French director says Phl ideal film location

MANILA, Philippines - French director Stéphane Rybojad said that as a child, he was fascinated by Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 epic war film Apocalypse Now, particularly the action and scenery depicted in the film. While that film is set during the Vietnam War, he knew it was shot in the Philippines.

“As a child, I was marked by Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, and I know that this film was shot in the Philippines. I have seen a lot of the views that would really be beautiful to shoot for a movie. In the past few days I’ve been here in the Philippines, I’ve been trying to imagine a film that could be shot here in the Philippines. I would really love to do a film in the Philippines. So hopefully, I will have the opportunity to come back and do it,” said Rybojad through a translator during a special screening of his movie Special Forces (Forces Spéciales) at the SM Mall of Asia Imax Theater last Friday. The film is still exclusively screening in selected SM Cinemas (www.smcinemas.com).

Rybojad at SM Mall of Asia cinemas

Rybojad said that the country would make an ideal film location because “it is rich in diversity. The Philippines is an archipelago, there’s so much to shoot (here)…which I cannot possibly find in France. It’s something I could only do in a country like the Philippines. I’m very attracted to Asia. (So) I’ll be back.”

His first-time visit to the country was made possible by Pioneer Films, the film’s local distributor, in cooperation with the French Embassy, according to Martin Macalintal, audio-visual attaché of the French Embassy.     

A prolific journalist and filmmaker, Rybojad has done over 150 documentary films in all corners of the world. Special Forces, which shows a group of elite French soldiers on a desperate hostage rescue mission in the Afghanistan/Pakistan area, is Rybojad’s fiction debut — an action thriller inspired by his experiences as a journalist covering the military. 

Dubbed by critics as a “big, brave French production,” Special Forces was shot in France, Djibouti and Tajikistan and stars Diane Kruger (Troy, Inglorious Basterds) as the journo kidnapped by Taliban goons and Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) as the leader of the special unit dispatched to execute the mission.

Diane Kruger plays war reporter Elsa Casanova who is held hostage by Taliban goons

“There are crazy people like myself who go to really dangerous places, but there are crazier people who get us crazy people out of the dangerous places,” Rybojad answered when asked to describe his film. “Anybody can relate to the film. What you see in the film is real. It’s about human courage, a universal theme, that there’s always someone to help you wherever you go. In difficult situations, man is forced (to help) for better or for worse.”

Asked if he finds the Philippines a dangerous place, Rybojad replied, “No, no, no, no!”

“I come from a country that is very modern. But the Frenchmen seem always angry, always have long faces...coming here, I meet people who are all smiles, so warm and I think we have a lot to learn from people like you, always smiling, always happy,” he shared his impressions of Filipinos.  

Rybojad is also aware of Filipino filmmakers taking notice abroad. “I was hoping to catch the premiere of Brillante Mendoza’s Captive here, but since I’m leaving already, I’ll be seeing it in Paris in September.”

When asked what tips can he give to budding filmmakers, Rybojad, whose next project is a film series on the conquest of space, encouraged aspirants to take advantage of the “the mini-cameras, they’re a great invention, anybody can make films nowadays.”

Djimon Hounsou is Kovak, the leader of the French special unit out to carry the rescue mission

He further stressed, “It’s the wanting to tell stories that really matters. Making a film has to come from passion, not the market, because there are many challenges and too much difficulty in making films, that it’s passion that’s going to drive you, and not if it’s going to sell or not. Business is about selling mobile phones, cars and material things but not cinema.”