Ganito Kami Noon... Paano Kayo Ngayon?

Ganito Kami Noon... Paano Kayo Ngayon?
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Eddie Romero
Written by	Roy C. Iglesias Eddie Romero
Produced by	Dennis Juban
Starring	Christopher de Leon Gloria Diaz
Cinematography	Justo Paulino
Edited by	Ben Barcelon
Music by	Lutgardo Labad
Production company	Hemisphere Pictures
Distributed by	Hemisphere Pictures
Release date	December 25, 1976 (1976-12-25)
Running time	125 minutes
Country	Philippines
Languages	Filipino English Spanish

Ganito Kami Noon... Paano Kayo Ngayon? (lit. 'This Is How We Were Before... How Are You Doing Now?') is a 1976 Philippine period drama film set in the era of Spanish colonization in the Philippines. Directed by Eddie Romero and written by Romero and Roy C. Iglesias, it stars Christopher de Leon and Gloria Diaz in the lead roles. The film was selected as the Philippine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 49th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.^[1]

In 2013, ABS-CBN Film Archives, in partnership with Central Digital Lab, digitally restored and remastered the film and was subsequently released in select theaters for a limited period of time. The digitally restored version was also released on DVD and iTunes.^[2]

Plot[]

Nicolas "Kulas" Ocampo (Christopher de Leon), a young indio, lost his house to fire due to its abandonment. He was forced to leave the countryside in search of temporary refuge and then, he finds a priest named Padre Gil Corcuera (E.A. Rocha) who is hiding from a gang of bandits. They get to know each other, but Kulas ends up being whipped by the friars when Padre Corcuera told them that he was abducted by Kulas. Eventually, Padre Gil forgave him and he asked Kulas to take care of his illegitimate child Bindoy (Dranreb Belleza) in Manila. On their way to the city, Kulas and Bindoy meet a group of traveling actors' troupe. Kulas falls in love with its group leader Matilde "Diding" Diaz (Gloria Diaz). But he was not given the opportunity to express his love as well as he should have been in the city for the boy and had to act as the group moved forward.

With the boy in tow, Kulas arrived in Manila by boat. He was guided by Lim (Tsing Tong Tsai), a Hokkien Chinese trader he encountered on the way, he was in the city. Kulas went astray after he transporting the boy to the destination until he meets Diding again, and later, he met a Spanish mestizo, Don Tibor (Eddie Garcia) who would teach him the good ways.

Another misfortune happened to Kulas when the Spanish soldiers mistakenly thought he was a robber. He was jailed but escaped with the help of a fellow prisoner, Onofre 'Kidlat' Biltao (Johnny Vicar), who was a swarm, before being sentenced to death. Meanwhile, Manila is in the midst of turmoil because of the arrival of Americans. The Spanish government collapsed, and Kulas decided to see Diding for the last time. After a brief encounter with her, Kulas left, sharing his future and his identity as a Filipino.

Cast[]

Digital restoration[]

The film was restored in 2013 by the ABS-CBN Film Archives and Central Digital Lab.^[2] It took 2,479 manual hours to restore the film and 80 hours for color grading. During its restoration, the film print has noticeable impairments such as heavy splices, scratches, and breathing. Joey Romero, son of Eddie Romero and cameo actor for the film, helped with the color grading process and was personally involved in its restoration and technical run. The only extant 35mm copy of the film was found in the collection of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the ABS-CBN Film Restoration borrowed and used it for restoration. The original mono audio was lifted from the Betacam copy and restored and upgraded to stereo by ABS-CBN Audio Post.

Television broadcast[]

The digitally restored and remastered high-definition version of the film received a free-to-air television premiere on ABS-CBN on June 4, 2017, as a feature presentation for the network's Sunday late-night special presentation program Sunday's Best for coinciding the 119th anniversary of Philippine independence from Spain. The showing received a nationwide household rating of 2.8%, winning against GMA Network's broadcast of Diyos at Bayan, which attained a 0.9% rating.^[3]

On September 2, 2018, ABS-CBN aired the film for the second time as part of the 42nd anniversary celebration of the film's release. The second broadcast of the film received a nationwide household rating of 2.0%, winning against GMA's broadcast of the episode of Diyos at Bayan, "SOGIE, Kailangan Pa Ba?" that attained a 0.6% rating.^[4]

On June 30, 2019, ABS-CBN re-aired the film for the third time as a tribute to Eddie Garcia, who was died on June 20 from a coma after an accident where he tripped on a cable wire during shooting for GMA Network's now-canceled drama Rosang Agimat. The film received a nationwide household rating of 1.6%, losing against GMA Network's showing of the 2003 Chinese action-adventure film, Warriors of Heaven and Earth that attained a rating of 3.2%.^[5]

Awards[]

See also[]

• Aguila (film)
• Kamakalawa

References[]

External links[]

• Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon? at IMDb