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Cannes 2024: Directors' Factory spotlights the Philippines, Filipino filmmakers, collaborators
Aside from the successful restoration and screening of the classic Lino Brocka film "Bona" which starred Nora Aunor and Phillip Salvador in the Cannes Classics division, the Directors' Factory that spotlighted the Philippines and the upcoming young Filipino filmmakers is probably the next best thing that happened at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
After its first edition in 2013 in Taiwan, Directors' Factory spotlighted the Philippines. Each year, with the support of a new partner country, the Factory mentors eight budding filmmakers with first or second feature projects to co-write and co-direct, in pairs, a total of four short films to be screened at the Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Cineastes), an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival.
Created and produced by producer Dominique Welinski of France and founder of DW production company, this project was supported by Filipino filmmakers like Jim Baltazar of CMB Film Services who lent cameras, lights and equipment for free while cinematographers Pao Orendain, Mackie Galvez, Tey Clamor and Pong Ignacio lensed the short films and guided the directors in their vision. The Directors Factory Philippines was led-produced by Bradley Liew of Epicmedia Productions Inc. and Dominique Welinski of DW.
General Manager of Anima Studios of Kroma Entertainment Bianca Balbuena together with Paul Soriano of Ten17P also supported the project from creative collaboration, financing and post-production.
Post-production services were also provided by Terminal Six Post, while color-grading was done in Barebones Inc. The projects' two editors, Lawrence Ang and Jordan Dela Cruz, stayed in Dakak Resort in Dapitan, for a month to edit the four short films right after they were all shot in Dapitan.
We interviewed all the budding Filipino filmmakers and their foreign film collaborators in Cannes. Below are our conversations with the directors of the four short films namely "Cold Cut," "Nightbirds," "Silig," and "Walay Balay."
Cold Cut
The film exclusively stars local talents from Dapitan City. It is about Joy, a 19-year-old student, who is about to compete at the local talent show. As she's about to enter the audition, a mysterious butcher takes her to unknown horizons.
Talk about your film and your experience here in Cannes.
Don Eblahan (DE): Our film is called "Cold Cut," and it's about this dancer who auditions for a competition and meets a butcher who takes her into these unknown mysterious circumstances.
How's your experience right now in Cannes?
DE: So far, it's been great. This is the first day that we're doing something. It was the premiere, so we were a bit nervous, and we got rained on. But it's great to see everyone's films and the audience. It was a packed theatre.
Is it your first time in Cannes too?
Tan Siyou (TS): Yeah, first time for me. Don has been here before.
DE: Yes, I was here for a residency program, so I was here pitching my project last year.
And how's your Cannes experience so far?
TS: It's great. Just the rain is a bit moody. Waiting for the sun to come out. But it was really cool. It was a packed theatre; the projection was beautiful, and it was so nice to see the other films.
What are you looking forward to in your Cannes experience?
DE: I guess just being around the culture of cinema is nice. Because usually as filmmakers, we're always just riding, stuck to our chairs, and we only get to direct only a few times a year. It's nice to be an active participant of cinema in a festival setting. Seeing the culture and people everywhere celebrating at the cinema is nice.
TS: It's a reunion with everyone, with the other directors, and with Don. It was an amazing time in Dapitan. It was so fun, and we worked, and we had a lot of fun and then we all flew off. And this is the first reunion we have.
DE: So, it's nice to see each other. I was so happy to see the whole group. I think yesterday was one of the first times the eight of us together really hung out. Because when we were there, we were busy making, writing, editing and whatever. But now we get to be a complete family. I was really happy to see you Tan yesterday.
TS: And to enjoy this moment together because the last time in Dapitan we were working hard on different schedules. So, that's what I'm looking forward to hanging out with everyone.
So how was that experience working in Dapitan?
DE: It was great because Dapitan itself, besides the historical importance of it for the Philippines, it's such a beautiful place. The biodiversity that it offered all of the filmmakers was essential because everyone had different stories, different settings, different concepts. There are these different places in the Dapitan itself where they can shoot mountains, the water, and cockfighting. It's very diverse. All of our films, although set in the same city, have their different identities, which was great.
Was it your first time in the Philippines?
