Where direk Laurice is ‘meant to be’

We knew it long before the Singapore International Film Festival acknowledged her contributions to Philippine Cinema last April. Organizers described Laurice Guillen as "one of the most important female directors to emerge from the Filipino new wave of the ’70s. Her early film Salome has been ranked as a new wave classic like Kurosawa’s Rashomon."

Though the public has long awaited a follow-up to her masterpieces Tanging Yaman and American Adobo, Direk Laurice is in no hurry. "Why waste my time? I cannot do so many movies," she says so softly and sweetly, you forget she was once the wickedest of wicked stepmothers to Janice de Belen’s Flor de Luna.

Acting, however, can’t compete with her passion as a filmmaker. Three years shy of her 60th year, the accomplished artist doesn’t need to prove herself.

Laurice has earned a place in film history. Her career has been marked with a Best Actress award for single performance on Television in 1970 for Babae, a Best Stage Actress award for A Streetcar Named Desire in (1980 Aliw Awards), three Best Supporting Actress awards in 1984 (Urian, Catholic Mass Media and Star Awards) for Sister Stella L., three Best Story awards in 2000 (Metro Manila Film Festival, Pasado and FAMAS) for Tanging Yaman and four Best Screenplay awards in 2000 (MMFF, Young Critics’ Circle, Pasado and FAMAS) for Tanging Yaman. You’ll have to catch your breath before counting almost a dozen awards she has reaped as director from the Urian, MMFF, Manila Film Festival, Young Critics’ Circle, Pasado. Boosting her reputation as filmmaker were Salome, Magkano ang Iyong Dangal, Kapag Langit ang Humatol, The Dolzura Cortez Story and Tanging Yaman.

Finally, the director is doing post production on her latest film. To be shown in November is Unitel Pictures’ Santa Santita, which casts Angelica Panganiban in a sinner-saint role. The local screening will coincide with its showing in the US. The project excites Laurice because, for one, it is her first time to shoot a movie on digital or high definition. She explains that this is the same technology used in Tom Cruise’s Collateral. The material also appealed to her from the start. It was so unforgettable that she offered to buy it from the scriptwriter even before it won first prize in a contest. She went further still by investing her talent fee on the project.

It is with the same passion that she is pursuing F. Sionil Jose’s short story Puppy Love for her next project. The director has already discussed the possibility with the national artist for literature. He was equally eager to transfer his written word on film for the first time. But Direk Laurice is again taking things slow. She declines divulging more of her plans. For now, she prefers creative privacy to avoid speculations on the casting. This, however, does not stop her from recounting the richness of the story that begins with a sweet kissing scene between the adolescent lead characters. A natural storyteller, she describes how the young girl keeps biting on an apple as her young admirer looks longingly at her. The innocent but stolen kiss happens after the heroine apologizes for not offering to share the apple. An obviously thrilled Laurice, eyes sparkling with delight, smiles as she ends her short account.

"Every film I have done especially since I came back has been the best I’ve ever done so far," she insists. "If I had the same budget as The Pianist, I would want to do F. Sionil Jose’s novel Ermita. I am always optimistic naman parati that that can still happen. Kaya, bago makarating dyan, I will do the best in everything. Who knows? Maybe somebody will be interested in providing foreign funding."

Her fascination for the works of F. Sionil Jose stems from his fiction’s cinematic appeal in its depiction of human struggle. Laurice has, after all, been known to capture the nuances of ordinary life in her movies. It is for this same reason that she does not highlight special effects. More than anybody, she knows life is stranger than fiction. Her own life has all the elements a blockbuster needs: comedy, drama and suspense. The saga has taken her from obscurity to stardom; from stardom to obscurity and back. At the peak of their careers, Laurice and then live-in partner Johnny Delgado disappeared for most of the 1990s. It was considered a big mystery why such a visible showbiz couple would turn invisible. Wild rumors spread especially when their two young daughters dropped out of school and the family went on a pilgrimage that would last seven years. Many believed they had gone bonkers and joined a cult. Others suspected Laurice had cancer (an idea that started after she had a hysterectomy).

None of these were true. The simple truth was their lives drastically changed when they devoted their lives to the Blessed Mother. For one thing, they gave up all the luxuries they were accustomed to. Johnny would often boast of how they mastered cooking sardines 25 different ways. The most striking change came when the couple got married after 15 years of living together. Considered a solid union, their relationship embodied the ideal of live-in arrangements. No one, not even Laurice or Johnny, ever expected they would get married. And when they did, they did so in a fashion that only proves life is stranger than fiction. Two of the country’s best artists – she an accomplished actress/director and he a critically-acclaimed character actor – vowed to love and cherish each other until the ends of lives in a tiny chapel at the heart of the city dump (Smokey Mountain).

Years later, she found herself returning to the same industry that once seemed unreceptive to her new values. "When I did Tanging Yaman, it was as if I never really left directing. Hindi naman talaga nawawala," she admits.

"The time away changed me as a director. It gave me an awareness of my responsibility to the audience. That I am also accountable to the audience, to the public. Before, I wanted to entertain the audience. Bahala na sila to exercise judgment. But since then, I have realized I have a following pala. I’m more clear with the statements I make as a filmmaker.

But I didn’t miss the movies at all. I came back for the same reason I left: This is like where I am meant to be. Dito ako inilagay, o dito ko na gagawin ang kung ano mang dapat gawin ko. I don’t know if I’m ever gonna leave again. I live on a day-to-day-basis."

Meanwhile, she is known for being a trailblazer and pioneer. The industry has benefited from her dedication to such groups as the Actors Workshop Foundation, Kapisanan ng mga Direktor ng Pelikulang Pilipino, Directors’ Guild of the Philippines and the International Visitors Program of the Philippines. Laurice lay the ground work for the said organizations as founding member. She was also president of the Film Development Foundation of the Philippines, Inc. from 2001 to 2002. Currently, she is the pioneering chairperson and chief executive officer of the Film Development Council of the Philippines.

Even when faced with overwhelming problems of Philippine Cinema, Laurice remains optimistic amid dire predictions. "The only way to survive is to hit the international market. When I make films, I’m thinking if it can be watched not just here but abroad. That’s why I always fight for live sound kasi we have to comply with international standards. Right now, we have mainstream distribution of our films in the US but we rely on our overseas Filipino market. But if you really wanna hit what Mira Nair has hit with Monsoon Wedding, I guess I’ll have to make films in the English language."

In short, she has a long way to go as filmmaker. "Yes, I am still aiming for that even at my age," she laughs self-consciously. "I just want to go to the logical place. Even if I don’t have enough time, our foot will be inside the door already and there will be others who will attempt the same thing. I refuse to believe the film industry is dying. To me, that is a good time as any. It is a time of great opportunity. These are really great times. Some things will die and that is when you face your moment of truth.

You come to grips with it. Look at the films of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Those were the films during Martial Law. Kaya talagang na-tsa- challenge ang filmmaker. So if it (the film industry) is dying, let’s come to grips with it. Lalaban tayo."

The next battle for her is to market Philippine movies internationally. She feels that though producers should aim for international film festival awards, they should not neglect the business side of their ventures. "Not all films qualify for filmfests. But does that mean they don’t have a market?," she poses a question that clearly shows her position.

Laurice is now working on setting up a booth for Philippine movies at the next Cannes Film Festival. Some Filipino films like Magnifico, Crying Ladies and Imelda were on display at the Unitel Pictures booth last year but these were labeled as American productions. It was only the Philippines and Vietnam that did not showcase its films. Laurice’s target as chairman and CEO of the Film Development Council is to market 20 Filipino films at the Cannes, the mother of all film festivals.