“Maid In Malacañang” – Judging Giselle Sanchez In An Historical Film When It Is Not. Floyd Quintos Calling It Art Only When He Agrees With Its Substance.

As an artist of ideas built with words & images, I understand what Giselle Sanchez has been going through lately. The gentlemen protest too much!

French impressionist painterEdgar Degas said, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

Ms Giselle said:

Let’s give a chance for the Marcoses to tell their side of the story… I would like to quote Sen Imee Marcos during the presscon: “Art should disturb, it should confuse, it should provoke, it should seduce and it should agitate… [this is not only a film], it is a beginning of a national conversation that hopefully will bring us to genuine unity.

Earlier, Ms Giselle said:

I received the script. My heart started pounding when I saw the line, “Get them out of the Philippines.” …This was something I did not know, I [hadn’t] read, this was something new. And anything new will receive only two reactions, positive.. and negative... I was [100%] sure I will be bashed for performing “her character.”

And Ms Giselle was bashed – and the lady couldn’t protest too much!

Floy Quintos, Playwright and Director, said in response to Ms Giselle:

Your movie is in no way, Art. No matter what your patroness/producer says. It is simply a piece meant to provoke and irritate. How can a movie that is already condemned for falsification of history, for an overwhelming bias and for sheer bad taste, possibly be Art?

Mr Quintos hates “Maid In Malacañang” for what it is. I take it that when Mr Quintos says it is not art, therefore it is not art!

Mr Quintos ignores what Ms Giselle quotes Ms Imee as saying, and I repeat for Mr Quintos’ sake: “Art should disturb, it should confuse, it should provoke, it should seduce and it should agitate… [it is not only a film], it is a beginning of a national conversation that hopefully will bring us to genuine unity.”

Instead of engaging in an intelligent conversation where of course he can disagree anytime without being disagreeable, Mr Quintos has chosen to be both accuser and judge.

Mr Quintos, “Maid In Malacañang” is not sold as history. Historian Ambeth Ocampo shares on Facebook:

“Maid in Malacañang” is a film – it should not be judged as a doctoral dissertation in history. Our challenge is separating fact from fiction, recognizing history from the Director’s artistic license or flights of fancy.

As a writer I have been, as Ms Imee puts it, disturbing, or confusing, or provoking, or seducing, or all of the above, with my essays urging the cultivation of organic agriculture instead of chemical agriculture because:

Chemical fertilizers produce greenhouse gases (GHGs) that help bring dire climate changes. Zero chemical fertilizers used in agriculture will reduce to zero agriculture’s contribution to GHGs.

Organic fertilizers produce zero GHGs and in fact make the soil healthier. If you don’t like my presentation, it does not mean what I’m practicing is not art!@517