The unmarketed cinema of Western Visayas

By Noel Galon de Leon

On September 6, 2025, premier night in Iloilo, I watched Salum by TM Malones at Robinsons Jaro and I can’t stop thinking about it. It reminded me of last month when I attended the screening of Tigkiliwi by Tara Illenberger. Both films made me realize just how rich and alive our stories are in Western Visayas, yet I can’t help feeling frustrated at how little attention and support we give them. Why aren’t these films celebrated and promoted the way they deserve? Why do we let our stories stay hidden while the world misses out on the voices and lives of our people? I want the Department of Tourism, especially here in Region VI, to see that film is not just art but a vital part of who we are and who we can become. It’s time we stop underestimating our own stories and start showing them to the world.

In Western Visayas, stories are abundant but screens are scarce. We live in a region where folklore, history, and landscapes could rival anything on Netflix, yet our films remain underfunded, underpromoted, and underwatched. The problem is not a lack of talent. Anyone who has attended the CineKasimanwa Film Festival knows that young filmmakers here are brimming with vision. The real gap is in marketing, the professional machinery that turns a local film into a cultural product, a tourism asset, and, ultimately, a livelihood for artists.

And here lies the inconvenient truth, in this country, we often romanticize the idea of indie passion while neglecting the infrastructure to make that passion sustainable. Western Visayas is no exception. We treat film as a hobby, not an industry; as art for art’s sake, not as an ecosystem that could power tourism the way wine powers Napa Valley or jazz powers New Orleans. If we are serious about local development, we must professionalize film marketing. Otherwise, our stories will keep circulating in small pockets, applauded but unseen, alive but economically barren.

Film is not just entertainment. It is soft power. It is the most efficient form of cultural diplomacy, and if you look at what New Zealand did with The Lord of the Rings or what South Korea has done with K-drama and cinema, it is also a tourism strategy. People flock to locations they see on screen. Imagine tourists flying into Iloilo not only for Dinagyang but also because they saw a beautifully shot film set in the heritage district of Calle Real. Imagine Guimaras mangoes becoming more than an export; they become a cinematic icon, the way Tuscan vineyards became synonymous with romance after Italian films. But for that to happen, films must travel. And films do not travel on their own.

They need packaging, branding, distribution, festival circuits, and aggressive marketing. This is where the Department of Tourism (DOT) needs to stop thinking in silos. Tourism is not only beaches, food, and festivals. Tourism is narrative. Tourism is imagination. And imagination today is delivered, more than ever, through film.

The Western Visayas filmmaking community has the artistry but not the apparatus. Marketing is often an afterthought, a Facebook poster here, a trailer there, maybe a few likes from friends. But marketing is a profession. It requires data analytics, audience segmentation, partnerships with airlines and travel agencies, and synergy with government tourism boards. We cannot expect filmmakers, already overworked and underpaid, to also wear the hat of marketers, distributors, and lobbyists.

Professionalizing film marketing means building institutions, not just one-off grants. It means training marketers who understand both cinema and tourism, who can speak the language of global festivals as well as the needs of the local DOT. It means setting aside serious budgets, not token amounts, for promotion.

The Department of Tourism cannot keep funding dance festivals and “destination campaigns”while ignoring film. To be clear, festivals and campaigns matter. But film multiplies their reach exponentially. A film shot in Iloilo circulates for years, long after the bunting is taken down. A story set in Antique’s mountains lingers in the global imagination longer than any glossy brochure. So why is DOT still timid about investing in film production and marketing? Why is there no dedicated fund to support films that explicitly showcase Western Visayas’ cultural and natural assets? Why do we treat film as a creative sideline instead of a tourism accelerator?

The DOT loves to use the phrase “sustainable tourism.” If sustainability means anything, it must include investing in industries that are both cultural and economic. Film is precisely that. It employs writers, directors, crew, actors, designers, editors, and marketers, all while promoting the region itself. It is job creation with cultural value. It is tourism with memory.

If the DOT is serious, it must create a regional film-tourism fund and allocate specific budgets for films that showcase Western Visayas, with a marketing component that is professionally managed. It must also train a cadre of film marketers by partnering with universities in Iloilo, Bacolod, and beyond to professionalize film marketing as a discipline, blending arts management with tourism studies. Every regional tourism ad should feature not just beaches and food but actual films produced in the region. Every international film festival showing Western Visayas films should be tied to tourism promotion campaigns abroad.

Western Visayas is at a crossroads. We can continue producing films that are brilliant but unseen, celebrated in local circles but invisible to the wider world. Or we can recognize film as both art and industry, both narrative and economy. The first path is safe but stagnant. The second path is risky but transformative.

I challenge the Department of Tourism, put your money where your slogans are. If you truly believe in “Love the Philippines,” then love its films. Fund them. Market them. Make them central to how the world sees Western Visayas.

Because at the end of the day, tourists do not just visit places. They visit stories. And if we do not market ours, someone else will write them for us.

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Noel Galon de Leon is a writer and educator at University of the Philippines Visayas, where he teaches in both the Division of Professional Education and U.P. High School in Iloilo. He serves as an Executive Council Member of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts-National Committee on Literary Arts.