhibitions abroad,” he said. “During the intervening years, the film was exported to France and it also had screenings in Belgium and South America. It appeared to be in popular demand in France as the film was released several times in different titles.”
However, nothing had been heard about the film since “its last exhibition at Fox Theater in Manila.” When the war broke in 1941, it was one of the films that “disappeared” at the time.
In his post, Deocampo said piracy is what makes the search for Filipino films in foreign film archives, saying that a copy of “Diwata ng Karagatan” was re-edited by a French distributor.
“‘Diwata ng Karagatan’ fell victim to this unscrupulous practice when a copy presumably owned by a French distributor was re-edited and later released in the French-speaking market. It was claimed to be a French production, which it was not,” he further added.
Deocampo also revealed that the film was cut down to 52 minutes by a certain French film promoter identified as Gabriel Pallu. Some scenes were also “jumbled” and names of the Filipino creatives in the credits were “erased,” including the names of Telosa and Nepomuceno.
He added that the film was claimed to be a “documentary of exotic South-sea natives,” saying a “long black leader” appeared at the end of the film where the names of the creatives were originally located, describing it as a case of “filmic and cultural erasure.”
The historian also revealed that only the lead stars Rogelio dela Rosa and Mari Velez have been identified so far.
Since there is “no archive to store films then,” Deocampo said this can also be seen in the case of the 1977 film “Ginauhaw Ako, Ginagutom Ako” starring Susan Henson and Rosemarie Gil.
To end his post, the film historian hopes that more efforts will be made to find classic Filipino films.
“Who would be crazy enough to jump on a plane using personal funds to go to Belgium without fully knowing if a copy of the film was there? But the gamble paid off,” he continued. “A national film treasure has been found!” (Hannah Mallorca © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
