It’s only been a week since Cinema Centenario officially announced they are permanently closing their doors after more than 200 days of forced and necessary inactivity because of the pandemic. While some businesses are able to slowly resume on-site operations, especially those businesses considered essential like grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, convenience stores, and gas stations, among others, other businesses require a different solution, as work environments differ vastly from one another and can’t just apply the same recommended safety protocols. This holds true for Cinema Centenario.

READ: CULTURE-SHAPING MICRO CINEMA IN MAGINHAWA CINEMA CENTENARIO OFFICIALLY CLOSES ITS DOORS DUE TO THE PANDEMIC

MOOV is an online streaming service that serves as a virtual counterpart of Cinema Centenario allowing Filipino cinema to expand through the digital world. It remains on brand as its well-curated films are able to showcase beyond its four walls.

As announced on their Facebook page, “Cinema is changing and is now beyond the four corners of a dark theater. With the changing times and the uncertainties of the new normal, MOOV aims to create a multi-sectoral online community of movie lovers. A community that will strive for the positive shaping and development of Philippine Cinema. Cinema is for everyone, and everybody deserves great Filipino Cinema.”

 

There’s currently seven films  available for viewing, including Ang mga Alingawngaw sa Panahon ng Pagpapasya, a 2015 film that discusses the 1986 revolution from the inside of the most basic unit of society, Ang mga Bulong sa Bituka ng Sta. Mesa, a 2015 black and white documentary to goes in the depths of Manila’s Sta. Mesa district, Maliw, a 2013 film that features three distinct narratives set right before the Martial Law era and the present time, portraying the love, idealism, and politics of memories, and how such notions are lost and found.

You can also stream Paano Bihisan ang Isang Ina, a 2018 short film about a pre-teen boy who rents an adult entertainer to be his mother for a week, Santa Nena, a patron saint statue in a parish church which springs to life every night, wishes to become human again.

Taya, a 2013 short film about a 12 year-old boy learns to play traditional Filipino games through a new set of friends, who will show him that life and their games have many things in common, and Tila, a 2014 film unlikely love story between a flood control worker and a travel agent form in a place where continuous rain drenched the cities for 20 years, illegal multivitamins are sold everywhere, and bulalo is at high demand.

MOOV will continue the celebration of the Filipino vision and cinematic artistry beyond its centennial year. Cinema Centenario’s path toward the next normal involves going online as do all of us in this seismic lifestyle and economic shift to digital. We can continue to support by streaming and donating to their cause of providing alternative sources of entertainment through their website.

We fell in love with how Cinema Centenario was able to bring comfort and quiet of intimate theaters adding that fresh layer of movie-viewing experience that we find comfort in watching at home. This time, we actually get to relive that, literally, in our own home as they deliver it through our digital screens.