From Palanca to the silver screen

MANILA, Philippines - Thirty-year-old aspiring screenplay writer Kristoffer Brugada has always wanted to join Palanca Awards, the country’s most prestigious and longest-running literary contest, ever since high school. But it was only this year that he was able to dedicate time in writing his entry.

After graduating from the UP Film Institute, Brugada started in February 2001 a career in broadcast at Probe Productions where he was production assistant for the children’s show 5 and Up. After more than a year, he moved to the GMA Network’s News and Public Affairs where he was part of multi-awarded and high-rating shows in the network: As producer of Jessica Soho Reports for three years, executive producer of i-Witness for another three years, and program manager for the public affairs department for two years.

In February of this year, Brugada resigned from work to be able to do the other things he has always wanted to do — one of these is to write his entry for the Palanca Awards. He has also since then taken masteral units in Malikhaing Pagsulat from the University of the Philippines.

After about two months of working on his Palanca entry, Brugada was able to finish 130 pages of manuscript in April, in time for the deadline of the literary contest.

And the hard work was all worth it.

While judging Palanca Awards entries under the Dulang Pampelikula category, renowned movie director Joel Lamangan read his screenplay Patikul and was drawn enough to the story to buy the script from him. This was even before Brugada would learn about his winning the top prize in this category.

As he had hoped, his Palanca entry opened the doors of the movie industry for him. Lamangan told him he plans to produce or direct Patikul soon.

Patikul is a moving story of people in a war torn town of Patikul, Sulu. It was based on a real story of parents who have decided to escort teachers who walk through a dangerous path just to get to a school in Jolo. This was after the local government refused to provide security for the teachers even after the school’s principal was beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf. The parents, who want their children not to grow up illiterate like them, risk their lives to ensure that teachers will get to the classrooms to teach their children.

Said Brugada, “When I read an article last February about the beheading of a principal in Jolo and how the parents volunteered afterwards as security escorts of teachers, I instantly knew that it was a good story to write about. It talks about people’s having faith and hope in the midst of the chaos. It is a story about the triumph of the human spirit, of the unity of Filipinos. It tells us that if we join hands, we ourselves can give solutions to society’s problems.”

Brugada, who once thought that he would enter the movie industry after graduating from college, said that his being diverted to broadcast media has been serendipitous. It exposed him to stories about the society that he would later use as inspiration in writing Patikul and his future screenplays.

“I was trained at work to be in tune with what’s happening around me. I became in touch with the masses and was able to mingle with all kinds of people from different parts of the country because of my work,” he said.

He added that seeing the many hardships people have to go through made him think of ways by which he can help them.

And he thought that writing about the hopes and struggles of the masses is one way of helping them — by making people know about the realities of life here in the Philippines through film and literature. Just like screenwriters Armando “Bing” Lao, Jun Lana and Ricky Lee who, he says, always come up with well-studied and socially relevant screenplays.

He is especially thankful to the Palanca Awards for easing his entry into the movie industry.

“Winning the Palanca made me realize how faithful God is in our lives. God used the award to open new doors for me. I know that this is just the start of a new journey in my life as a writer and media practitioner. And I am just glad that I joined the Palanca when I did,” he said.