(Welcome remarks by HIS EXCELLENCY LUIS T. CRUZ, Ambassador of the Philippines to the Republic of Korea, on the occasion of the Philippine Reception at the 18th Busan International Film Festival 06 October 2013, Westin Chosun Beach Hotel)

Honorable Hur Nam-sik, Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City and Chairman of the Festival, FDCP Chairman Briccio G. Santos, Philippine Tourism Director in Korea Maricon Basco-Ebron, Esteemed Members of the Philippine Delegation@BIFF, Distinguished Film Directors, and Producers, Friends, Ladies and gentlemen, Good evening to everyone. It is my distinct honor and pleasure to welcome all of you present here to the Philippine Reception at the 18th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). To our Korean friends and other foreign guests, it might interest you to know that in the ‘60s and ‘70s, we used to export Philippine films to the United States. I learned this from Quentin Tarantino himself, who said that he got his inspiration to join the film industry at age 15 after watching Philippine-produced films which were doing their commercial runs in American Movie theatres. Apparently, his favourite movie directors were Cirio Santiago and Gerry de Leon who used to make war films. No wonder Tarantino’s films are violent.

However, the following decades saw a decline in film production in the Philippines, mainly due to competition from Hollywood-made films. Fortunately, in the last decade, we witnessed the most important change in our film industry in a generation, – the transition from celluloid to digital. Pushing down production costs, the digital format also served as the midwife to the rebirth of Philippine independent (or “indie”) cinema.

Today Filipino cinema has not only completed that process, with almost all mainstream and independent filmmakers now making their works in digital format, but the industry has also become stronger, more confident, more mature, more diversified and more formidable than ever.

Making film in the Philippines sustainable is therefore no longer a pipe dream. By now, we should no longer be surprised about the sheer wealth of stories to tell in the Philippines or about the Filipino experience. In fact the Philippines has become such a magnet for international audiences that even foreign directors are making movies based on the Philippine experience. Perhaps many of you know that Filipino-themed movies have scored at the nominations for the Best Foreign Film at the Oscars: apart from the Philippines, the UK and Singapore selected official entries with Filipinos as central characters.

Even as we celebrate a renaissance of the film industry back home, here in Korea, , the Philippines continues to be a magnet for location shoots. This year, two Korean films were shot in the Philippines. One of them, Mango Tree, which was shot in Cebu and Bohol, will be screened for the first time here at the festival. Another, No Breathing, which will start its commercial run at the end of the month, was shot partly in Davao City.

We have all come here in Busan to celebrate cinema, one of the common languages the Philippines shares with Korea. In your brief stay here, may you feel at home and may you have all the blessings in your efforts to share our cinema with the audiences here.

Mabuhay!