TS: Yes, it was my first time in the Philippines. It was amazing.
DE: She ate a lot of humba (Visayan braised pork dish similar to the classic adobo) and talong (eggplant).
TS: Our favorite meal is talong, humba, and rice. It was great. I had such a good time.
Talk about the collaboration. This is your first time to work with a foreign director. How was that experience?
DE: Yeah, it was my first time co-directing and co-writing with anyone at all. So, it required for the both of us to be open with each other, share each other's type of cinema, share each other's personalities and to create this thing. I was saying earlier that our film is a dance film, but in a way it's the two of us wanting to dance and wanting to find each other's creative spirit within the process.
Tan, how was it working with Don?
TS: It was great. It was like a blind date. It's like how they just put two people together and we have to figure out, like in two weeks, we needed to have a script. So, we just made a lot of video calls across different time zones because somehow, we were always moving around. But all the video calls were good because we were just getting to know each other, getting to know what films we like. Hanging out for a couple of hours once every few weeks. And then we co-wrote something together. And then when we met in Dapitan, it was very organic, like a long-lost sibling, you know? It was very nice. Everything felt very natural.
Did you have to Google him and check out all his films?
TS: We exchanged films.
DE: Yeah, we did exchange each other's work. Immediately, I became a fan of her works after seeing it. It's easy to work with someone that you admire creatively.
Why did you decide on the dance?
TS: We wanted to try making a film that we never made before. And it was something that we were just throwing out like, dance, why not? At first, we were interested in dance, but we've never made a film about dance or that has dance. So that's how the dance came about.
DE: So that became the vessel to a lot of our ideas. For us also as artists, we wanted to make a film that voices out the pressure of being in these competitive places and maybe even the violence that happens within, that we try to keep within ourselves, the mental, the spiritual violence that happens to an artist when they're creating something. So, making this film became a vehicle for these emotions and that became "Cold Cut."
Even the song is organic. These talents are from Dapitan. They are non-actors, right?
TS: Well, Noriel the butcher, he works at Fantasyland, so he's a performer, but for all of them, it was their first time on screen.
DE: Yeah, it's their first time acting in an independent film where the camera is focused on emotions and moments and silences. For them, maybe it broke down their idea of what acting in a film looks like. But we all got to collaborate in creating not just their performances but also, they had a hand in making the story and the structure of the film because of who they were when they came to us.
TS: Don and I work a lot with non-actors. And so, Chevy, the main Joy, she is a dancer, but in recent years, she's also done theatre and she's a spoken word poet. So, this combination of everything within her was perfect for our role. I think when we are casting, we don't know exactly what we're going to get, but when we saw her dance, she's such a unique person and has a very distinct way of dancing.
How about the music? Was it also done from Dapitan? Where did you get your music?
DE: One of the songs that's featured primarily in the film called "Shoot" was made by Brugoy. He's a rapper from Zamboanga, and with my friend, Nathan. We remixed the beat to fit into something more tropical and fun. We added little hints of violence here and there with the samples and the beat-making. We introduced this song to our actors in a lot of the auditions and they started dancing to it and a lot of the story formed from seeing their ways of dancing to this song.
How did you do your casting?
TS: We have a casting director who went early to put the word out. She got lots of tapes and locals to come in and we had quite a few options, but it was really clear. First, we cast Joy, then we cast the butcher and then we have the other girl that Joy meets. She's a dancer and when we saw her dance, we thought she could also be the choreographer. So, she became the choreographer of everything. So, she has two roles.
The story is also a love story?
DE: Definitely, we explored it. There is love present in the film, but we don't want to specifically say that it's a romantic film between the two characters. More so, it's an exploration maybe of more subtle meanings of how one can tame someone else's inner violence. So, maybe the butcher became this vehicle for these rougher emotions or maybe something else.
What challenges did you experience while making this movie?
TS: Well, we lost our location, right?
DE: Yeah, there were a few location changes. It turned out to be the best because we ended up with locations that we were really happy with. But, in cinema, when you're making films, you lose location all the time. So, this is something that we were prepared for. Any challenges that came to us, we were just like, okay, let's keep going.
