Cinema One celebrates 25 years of championing Pinoy cinema
Cinema One, one of the first locally produced cable channels in the Philippines, is hitting its silver anniversary this month.
Just like its anniversary theme song, “Laging Kasama” as sung by Daniel Padilla,it has become every Pinoy’s integral movie companion.
One of the country’s leading cable channels, which has spent years of championing Philippine cinema and building up a community of film fanatics to television, it is beefing up with more dynamic content.
On June 30(Sunday), it will premiere the highest grossing Filipino film of all time, “The Hows Of Us” starring the Phenomenal stars of Philippine cinema Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo.
Cinema One began in 1994 as Sky One, later changed its name to Pinoy Blockbuster Channel, and finally got its current name in 2001. It is one of the ABS-CBN cable channels under the network’s subsidiary, Creative Programs, Inc.
Channel head Ronald Arguelles shared that Cinema One was born to provide a 24-hour channel showcasing Filipino films.
“Aside from doing our core programming made up of classic and contemporary Pinoy films, we also began producing local magazine shows like “Cinemanews,” “Persona,” “Cover Story,” and “Review Night,” Ronald shared of the channel’s local production beginnings in 2001.
Screenwriter Ricky Lee shared in the recent “Inside the Cinema” interview that the channel has become a repository of Filipino movies since then, “the go-to channel if you want to watch local films.”
Today, the Cinema One brand has evolved from merely airing movies to producing its own films through the annual Cinema One Originals festival. The fearless film festival has brought international recognition and award-winning stories, including the box office hit “That Thing Called Tadhana.”
Bianca Gonzales, host of the channel’s magazine show “Cinemanews,” hailed Cinema One for opening opportunities for young filmmakers, the future of Philippine cinema. “Here in Cinema One, especially in ‘Cinemanews,’ independent filmmakers and film personalities are given more airtime to articulate their views and opinions about their projects and discuss varied issues affecting work and their lives.”
The premier cable channel also regularly hosts outdoor screenings via OpenAir Cinema One to bring the moviegoing experience face-to-face to viewers, capped with live music and games for the audience’s enjoyment.
The channel has continued to grow for the past two and a half decades, even producing its own series “Single/ Single” for two successful seasons and concluded it with a movie in 2018.
This year, it went full blast with its own YouTube channel to stream films and program clips online, and in just three months it already gained over 120,000 subscribers.
“We want to do more collaborations with new platforms such as iWant and YouTube. We also hope to continue producing more diverse and exciting films,” Ronald added.
This month, the channel also features a compelling line-up in the Restored Cinema program section in celebration of 100 Years of Philippine Cinema, with the award-winning war drama “Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos” airing on Sunday (June 23) and “Ibong Adarna,” the oldest film in its archive,” on June 30.
