‘100 Tula’ director Laxamana on replying to criticisms: I have freedom to respond

Shortly after "100 Tula Para Kay Stella" picked up the Audience Choice Award at the Pista Ng Pelikulang Pilipino, the film's director Jason Paul Laxamana went viral.

Screenshots of his Twitter replies to negative reviews of his film were collected and shared on social media, reaching over 7,000 people as of writing.

In one of the screenshots is a tweet by @arielleabrigo, which read: "I have a lot of great things to say about 1000 Tula Para Kay Stella, but the characters Von and Danica really turned me off."

Laxamana replied with "Wow teach me master."

In the comments section, people began calling the director "salty" and trying too hard to be savage.

GMA News Online sought an interview with Laxamana, who said that he is merely exercising his freedom of speech.

First, how does it feel to win the Audience Choice Award at the PPP and, for you, what does the success of the film say about Filipino cinema in general?

Happy of course. I've always valued audience reception, and as much as possible, have tried to balance audience appeal and critical acclaim.

"100 Tula" is a drama, with an untried love team and a cast not yet known as box office performers, so I think, somehow, nagkakaroon na ng interest sa new material. Slowly, our audience is developing. I don't think we're there yet, kasi romance pa rin yung '"100 Tula."

Given that the film ended up picking up an award and is currently the top grossing film of the festival, why did you feel the need to respond to the criticism online?

Dalawa 'yan. 'Yong una, I responded to those who were trying to bring politics sa conversation. I had to respond to those kasi tingin ko mali. Some are campaigning against the film just because alam nilang iba ang political leaning ko sa kanila.

[Laxamana shared a screencap of a tweet that reads: "Tapos pinagtatawanan siya ng ibang director kasi hindi naman siya magaling. Halata naman sa past mainstream film niya e ... gusto kong punahin 'yong director, hindi 'yong pelikula."]

Pangalawa, contrary to what that viral Facebook post is trying to make it appear, I am not responding to each negative review. 'Yong kakaunti lang. Especially 'yong spoilers, 'yong bastos ang pagkakasabi, yung mali ang facts nila — "bakit nagpu-pool party, e sa probinsya lang sila nag-aaral"; "bakit may emoji nung mid-2000?"

'Yong iba naman, nagtanong lang ako ng clarification. Sabi kasi, "dami loophole nung movie." So sabi ko, "cge nga, enumerate." 'Di na daw open for criticism.

I am not preventing them from reviewing, but neither should they prevent me from responding.

They're trying to silence me by starting a shame campaign out of my responses. But I believe if you think you have the freedom to criticize, I think I should have the freedom to respond as well.

Did the negative comments about the film affect you?

The truth is, mas marami ang pumuri. So masaya tayo d'on. At mas maraming messages of support sent to me privately, condemning their petty shame campaign.

The malicious intention of the shame campaign is for me to back down, deactivate, or hurt our movie's sales. Unfortunately, none of those will happen. So it pisses them off even more.

What about the remarks that you're being petty or too "patola" about the criticisms?

'Di kasi ako showbiz.

Do you think this brouhaha over your Twitter responses is taking away the spotlight from the film?

People still watch the film in spite of their hate campaign. The weight of the word-of-mouth from friends/relatives is far greater than the rants of random self-righteous strangers on social media. Sure, some make bluffs, kesyo 'di na raw sila manonood dahil sa "ugali" ko, but I know they're just trying to make me feel bad; they have no plans of watching it in the first place. — LA, GMA News

"100 Tula Para Kay Stella," one of the films in the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipina, is showing in cinemas nationwide.

Minor edits were made to Laxamana's responses for style and clarity.