TS: Because we have a lot of background actors, we were specific about the ages. We were shooting on a weekday, so a lot of students couldn't make it. So, there was one day we were supposed to have like a hundred background talents, and we ended up with 60. We wanted to fill the space and make it feel...
DE: Surreal and busy.
TS: So, casting and locations are always challenges, but it turned out well.
DE: It turned out well because everyone who worked on locations and the cast that came, the talents, were all happy to be there. We felt the community of Dapitan offered us their creative spirit.
Did you build the set?
TS: We were lucky because we got a lot of costumes and props from Fantasyland. We could borrow from what they have instead of starting from scratch. Because we have so many people to dress. What we have essentially is an abandoned house and then we have to dress it up. So, we were lucky with how Dapitan was very generous, and Fantasyland was very generous with supporting our production.
Are you pitching your feature films later?
DE: Yeah, later today we'll be training for it, but tomorrow we do have a pitch event where we're going to be talking about our upcoming future projects.
Nightbirds
The film stars Pokwang and it is about a woman named Ivy who crosses path with mythology in the form of the mystical Tigmamanukan bird who helps her break free from her husband who gambles the couple's money in cockfighting.
How does it feel to have your movie shown in Cannes?
Ashok Vish (AV): It is quite surreal and overwhelming. It took us a while for it to hit us until we saw the theater and all the people. It's been pretty great.
Is this your first time in Cannes?
AV: Yes, it is my first time.
Maria Paiso (MP): It's still not real for me. I keep on seeing the beach and I'm being reminded of home, and I keep thinking this is just home with a flight involved. I haven't slept that much, but it's starting to hit that I'm actually in Cannes with my co-director.
What are you looking forward to in this Cannes experience?
AV: As a filmmaker who's in development for my first feature film, it's quite a learning experience still. I'm keen on getting feedback on what people thought about the film, just soaking in all of that, and then also working with my other producer who's helping me out with my feature film and seeing where we can take that project. So, these are the things that I'm excited about.
MP: It's the same because we have a pitch tomorrow, so for me, it will be my first time pitching in public as a director for this feature. It will be my first feature film, so I'm looking forward to it, kind of nervous, but looking forward to how people will react in meeting like-minded people who want to come on board with the project.
Talk about the collaboration that you experienced in this project, and what lessons did you learn about your collaboration?
AV: It started in October of 2023, so it's been a long process. It's basically like a film residency program, so it started with a writing process. We took our time ideating and figuring out what we wanted to work on, and what kind of film we wanted to make. The writing process was interesting. It was gradual, but it all came together. The actual filming process was a chocker block schedule, so we had to be on our A-game. A lot of times it was a lot of compromises, it was a lot of problem-solving. So, it helps you in terms of just being patient and thinking about collaboration. That's my key takeaway from the program.
MP: The major one was, imagine writing a script with someone you've only seen through Zoom and just like gossiping. And like talking about life stuff and not just the collaboration through Zoom. So that was pretty interesting, especially since he's from another country. We had to meet culturally also and find similar interests and things we wanted to make films about. We took our time with that. We had a lot of revisions. Then production came and that was wild. It was just like, every day we had a schedule. We were shooting for four straight days. We had to make decisions on the fly. I guess the major one was the problem-solving we had to do as a pair. But when we reached post-production, it was even more compromised because he had to go home, and we had to make decisions right away because the festival was coming. It was a lot of problem-solving, especially with someone you just met last October. So, it was very, very interesting.
And you filmed in Dapitan. So how was that experience?
AV: Amazing. We were staying at a resort. So, in some ways, it felt like a vacation, but you had to put in the work. It was a lot of work. Dapitan is beautiful, and everybody there was so friendly. The entire production team from the Philippines was just excellent and on their A-game. It was overall a great experience, just in terms of working with everybody that was involved in the production.
Did you have staff from India?
MP: The whole production crew was Filipino and the whole post-production crew was also Filipino, so Ashok was the one adjusting. Because he was the only foreigner for a while when we were working. It was mostly a Filipino crew with my co-director from India.
For both of you, is this your first short film?
MP: This is my second or third.
AV: I've made a few short films in the past. So, this would be my fourth.
But this is your first time to collaborate with a Filipino director?
