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You started your career in this industry as a production assistant in 1984, before your first film in 1998. That’s 14long years! How was the journey like? |
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| A |
It has been my lifelong dream to become a film director, a dream I nurtured since I was in my adolescent years, so nothing can compare to the joy and excitement I felt when it finally happened in 1998 when I shot my first film, "Sana Pag-ibig Na" (Wish It Were Love). The sense of fulfillment I felt and the realisation that I have what it takes to become a director plus the good reviews the film got more than made up for the film's dismal performance at the box-office. It might have taken me such a long and arduous time to fulfill that dream but the wait was worth all the struggles and frustrations I've encountered along the way. It helped too that because I started from the bottom, I mastered the whole process of film production every step of the way. |
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| Q |
We find it amazing that you shot the entire movie with a limited budget of US$50,000. How did you do it? |
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| A |
Every director who is passionate about his craft will find ways to pursue and realise his art. When I was given my break to do my first film, it was a "do or die, now or never" thing with me so I guess that derring-do attitude was what saw me through the completion of my first film. I must have been very desperate to bear with the most trying conditions - limited budget, number of shooting days (10 days) and film rolls (20,000 ft) but it also made me work harder, be more precise,resourceful and disciplined. Looking back, it was "suicidal" on my part but the risk eventually paid off. Now, I am doing the thing I love most and I can't see myself doing other things besides directing. |
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| Q |
What do you think makes a successful director? |
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| A |
Passion, commitment and integrity. Talent and diligence are not enough. Every time I am busy on a project, I am always on a "natural high" and take that as an affirmation that I am in the right vocation. Your work should always be a constant source of joy and inspiration. You also need a lot of patience in dealing with people you work with in all the stages of filmmaking (from pre-production,shooting and post-production). Filmmaking is the most collaborative form of art and you should treat your co-workers as your allies and not as your subordinates in fulfilling your vision. |
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| Q |
If you weren’t in the film industry, what would you like to be instead? |
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| A |
A literary writer, but I don't think I have the gift for being one. Even in filmmaking, I consider the job of the screenplay writer as more difficult and taxing than the director's. |
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| Q |
You graduated in Broadcast Communication from the University of the Philippines. What do you think are the challenges that face young aspiring film directors in the Philippines? |
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| A |
Establishing a solid career as a director. The advent of digital technology has made it easy for aspiring filmmakers to get their breaks and making their first films but their aspirations shouldn't end there. It should be just the start of a lifetime vocation. Also staying true to their culture. Film directors of their respective countries, outside of America, should develop their own style, stories and sensibilities and not end up clones of Hollywood filmmakers. |
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| Q |
Your third film Larger Than Life (2000) was a satire on the state of the Filipino movie industry. What drove you to do that film? |
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| A |
I made "Tuhog" (Larger Than Life) at a time when the Censors Board was very liberal. The producers took advantage ("abused". is more like it) of the climate and made one sex film after another, with most of them bordering on the pornographic. I, myself felt very bad for one sexy star who was exploited in one movie I saw. I thought "Tuhog" was a good opportunity to express the indignation I felt at the abuse being committed by my colleagues in the industry. I ended up using the aforementioned sexy star in "Tuhog", with her playing the role of the real-life incest victim whose life story was bought and made into a film by a director who was just out to exploit and milk the victim's story dry of its commercial possibilities. |
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| Q |
Tell us a bit about your upcoming film, The Bet Collector (2006)? |
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The Bet Collector is three days in the life of a jueteng (illegal numbers game) collector and through her, we get an overview of the kind of society and culture that preys on her and her class. It is done cinema verite style with a lot of long, handheld shots and the film was shot on and HDV camera and transferred to 35MM. It premiered at the 28th Moscow International Film festival last June where it won the FIPRESCI Critics' Jury Prize for Best Film and again, in its second international film festival outing at the Osian Cinefan in New Delhi, it won its second FIPRESCI Jury Prize for Best Film, aside from garnering the top awards for Best Film in the main competition and Best Actress for its lead star, Gina Pareño. It will have its commercial run in the Philippines this August 16 and we are hoping that the attention it got in the international film festival circuit will help boost its chances at the local box-office. So far, the film has already been
invited to the following film festivals: Hawaii,Toronto, Pusan, London, Mumbai, Brussels. Greece, Turkey, Sau Paolo. |
