MY LIFE AS ART

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BY PETER SOLIS NERY
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When a writer makes a movie

MOST writers are just writers. Some are too shy to even speak. Some are too scared to read even their own works in public. But some writers are like Peter Solis Nery.
I’m Peter Solis Nery, and I am a writer. I am also a great speaker because I really am an amazing actor, and a fearless performer. Don’t get me wrong. I get scared every time, and all the time, that I perform on stage, on film, or in public. But I get scared largely not for myself, but for my audience. Will they get what I do? Will they be smart to take it?
Trust me, I am scared for my readers, too. Some of my readers can be pretty dumb, and I don’t mean you. I mean, if you are regularly following my column, that makes you a lot smarter than most. And you would already have gotten my sense of humor.
The thing is, as an artist, I am quite l’ enfant terrible. And that’s scary for anyone with only a half-brain of a donkey, or an ass. I mean, if you can’t imagine an ulfire horse, or defend a painting of Adam without a navel, would you be ready for a Peter Solis Nery?
I am pretty notorious as an agent provocateur; and in Western Visayas, I am the reigning premier agent provocateur. I can be such because I am smart as f*ck, and I got balls the size of Jupiter. You can’t judge me; because once you open your mouth, my writings and philosophical musings would already have judged you.
If you are in doubt about my position and status as THE foremost mover and shaker of this sleepy side of the planet, just you wait for my latest film offering, Ikapito nga Adlaw (7th Day), which in previews have already been dubbed as “the most blatant and blazing Ilonggo filmmaking revolution.”
I do not expect my film to be a box office hit. If the viewers are mostly school children under the age of 18, I stand no chance against the goody-goody films that will flood the market in December. My film is decidedly revolutionary. I spent my own money bankrolling it, and I made sure it was done according to my own vision.
What can I do? I’m an auteur. And I don’t want to be affected, nor influenced, by considerations such as public taste and mores. I can’t be bothered with money and box office success. It’s just money.
I don’t want my film, and my film career, to be remembered just for controversy either. But if that is the way I make modern Ilonggo film history, so be it. My only point is, why make a film that’s already been done by the others? I am not in the business to make money. Don’t get me wrong. Money is good. But I have enough money of my own to “waste” on my own creative projects.
In fact, it is my belief that those people who say they have money, but can’t contribute to a thing of beauty like a movie without thinking of immediate return of investments, aren’t there yet. Business and financial success are still low in my hierarchy of values. Like Maslow, I believe that more evolved persons would, and should, value finer things like art over banal things like money. Think Venus over Pluto, or something like that.
Once, I asked a friend what he would do if I gave him a million pesos ($21,700 and some change). He said he’ll get a vacation, and write and publish his own book. I thought that my friend is pretty much “evolved” as a person. (At least, he did not say he’s gonna pay off his children’s tuition fees.) But I was not really impressed with his answer so, with $21,700 and some change, I created Peter’s Prize, a literary awards entity that seeks to honor excellence in contemporary Hiligaynon writing and great achievements in local literature including translation, criticism, scholarship, and literary studies. This 2016, Peter’s Prize is already on its fourth year running.
I’m not really into real estate, but I bought some property again this year. I figured, Iloilo is going to be big in the next five years, if it is not already. No, I’m not a big player in the city scene. I mean, I am not an Iloilo City player, period. I’m a country mouse, and I’d like to consolidate my kingdom in my hometown. After all, after the very dead Quintin Salas, I am kind of “the new local hero” of Dumangas. Don’t they call Dumangas now as “the hometown of Peter Solis Nery”?
As far as I know, outsiders who pass by Dumangas (we are a port town) pay respect to my PRIMA CiTy Building more than the Salas monument by the town plaza. No, I’m not shrinking Salas’ importance by putting his name and mine in the same sentence. I’m just making myself big, if not bigger, than I already am. Bwahaha. Take that, Tiger Lily!
So anyway, it’s November, and I think it would be nice to talk about a film that you may, or may not, see before the end of the year. For my succeeding articles this month, I’d like to pay tribute to my crazy network of filmmakers (auteurs, amateurs, and wannabes) as I honor our crazier experience making a movie that was so determined to break the ceiling in Ilonggo film history.
For the first time ever, I might also be sharing the script even before the movie hits the screen. My reasoning is simple: I do not believe that reading my screenplay will diminish your appreciation of my film. The screenplay is a pretty animal on its own, but the monster that is the film is surely not to be missed, if ever it gets a chance to be screened in a movie house close to you.
I am confident that my film will get, at most, an R-rating. But I won’t argue if it gets X-ed by the MTRCB. That will only tell you how ef-upped the movie review and classification board is. Still, my faith is in the intelligence of the movie review board… until they X my film, of course. Because honestly, I am not a pornographer, I am just an Ilonggo visionary./PN
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