AV: That's right.
And how did you do the casting of including Pokwang?
MP: I was coordinating with our line producer, Tin, because we were shortlisting actresses who would want to come on board the project because we were envisioning this like a strong woman who could tell stories with her eyes. And we went through like, oh, maybe this, maybe this. But eventually, I had the guts to ask Tin if she could ask Miss Pokwang to come on board, especially with the limitations, with the time, she's busy, and she has like an everyday schedule for TV. So, we weren't sure if she was willing to come on board, but she said yes. And it was so surprising, she's so, so talented. She made the work a lot easier because she's such a talented actress.
I also like the combination of animation in this film. Whose idea was that?
AV: You know, especially with Estela's work, she has a background in working in mixed media. In my practice, I also work across experimental video within the visual arts. So, in that way, we were matched up together. So, from the get-go, we knew that we were going to bring in mixed media. The animation elements came later on in the process.
What's your background in art?
MP: I'm actually in post-production. I'm an offline editor. So that's my background. That's why the short is post-production heavy also because we had to push the limits because we had a time limit on how long we were allowed to work on the project, and we were shuffling through different models of the bird. Just how to figure it out because we had to adjust on the fly because we were watching the film and like making comments and we had to adjust some storylines. And of course, adjusting the storyline also comes with adjusting the animation.
I know animation takes a long time. So, for you guys to have animation included, takes double the hard work.
AV: The project was a little ambitious in that sense. If we had more time, that would have been ideal. But we did what we could in the time that we had.
Did you include other animators from the Philippines to work on this?
MP: Yes, because I'm actually part of a post-production house, so I had my friends join in. There was one VFX artist who came on board, and she did the animation bird stuff. But we had consulted some 3D artists as well because we were running out of time, and we had to do the 3D model in a very short amount of time. So, it was mostly me and also Terminal 6 also came in. They also helped us with some cleanups. It was group work, post-production.
What challenges did you encounter in this project?
AV: As a foreign director in the program, that in itself is a challenge. You're coming into a foreign country, you've never worked in the country, you don't know anybody there. That in itself is quite an undertaking. But that's part of the program and you have to roll with the punches and do the best that you can. It's been an incredible experience in that way.
How long were you given to finish the project?
MP: We shot for four days, and we had to edit in one week, two weeks. Then we took the project back to Manila because we had to do color grading and sound. We had to extend the timeline for the animation because the producers saw it and they had comments and we had to adjust. It was mostly a process of improving the version we had. We were the last to finish, I'm sure of that. We were the last to submit. At the very end, we were still submitting some shots. It took a while. I think we finished around the last week of April or maybe the first week of May.
Why mythology? Are you involved in mythology?
AV: Yeah, I'm definitely interested in mythology. I like the idea of contextualizing mythology within contemporary times. And Estela also has an interest in mythology, so it was easy as a starting point to look at what we wanted to talk about within the film.
What are your future projects? Are you going to have other projects together?
AV: We're going to make our feature-length films and then retire together. (laughs)
MP: And then retire on the beach and manage a bar together.
Silig
The film stars Sylvia Sanchez and Angel Aquino. It tells the story of a stubborn and feisty Mamang (Sanchez) who is back in town after 20 years to organize her funeral. But she wants to be cremated against all odds.
Is this your first time in Cannes?
Lomorpich Rithy (LR): Second time.
Arvin Belarmino (AB): Third time.
So, how's your Cannes experience so far?
AB: This is very exciting because right now I have two short films in Cannes. This is, so far, one of the highlights of my Cannes experience. I'm happy to be here with Yoki, my co-director, and we were happy with our screening, the world premiere of "Silig" in Cannes' Directors' Fortnight Factory.
LR: Amazing, bongga!
You're learning Tagalog, Yoki!
LR: Yes, I learned Tagalog. So, it's been amazing. Also, it's the first time for me to see "Silig" on the big screen. We didn't get to watch, as directors, the same program. So, for me, it's emotional because we were on set together, we were staying in the resort together, we talked about our project and then now here at Cannes we are able to sit in the same cinema and watch every film together. For me, it's a bit unreal.
What are you looking forward to this Cannes experience this year?
