Bikolano Film Critic Tito Genova Valiente is one of the Honorees in the Centenary of Philippine Cine

Tito Genova Valiente, a Bikolano film critic and Bicol Mail columnist, is one of the so-called honorees in the celebration of the 100 years of Philippine cinema.

September 12, 2019, marks the beginning of the year-long celebration of the centenary of the Philippine cinema. A gala event called “Sine Sandaan: Celebrating the Luminaries of Philippine Cinema’s 100 years” is held in KIA Theatre, formerly New Frontier Cinema. This is a project of the Film Development Council of the Philippines in cooperation with the Department of Tourism.

The letter to Valiente states: “We are proud to honor you as a Luminary in recognition of your distinctive work, artistry and service to Philippine cinema. The experience of Sandaan will be made more special with your presence as we pay tribute to you, our luminaries, and your work that paved the way for the cinema that we know and love today.”

Valiente is going to be honored for Film Criticism especially his advocacy on regional cinema. The night is going to honor as well the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, the oldest and the most prestigious film critics group, of which Valiente is a member and a former Chairman. The Manunuri hands out the much coveted Gawad Urian, reputedly the highest award a practitioner and artist can receive in the field of cinema in the country.

Valiente maintains a column called “FieldNotes” for Bicol Mail. He is a columnist for Business Mirror, a national broadsheet, where he has two columns: “Reeling,” which is about art and media, and “Annotations,” which is about cultures and societies.

A public anthropologist who taught in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and, later, in the Japanese Studies Program of the Ateneo de Manila, Valiente, a published author, has released his book “The Last Sacristan Mayor and the Most Expensive Mass for the Dead: Tales from Ticao,” through the Ateneo de Naga University Press. He is part of the art circle generated by the Savage Mind, a cultural hub and bookstore in Naga City.

Tito Genova Valiente was born in San Fernando, Ticao, Masbate and grew up in Naga. He studied in the Naga Parochial School and, for his high school and college, in the Ateneo de Naga. He did his post-graduate studies and research fellowship in Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Japan. He is presently a member of the Executive Committee on Cinema under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, where he represents film critics and film journalists.