Informal DVD markets sprouted across the city streets, distributing films seldom seen on Philippine shores. Filmmakers began making low-cost, digital films outside the dominant, local studio system, works that made their mark in international festivals, while finding few screening venues at home. Exhibition and distribution sites that emerged were difficult to sustain in a sprawling megacity.

Sometimes, these are clips from films, linked to their shooting location, or to a place that’s relevant because of the clip’s content. Other times, these are institutional films made for particular cinema organizations, mapped onto that organization’s physical location. The map also includes a few clips from older films for historical context, as well as news segments that relate to significant spaces (museums, screening venues) or events (the Optical Media Board’s crackdown on pirated DVD vendors in the old city). A handful of the clips don’t directly relate to cinema. Rather, they record the changing cityscape through documenting urban megaprojects. These sprawling life-work-entertainment complexes are a part of the mass privatization of the city, which has a significant impact on local film exhibition. 

City of Screens aims to provide an introductory window into particular aspects of Manila film culture: how local filmmakers have imagined the cityscape in their work; the complex relationship between the state, the private sector, and local film production; the transnational circulation of films via festivals; and the profound social stratification that scaffolds everyday life in the city. Importantly, the site isn’t exhaustive. Philippine film culture is vast, and City of Screens offers a partial view into a complex world.