AB: To share our film "Silig." We have three screenings right now during the festival. And just right now we had a very successful world premiere and presented it with our cast which includes Sylvia Sanchez who is with us. It's also exciting to see the works of our fellow filmmakers because Factory consists of four short films. It's a very exciting experience to see the films for the first time on a big screen in the Directors' Fortnight. It was a fun and amazing experience.
Talk about the casting of Sylvia Sanchez and Angel Aquino.
LR: They are amazing actors. We were lucky to cast them into the roles. Sylvia was born for the role. We could not have a better Mamang than her. We could not have a better actress than Angel Aquino. They're both magical, and their chemistry is unbelievable. I was concerned about the chemistry of the actors because they have to convey a very deep feeling in a way that is hidden because you don't know they are lovers until they kiss. That is the big challenge, and I was like, we have to make sure that they know the role and convey such a deep performance. But then on the set, on the first day, they just nailed it. When we talked to them outside the screen, they were Sylvia and Angel. Then one day, going to the set, in front of the camera, I don't know them. They became their characters. So, it's a very beautiful experience and it's amazing.
Have you seen any of Silvia's previous works? That's why you cast her?
AB: Yeah. When we first were looking for an actress, I made an effort to watch some of Sylvia Sanchez's videos available online. When I showed the reel to Yoki she said, that's our Mamang. Sylvia is really born to play Mamang. She was so happy and excited when she was on the stage talking about the film. It was an exhilarating experience with Sylvia. And when we shot the film with her, everything was so light because she was devoted to the role. Before she went to the set, she knew what she was going to do. She sometimes would talk with us, doing some collaboration if she can do this or she can do that. It's a very collaborative experience. We're so happy that we cast Sylvia and also Angel Aquino.
Sylvia is deglamorized here and she's a glamorous lady. So, she agreed to do all of that.
LR: Yes, and I was nervous because I didn't know how to speak Tagalog. I was like, oh, Arvin, you have to talk to her but then on the first day we got to table read together, she just asked questions like, "What do you see from the character? What if I do this, how do you see her?" So, it became a dialogue, a conversation, and clearly, we all got into teamwork. The character of Mamang has to convert not just sadness, but also be very bold, very brave, and very independent. And she is a queer character, which at the same time, we don't want to overload just for queerness but to also see a woman, an older woman who's sick and knowing that she's about to die so it's a very complex character. Sylvia understood it clearly and she took our notes, every time on the set like, "For this scene do you want to see Mamang with more sadness? Can I do it more here and there?" She always has notes on her character. And we both go hand in hand and make magic.
Talk about the collaboration between the two of you. How was it collaborating with a stranger? How did you get to know each other and your films?
AB: It's really the help of the producers, how they organized everything, especially with Yoki. We had this online Zoom meeting, and then from there, we were excited to work together, starting from exchanging our previous works, the short films that we did, and also with her first feature film, which I really love. So, from there, when we started writing the story, it's very easy. The experience is really light.
We shared our differences and our similarities because she's from Cambodia and I'm from the Philippines, they're different cultures that we need to somehow thread to make it as one in this particular film. And then we always say that with the film we saw the similarity in how we present or how we practice grief, grieving. Because the ritual in Cambodia is different than in the Philippines on how we do the grief when someone is dead. So, weirdly, we had that fascination of somehow focusing on that first. And then from there, we got to enjoy exploring how to tell a story about love and freedom. That's the reason why we had these different emotions in the film. You will be sad and then for some reason, you will laugh weirdly. It's a rollercoaster of emotions for this film.
So, they are lovers?
LR: They are ex-lovers but they didn't have a good closure because of a forbidden society and also religion matter, and also your personal issue when you were young, you cannot believe what people say and tell you to do so that's why like the Mamang character as soon as she knows that she's about to leave this earth, she's like fuck it, I want to do what I want, I want to rebel. The character is like, what if she just rebels against whatever people say, like you cannot do cremation, I will do cremation. You cannot come here; I will come here. She is the definition of; at the end of the day in life you have to make your own decisions, you have a choice and just make it. Life is short and love has no limit and no boundaries.
