Observing the box office success of ‘2 Valid IDs’
In this year’s Cinemalaya Film Festival, Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan’s film “2 Valid IDs” went home with three awards, including Best Actress for Marietta Subong (also known as Pokwang) and the Special Jury Award. But it’s the third prize they won that carries the bigger weight: the Audience Choice Award.
There is definitely a premium to be recognized by the jury of any film festival—usually composed of film scholars or critics and other filmmakers—which means winning an award is an acknowledgement of craft and skill.
But the Audience Choice Awards is also a powerful recognition of a filmmaker’s ability to engage with the viewers. It’s one thing for a film to be good. It’s another thing entirely for a film to appeal to the audience, engage with them, and harness that energy to evoke a response. Especially when there were other amazing films in competition in this year’s Cinemalaya.
And notably, “2 Valid IDs” is a political drama steeped in realism. It’s the sort of films that allegedly frighten away the audience, who are supposedly more keen on lighter, happier films.
Bureaucratic hellscape
The fact that “2 Valid IDs” had reportedly sold out some of its screenings at the Cinemalaya Film Festival even before its premiere is a testament to the film’s subject matter touching a nerve.
Due to popular demand, it quickly hit theaters nationwide, opening last Oct. 14, and was able to earn P15 million on its opening weekend—a marvel of a number for an independent film. According to Pokwang’s social media accounts, the film’s gross earnings reached P50 million after 12 days.
Again, for an independent film that falls under the genre of political drama, this is quite an achievement.
The film is about Sylvia (Subong), a farmer’s wife from Ilocos, who is watching over her husband (Joey Marquez) while he is confined at a public government hospital in Manila for a respiratory illness that cannot be treated in a provincial hospital. Even though they are in a public hospital, the expenses are rising, and Sylvia is having trouble making payments.
Her husband’s aunt, an OFW, sends money through a wire transfer, but Sylvia needs the titular two valid IDs to be able to claim the money. All she has is her PhilHealth ID, which is not considered a valid ID. And so, she has to go through the bureaucratic hellscape of the Philippine government and its processes.
A narrative that resonated with the audience
The trailer alone had people buzzing. The ridiculousness of certain Philippine policies and systems—a country where you need one valid ID to apply for another valid ID—resonated with people.
You don’t even need to apply for an ID to know and understand what the film is trying to say. Majority of the public has—at one point in their lives—had to line up for some government document and get sent from one window to the next. The film captures this so vividly that people could easily empathize with Sylvia’s plight and bemoan the state of our healthcare system.
Fifty million pesos after 12 days, plus the reported P18 million the film earned during its Cinemalaya run, is a testament to how much the people wanted to come and see this movie. And that’s only through the power of the independent production’s marketing efforts and strong word of mouth.
Can you imagine if they had the backing of a big studio with a larger marketing budget and the machinery to open nationwide?
Catalyst for change?
Just early this week, art cards are being shared on social media about Akbayan Representative Chel Diokno’s response to having seen the movie, in which he reiterated the power of the Philippine Identification System Act and Executive Order No. 162: that the National ID is sufficient for any purpose and that anyone who doesn’t accept it can be fined up to P500,000.
Oftentimes we hear filmmakers say that it is idealistic to think that one film can be the catalyst for change. That it takes several films exploring a particular theme or issue over and over again from different perspectives for the change to be slowly realized.
And while “2 Valid IDs” may not completely re-evaluate government processes and reduce bureaucracy, it is making people more aware and united in questioning and, hopefully, taking action to dismantle these disadvantageous systems.
This is what cinema can do. Films that are true and authentic to the culture and the way of life can raise awareness and open up discussions that can lead to progress or innovation. Films serve as a reflection of taste, values, and norms, and can criticize, validate, or question these things publicly. And nothing grabs a person more wholly than that of a well-told story.
More where that came from
“2 Valid IDs” is a strong argument against the naysayers of Philippine cinema. People who say that “Philippine cinema is so bad” don’t have to look far to see that there are plenty of great Filipino films being made. And people are watching them.
Rodina Singh’s “Multwoh,” for example, is creating great buzz as another film that won the Audience Choice Award at the recent CinePanalo Film Festival. It’s unpredictable and jarring in its presentation, but it is also genuine and authentic to its subject matter. It carries with it so much heart and depth of understanding, while unabashedly true to its milieu. It’s a confident film, and it doesn’t dumb itself down for its audience.
There are a lot of great Filipino films coming out every year. We underestimate them because we are so attached to Hollywood that we think good films must match the budget of the films from first-world countries.
But the power of films is in its ability to show us who we are, what our world really looks like, or what our world could be. And no Hollywood film is going to do that for me in a way that a Filipino will.
