The Ayala Museum in Makati is screening exactly 100 movies — one for each year of the 100-year-old Philippine cinema. Some are easily recognizable like the award winning Sunday Beauty Queen by Baby Ruth Villarama, while others are a bit more obscure, such as Botika Bituka by Cesar Hernando, and the animation Princess Urduja by Tiffany Munda Ang.

The exhibit is interactive, with one section allowing viewers to create their own moving image with a digital signature screen as though creating a short film.

According to Nick deocampo, film artist historian, and curator of the exhibit, he wanted to adapt the Theory of the Rhizome. “It is about multiplicity, divergence…it abhors very strongly singularity, linearity.”

The Film Development Council is a partner, and at the launch over the weekend, FDCP Chair Liza Diño related what a momentous endeavor The Hidden Cinema is.

“Our cinema has gone through a lot this past hundred years… it has had its ups and downs, and up to this day, we are striving for a more developed balance and growth within our industry. But it is undeniable that Philippine Cinema has made its mark not only in our culture but with the rest of the world,” she said, crediting alternative cinema for the role it’s played.

“Alternative cinema is a culture of not just being set apart, of being different, of being the other. It is a culture of defiance, of challenge, and of revolution that we must recognize as an important part of the overall tapestry of our cinematic landscape.”

For its next phase, Nick Deocampo invites all filmmakers to submit films for an “open screen,” the visual equivalent to an open mic jam, where audiences are encouraged to show their stories. — LA, GMA News

Until July 30. The Ayala Museum, Makati Avenue corner Dela Rosa Street Makati. Viewing hours are from 9am to 6pm from Tuesdays to Sundays.