So, what are you planning to do here in Cannes while you're here? Arvin, I know you have another film. Talk about "Radikals."
AB: Yes, I'm really excited also to have my world premiere in Critics Week on the 21st. "Radikals" is about this subculture in the Philippines, which is not that famous, which is a type of dance, a Bakte. Bakte is actually only residing in Bakte, one of the provinces in the Philippines.
And Bakte dance, I love that because I was raised in Cavite and for me to see this dance that is not that famous in the Philippines, but very famous in some areas in Cavite, I'm dreaming of telling a story in my hometown. Because we also know that Cavite is the land of heroes. But I don't want to talk about that. I think there's so much more to talk about than talking about our heroes. This subculture is not shown and is widely spread in the Philippines. And I'm happy that the Cannes Film Festival chose that film too because even the selection committees, that's the reason why they chose the film.
They don't know about the Bakte dance. Also, Bakte dance is a sign of survival, you know, the survival from a long day of work because Bakte dance is a farmer's dance actually in Cavite. From working hard and then in their free time, they will dance to show that they are still alive. So, it's somehow a very emotional dance that they do, that somehow passed to different generations. My team and I researched the dance and it existed during the pre-Hispanic era as well. So, it existed for a very long time. And now it's still ongoing.
Walay Balay
The film stars Shaina Magdayao and Ruby Ruiz. It is about Norayda (Ruiz) and her daughter Yahairah (Magdayao) who have found solace in a nearby town in the shadow of the Marawi conflict. They count each day to return home until an official letter arrives.
How's your experience here in Cannes so far?
Eve Baswel (EB): Surreal! I can't believe we're here. It's my first time out of Southeast Asia and my first time to be in a big festival like this. Seeing the film on the big screen with great sound, it's a surreal experience.
Gogularaajan Rajendran (GR): It is my first time in Cannes. It's inspiring to see how the city stops and just enjoy movies. It makes it more real. Because of movies, we think it's imagination, but when everyone is talking and thinking about movies, it becomes more real. Yeah, love it.
What are you looking forward to here in Cannes?
GR: I'm looking forward to be inspired and learn about cinema, making friends, and we are going to pitch our film. Hopefully we can find good people to work with.
And you're pitching it to producers and filmmakers?
EB: To different people. We have a list of meetings for producers from different parts of the world. It was because of Dominique (Welinski) and the producers who were able to find these people and connect with us. That's the beauty of the program. It doesn't end with the film premiere. It helps us connect with potential partners in the future that could make our film.
Is this your first short film?
EB: Aside from the college short films, this is my first legit short film. But I made a feature before for Cinema One Original with Cherie Gil.
GR: This is not my first short film, but the first one that I'm really happy with.
Please explain more. Why are you happy with this one?
GR: Normally I make a super personal movie, close to my heart, with family and friends. Super close and experimental. And this is something that I like. When I made the previous one, there were things that I would change, and here I'm really happy with what it is.
How was it collaborating with someone you didn't know?
EB: I did my research. I asked him to send his short films. Which are amazing short films. They're amazing. And it reflected how he is a filmmaker. It informed me on how to move forward with writing the script and how I can communicate with him and what aspects of his filmmaking would connect with mine.
It was really helpful that I saw it. I also read his sequence treatment for his feature film, which is great. It informed me how he tells a story. It was helpful because when we were writing, I would sometimes think, I wonder how Gogu would write this. So, that's how I delved into our relationship. Then once we got into the actual writing of the script, it would be amazing how we are so in sync.
For example, one night I would be revising and I'm listening to some music, or I'll be watching a Tarkovsky film and then like 10 minutes later he said, "May Tarkovsky bless us." I'm like, "Dude, I was just watching that film a few minutes ago." So, we are connected, very in sync.
Gogu, how was your experience collaborating with Eve?
GR: I feel like the first time I watched her film, I felt so close, like this is something that I would write, and I would direct. All the taste is there. But also, we are very similar, but we also have different tastes. But what I like is we don't give up on each other. No matter how hard the situation is, we hold on and we walk through the differences. We talked a lot. It's a lot about understanding each other and knowing where each is coming from. And then create something new. So, it is a very intense experience, very complex. I also learned about myself through this.
