Filmmakers show dedication to bring Healthy films online

MANILA, Philippines — Filmmaking is a rigorous work to complete. Imagine how doubly hard it would be when it is done amidst a pandemic.

For the directors from around the country of the six short film entries in the first-ever Healthy Pilipinas Short Film Festival (HPSFF), their desire to present narratives promoting healthy living put all the hitches out of the way.

According to the press release, HPSFF is a communication campaign, spearheaded by the Department of Health (DOH), which aims to encourage positive health habits among Filipinos, especially toward the prevention and mitigation of the spread of disease. The health department partnered with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) beginning in 2021 to launch the filmfest in recognition of the power of cinema to advocate a healthy lifestyle.

Filmmakers Sheron Dayoc, Carlo Catu, Keith Deligero, Julienne Ilagan, Ice Seguerra, Ryanne Murcia and Zurich Chan were tapped to produce a film of not more than 17 minutes. Each work presented a different health issue.

Sheron Dayoc.

During the online media conference, FDCP chair and CEO Liza Diño-Seguerra expressed admiration for the filmmakers because they remained active with writing, story development and shoots despite being in lockdown.

Sheron, director of Life on Moon, shared the experience of making the short film.

“Actually, we personally worked creatively with chair Liza in doing the whole development of the script. Siguro nakatulong din that we’ve been doing advocacy projects on mental health and other health videos. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert but we have an idea on the topic and definitely, malaking bagay ‘yung collaboration with FDCP. The real challenge was how do we come up with a short film that would not sound preachy and how do we present it in a more simplified way.

“Mental health issues are a shared journey towards healing. They’re not just struggles of people with mental health (issues) but also their families and friends around them. It was a challenge to present a proper approach on managing mental health.”

Sheron said Life on Moon puts emphasis on the importance of listening.

“Sometimes, we don’t notice that our friends or the members of the family are going through something, so listening is very important. It’s not telling the person na, okay, ito yung gawin mo but listening is just being there to allow the person to express (thoughts) and that you are willing to listen kasi hindi biro na mag-open up to other people about your struggle.”

Ice, who directed the docu-music Dito Ka Lang, agreed that it’s tough for people with depression to articulate themselves for fear of being judged by others. He, himself, was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in the early 2000s and had to undergo treatment and therapy.

What Ice couldn’t verbalize, he made it into a song that later on became a fitting material for the docu-music on mental health.

“I applied the same approach here (film), I shared my experience and I’m hoping that through my experience, there will be something good out of it. Ganun s’ya nangyari kasi ako mismo I don’t like those kinds of films that are telling me na dapat ganito gawin mo at dapat ganyan because I’d like to think that our audiences are smart enough to know what they should do. Perhaps, they just need to have inspiration.”

Ryanne Murcia.

Ice said that Dito Ka Lang bared more of himself. “Binuksan ko ‘yung puso ko ng buong-buo, masakit but at the same time cathartic kasi naikwento mo.”

Ryanne and Zurich, on the other hand, had their share of anecdotes about their experiences working on Llegado.

The two, both from Mindanao, have been friends for a decade now and they often collaborate in projects but Llegado was so far the toughest to complete.

“On our first attempt to start production, our cinematographer tested positive for COVID and we needed to collaborate with filmmakers from Davao and Zamboanga, places that are not near from my hometown Ipil (in Zamboanga Sibugay). Then our actress, who’s also from Davao, arrived in our place so anong gagawin ko because no team could get in the midst of a lockdown,” Ryanne said. “I was then dealing with a breakup on our second attempt and I had to take anxiety meds to be able to sleep.”

Good thing was Zurich knew what to do since they had this “artistic connection,” as Ryanne put it. The former was in charge of writing the story against violence.

“Even before I wrote it, I was thinking of how men and women are violent to each other. Men are more physical, while women show their violence towards men by making them feel they’re not enough, kumbaga what men do is more physical, but what women do is equally affecting,” said Zurich.

He, too, said shooting became so hard due to lockdowns and he even spent a night in jail.

“It was also connected to the lockdown because we ran out of time when the LGU informed us that we were not allowed to shoot after 10 p.m. So, I told Ryanne to just finish the interiors and I’ll do the exteriors in Zamboanga alone.”

While doing the exteriors, Zurich said around 15 police officers surrounded him and his companions and brought them to the police station. The police thought that they were involved in the entry of illegal cigarettes in the country. “They assumed that we were trying to get the positions of the boats to get the cigarettes in. So, we spent the night in jail and I called Ryanne around 1 a.m. to explain the situation (laughs),” he said.

Thankfully, Ryanne said the FDCP staff quickly responded to their call to help Zurich get out of jail.

Direk Carlo had his share of ups and downs as well while shooting Ang Paboritong Pinggan ni Nanay. But he is grateful for the opportunity given to regional filmmakers.

“FDCP has been making a lot of efforts to give us a spotlight, to share the spotlight with us,” said Carlo, who at the time of shooting the film was grieving the death of a loved one.

Child’s Play director Julienne, on the other hand, would like to remind the audience to look at the positive side of things instead of being judgmental. The short film, she said, focuses on the life of a young mother.

“We have to accept that there are kids having kids, so instead of judging them and breaking their hopes and dreams, I just wanted to show that there is life even after a certain mistake that’s life-changing like early pregnancy. I wanted to show how it would be like for somebody so young to have a baby and the responsibilities that you’d have to consider, the sacrifices they needed to make as a young mother,” said the director from Cagayan de Oro, who is also a writer and producer.

Meanwhile, direk Keith turned to animation for Brand X to present its theme, “Be Clean, Live Sustainably.”

“It did not feel like work (to complete the short film) because the intention of FDCP is to let the voice of filmmakers be heard. And we did our best to keep our story worth-watching.”

(The online screenings of entries will run until today, June 26.)