THE MANILA FILM CENTER 1980s

The Manila Film Center is a national building located at the southwest end of the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex in Pasay City. The structure was designed by architect Froilan Hong where its edifice is supported on more than nine hundred piles which reaches to the bed-rock about 120 feet below. The Manila Film Center served as the main theater for the First Manila International Film Festival (MIFF) from January 18 to 29, 1982.

Prior to the Manila Film Center, the Philippines did not have an official national film archive which is why on January 1981, then first lady Imelda Marcos spearheaded the building of the first Manila Film Center. She also wanted to stage an annual film festival that would rival Cannes Film Festival of France and put Manila on the international cultural map.

On November 17, 1981, during the pouring of cement, an upper floor collapsed, sending an untold number of workers hurtling into fresh cement or onto upright steel bars where they hung like barbeque for hours until their bodies were retrieved. It has been speculated that due to the 9 hours that passed before rescuers were allowed in the site, some of the workers were entombed alive and that the bodies were left in the hardened concrete slabs.

The Film Center opened in 1982 costing an estimate of $25 million. Amidst everything, the first Manila International film festival pushed through from the 18th to the 29th of January 1982. A total of 17 movies from different countries competed in the festival. Eventually it was India's entry, 36 Chowringhee Lane which would claim best picture while best actress and best actor were brought home by Lyudmila Gurchenko and Bruno Lawrence respectively. Yugoslav film director Goran Marković won best director.

In a 2005 documentary produced by GMA Network's i-Witness, all 169 workers were traced and the records show that not more than a dozen died. Furthermore all the bodies were retrieved and were given a proper burial.