EB: You mentioned conflicts. It wasn't a walk in the park. We would have disagreements, but we know how to argue properly. For example, when he doesn't like a scene, or I don't like a shot, we would explain why. We don't stop with "I don't like it." Because it's a healthy communication because it helps me understand why you want it. And sometimes, if it's convincing, we can start from there and evolve it, and it becomes magical when we shoot it on the location.
You worked in Dapitan throughout the movie.
GR: Yeah, Dapitan is really cute. The people smile always, and it is a lovely place, and the nature is crazy. We had a Dapitan crew, they are so nice and after our shoot, we made a few friends. They brought what looks like a tuk-tuk, it's a tricycle, but it looks like a tuk-tuk. They drove us for like two hours. We went uphill in the tuk-tuk. Wow, and the nature is so beautiful; the people are really nice.
Who decided to make the movie in black and white? That's really impressive too. Because a lot of people in Hollywood are already using black and white again.
EB: I would love to answer this question. From the get-go, it was really in color. But then when we were doing the camera test, we would always lean into the shadows of the leaves, of a curtain, and we would feel like, I wonder how the shadow would register in black and white. It was just a conversation. And then eventually, our very amazing cinematographer, Pao Orendain, said, "Why don't we do it in black and white?" And it was already a yes for both of us. And then we wrote our proposal to the producers to get their yes, of course, because it's not just our film, it's their film also. So, we had to convince them that it should be in black and white. Because before writing to them, we already sent them a couple of test shots and they loved it in color. We did too. But somehow something was missing. When we got into our first day of shooting and our producer Dominique saw it in black and white, she said, I forbid you to shoot in color. She accepted it should be really in black and white.
It was very moving, especially having Ruby Ruiz as your lead actress.
GR: Personally, in my country, I only shoot with non-actors, and because of that, I don't have the capacity to do something bigger, so normally I will try to hide my camera, stay away from them, and make them comfortable. But with Shaina and Ruby, they are super professionals. So that's why we can go crazy with the camera, we can go track, we can put them in the tree, blow wind, and they can still emote. It's like seeing them prepare and seeing them do that with so much precision inspires. They elevate what we have in our minds. They bring it even further up.
Who decided on having Ruby Ruiz and Shaina Magdayao? Did you cast Ruby before or after she did "Expats"?
EB: After. So, I sent Gogu some of the options for actors and we normally gravitated towards Shaina and Ruby. Because of the energy, the characters are them. Especially when we were doing our table read, and they were listening to us, telling them the story and them reading the lines. We were like, dude, we did the right thing. It was the right decision for them to be the characters.
GR: And they are very talented, and they work for so long. But they never show it. They are always on the same ground with us. Super easy to work with.
EB: It was very easy to work with Ruby and Shaina because they're very technical. For example, we would direct them for a scene, and we would say something like, okay, for the first few seconds it's happy and then you're confused, and then dead stare at the end. And it was magic to see them act it out. It's so seamless, it's so natural, you can't feel that they're acting. That's why you felt them. And sometimes you would cry after a scene, especially if it's a heavy scene because it feels so real.
GR: Because there are no dialogues, all the information of the story just needs to be communicated through their faces. So, it's really hard on the actors.
And it makes it a very powerful movie. Just the look or the smile or the reaction from the actresses is telling a story. I commend you for that too. For choosing the two very good actresses and for you also directing them. What other challenges did you experience in the making of this film?
GR: The challenge was getting to the script. Like, we struggled to get to our last draft because we were sure what we wanted, like what story we wanted to tell, but the character, the style to arrive there, it took us so long. But after we got that, I think everything flowed.
EB: We had six drafts of full scripts and then on the sixth one, we realized that, wait, something is not right. Then we wrote it again from scratch. We were the last ones to finish the script. And then the last one felt right. And the producers also felt it. They were excited and happy that we were able to reach the last draft because they were waiting for it. It was like one week before the shoot. It was a nightmare for the team, and the crew, because we had already prepped for the 6th draft. But then, when we were writing the 7th, we were considering we would still use this location, still use the same things, but strip away all the other things and focus on what we really wanted.
—MGP, GMA Integrated News
