After the virtual launch late last year of the book “SekSinema (Gender Images in Philippine Sex Cinema Enfolding Pandemia)” written by OpinYon columnist Boy Villasanta , an onsite launch will be held on Saturday (April 9) at the Cinematheque Centre of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) at 4 pm.
Dante Ang II, Chairman of the National Book Development Board (NBDB) will deliver the keynote speech while FBDB chair Liza Diño-Seguerra will convey her virtual inspirational talk.
“SekSinema (Gender Images in Philippine Sex Cinema Enfolding Pandemia)” is a historical survey of the use of sex as subject or background in Philippine cinema from the non-talkies celluloid, first screen kiss of two of the earliest actors in the local movie industry, Luis Tuazon and Elizabeth “Dimples” Cooper in Jose Nepomuceno’s “Ang Tatlong Hambug” in 1926 to the digital filmmaking of steamy love scenes being shown in livestreaming platforms.
Here’s a bird’s eye view of each chapter in the book:
Chapter 1 tackles the development of film technology as a vehicle for gender cinema enfolding colonial movies and the emergence of the pandemic affecting the genre and its market.
Chapter 2 looks back on the personal experiences of the author in watching movies with sexy scenes in the province and in the city.
Chapter 3 theorizes on the premise that Philippine cinema is sex cinema as defined by gender assignments, traditions and post-modern views in reel and real male-female dichotomy or LGBTQIA+ situations. It encompasses the so-called first Filipino screen kiss to the American and Western influences of sexual liberation onscreen to the various skin flick movements like bomba, bold, basa (wet look), ST (Sex Trip), TF (Titillating Films), pene (actual penetration) etc.
Chapter 4 delves on Gala Theater as history.
Chapter 5 presents an insider’s first-hand accounts on the making of daring sex scenes in mixed genres like sex-action-drama, sex-fantasy, sex-comedy and other mutations.
Chapter 6 traces and discusses the history of censorship and pornography in the Philippines.
Chapter 7 analyzes women in Filipino films (Filipino texts translated to English).
Chapter 8 analyzes men in Filipino films (Filipino texts translated to English).
Chapter 9 explores the idea of homoeroticism.
Chapter 10 monitors the whereabouts of Filipino male and female stars.
Chapter 11 is an epilogue of sorts in the current state of Philippine gender cinema.
Villasanta is an awarded entertainment journalist and documentary filmmaker.
His movie journalism spans almost five decades in the Philippines where he has acted as editor-in-chief of tabloids, broadsheets and magazines; columnist for various publications; and consultant for multimedia agencies.
He started his entertainment broadcast journalism in the 1980s for various television shows. He pioneered in “Balita Ngayon” and “TV Patrol,” ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation’s primetime newscasts in 1986 and 1987, respectively; “Action 9,” “Arangkada Extra Balita” and “Newswatch,” Radio Philippines Network (RPN) Channel 9 in 1993 and 2005, respectively ; and hosted “Barangay Showbiz” in UNTV in 2005.
Villasanta’s other books include Tio Ticong Pelikula at Pulitika Vicente Salumbides, a biography on the Second Father of Philippine Movies Vicente Salumbides; Exposé (Peryodismong Pampelikula sa Pilipinas (Movie Reporting in the Philippines), a socio-political analysis of the history of movie journalism in the Philippines which was nominated at the 2008 National Book Awards—both published by the UST Publishing House in 2001 and 2007, respectively; Seksinema (Sex Cinema), a historical survey on sex as a subject in Philippine cinema written in Filipino and self-published in 2009; 75 Writers 75 Stories, an anthology of stories on medical assistance to indigent recipients provided by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, individually written and published by the PCSO in 2009 and The Man of Destiny Octavio S. Maloles II, a biography on social entrepreneur Octavio S. Maloles II, also known as Rico Maloles published in 2018.
Villasanta is an awarded documentary filmmaker and has participated in film festivals such as the 2010 Pandayang Lino Brocka Film and New Media Festival; 1st ASEAN Documentary Film Festival in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2020; 2012 and 2013 Gwangju International Film Festival in South Korea; 2013 Filipino Arts and Cinema International (FACINE) in San Francisco, USA etc.
He was a film student at the 2011 Fantastic Film School (FFS) of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) in Bucheon City, South Korea. He has been writing for the Made in Asia booklet of BiFan since 2017.
At the moment, he is a multimedia practitioner who writes for OpinYon, Diyaryo Pinoy, Market Monitor; online sites like www.filcaspro.com, www.marketmonitor.com and www.opinyon.com.