For this year’s edition, 10 films are in participation: Alabok na Ginto, Ang Alamat ni Julian Makabayan, Bugoy, Ina Ka ng Anak Mo, Kadete, Kasal-Kasalan, Bahay-Bahayan, Ang Lihim ng Guadalupe, Mamang Sorbetero, Modelong Tanso, and Ang Sisiw ay Isang Aguila.
Of these entries, Modelong Tanso, starring Charito Solis and Vilma Santos and directed by Cirio Santiago, was produced by a familiar-sounding production company that was a budding yet aggressive industry player: Bancom Audiovision Corp. or BAVC.
If the name rings a bell, that’s because BAVC was a subsidiary of Bancom Development Corp., the hotshot investment bank led by Sixto K. Roxas and was founded 14 years earlier, a joint venture between Commercial Bank and Trust Co. and Bankers Trust Company of New York.
You may be wondering: what in the world was an investment bank – which syndicates loans and underwrites initial public offerings– doing in film production? This was the very same question that future Central Bank Governor Jobo Fernandez, then a member of the Bancom board of directors, had asked.
To learn more on how Bancom Audiovision came to be — its rise and fall — do read on.
Eurasia Arts to Bancom Audiovision
BAVC began life as Eurasia Arts Inc. with the lofty aim “to apply the art of business to the business of art.” Eurasia provided small loans and management skills to theatrical and cultural groups while mounting such productions as Ang Kiri and Gypsy.
Its subsequent transformation to Bancom Audiovision Corp. in 1975 was meant to confirm “the Bancom Group’s commitment to establish an enduring presence in the arts, media, and entertainment field.”
Tasked to lead BAVC was the late Rolando “Jacky” Atienza, a Wharton alum and stock market expert who, at age 31, headed Bancom’s investment management division. He would later serve as chair of the Film Development Council of the Philippines or FDCP during the Arroyo administration.
“I felt that it [BAVC] should have a more aggressive approach if it was going to have a more meaningful presence in the arts and entertainment industry,” wrote Atienza in the 2013 book “Bancom Memoirs”.
Despite early doubts, Atienza was able to convince the Bancom board that “there was a good business, financial reason for being in the movie industry: there was no professionally run organization in this industry, and presumably a professional organization could dominate the industry.”
The No. 1 movie company
“BAVC was a lot of fun,” recounted Atienza. And, without a hint of modesty, also claimed that “we were indisputably the No.1 movie company at that time.” As if to prove it, BAVC had a Metro Manila Film Festival entry in 1979, 1980 and 1981, and won numerous awards during that period.
Among the acclaimed films that Bancom Audiovision produced were National Artist Lino Brocka’s Jaguar, which was in competition at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival; Marilou Diaz Abaya’s Brutal, an entry in the 1980 MMFF where Abaya won best director; Mike de Leon’s Kisapmata, an entry in the 1981 MMFFl that took home 10 out of the MMFF’s 13 awards; Laurice Guillen’s Salome, the 1982 Urian Awards Best Picture; and National Artist Eddie Romero’s Aguila, the 1981 FAMAS Best Picture and “the most expensive yet most profitable project up to that point.”
“Bancom Audiovision Corp. was getting so many things right, during the turbulent early years of the Second Golden Age of Philippine cinema, that observers can’t be blamed for expecting that it would emerge as a major player in the local film industry,” says Joel David, professor for Cultural Studies at Inha University in Incheon, Korea.
At its peak, BAVC boasted an extensive range of service offerings, including film distribution and production, lobby display manufacturing, cinema booking services and production management, supported by distribution outlets all over the country. By 1980, their manpower complement stood at 22 with assets amounting to P20.4 million at year-end, and generated gross revenues of P8.4 million for the year.
“Several investors were trying their hand in the business, enticed no doubt by the glamour as well as the then-reasonable tax rates. Few lasted beyond one or two projects, but BAVC, like its near-contemporaneous company Agrix Films, managed to last into the early years of the next decade,” David further says
Charo Santos, movie producer
BAVC also gave Charo Santos-Concio, future ABS-CBN CEO, her first break in movie production when she was hired as line producer.
Said Atienza: “BAVC was the first company to perceive her potential as a business professional, and the first to hire her as a business person rather than as an actress.” (Charo line-produced and starred in Kisapmata and also appeared in Brutal.)
Pack-up!
Throughout its brief yet prolific run, BAVC produced 22 films and co-produced two foreign films. Sadly, however, just as its parent Bancom began to unravel, so did BAVC, with Atienza admitting that “it never quite achieved what it had set out to do.” The Bancom Group would eventually fold up after 17 years of existence.
“It was the beginning of the end,” said a former trader at Bancom of the investment bank’s foray into movie production. “Well, in theory, it could have worked: parceling off pieces of each production to small investors.”
Still, while Bancom Audiovision’s story didn’t quite have the happy ending its proponents had initially hoped for, it did leave behind a string of movie masterpieces to its name and a business model that could have proved viable had factors beyond its control not intervened.
“I have never found any group that had a culture as creative, intelligent, and gentle as Bancom,” said Atienza.-- Ed: CSN
In 2020, after decades of unsettled ownership issues, Mike de Leon’s Kisapmata was given a proper restoration in partnership with UnionBank. It is hoped that the rest of the Bancom library can be restored and properly preserved for posterity.
Features Reporter
