Utopia in progress
Since Sleep-walking came out in STAR two years ago, it has been interested in exploring the potential of “the printed page” as an imaginative space for art and ideas. There had been e-mails, phone conversations, dream sequences, suicide notes, conceptual works and critical theories, punctured with sex, politics and culture. Beginning this month, I will occasionally be converting the newspaper column into a curatorial space, inviting creatives, thinkers and curators to make unique works or organize special projects specifically for publication — the works will not exist anywhere else in the same form as they will have here. Spread sporadically over 12 issues in the course of one year, Sleepwalking/Utopia will serve as a platform for exciting and experimental “young stars” from various disciplines and countries to create “projects for the printed page,” thus communicating such “propositions” to a broader public. It is imperative for an exchange to happen, not just of ideas and images, but of communities and contexts; these gestures, this space, can only hope to be insightful and transformative for both creator and audience.
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Figure 1-A: John Torres, filmmaker, Philippines
The Philippines is rich with very young film talents. John Torres is one of these. His films are close to the street, but their implications are far from earthy.
In 2005, John Torres bagged the 2005 Cinemanila award for Best Short Film and the Ishmael Bernal Award for Young Cinema for his short film, Salat. In 2006, he was awarded the Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema at the 25th Vancouver International Film Festival for his debut feature, Todo Todo Teros. He also won the NETPAC and FIPRESCI critics awards at the 2006 Singapore International Film Festival and a Jury Special Mention at the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival. In 2007, the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Film Critics of the Philippines) nominated his film in four categories, namely: Best Screenplay, Best Editing (won), Best Director, and Best Picture. His second feature film, Years When I was a Child Outside, funded by the Hubert Bals Fund and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in the 2007 Cinemanila International Film Festival, where the film was screened as a work-in-progress.
For Sleepwalking/Utopia, I am happy to present the world premiere of John Torres’ debut film for the printed page, Flash Elemental.
‘Flash elemental,’ a short film for the printed page
by John Torres
Sawa na ako sa mga taong biglang-pasok, biglang-alis sa buhay ko. (I saw her on a train.) Nanghihinayang ako. Wala ba tayong kwento? (Dahil ayoko na ng tamawo.)
I was raised by a tamawo.
Manang Betty had been our help for three decades. My first memories, she was already there. One afternoon, she showed me an instructional video my father shot and sold to the masses: ABC and Numbers, published by his Listen-N-Learn Enterprises to “raise brighter children.”
I grew up bright but I still don’t know much about being, beings. B. B as in bicycle. “Mga kapatid mo sa labas.”
Kids on bikes call my father father.
Manang Betty, after telling me I have half-siblings. She left her usual place by the laundry area.
Manang Betty, projected, split between parents, asking her to tell two truths. I frame with my two fingers.
Manang Betty wanted to work abroad. To do that, she had to have her face exposed, scanned, printed out — visa, NBI clearance, security stuff.
Manang Betty, photocopied, printed out, scanned, scarred, and projected on a green towel.
I went away and found that Ilonggos are all tamawos.
I was shooting around Iloilo. A young Ilongga asked to tag along. I did not shoot but kept snapshots of her in memory. There’s no proof of her existence. She didn’t speak much, but I remember her eyes not shining no matter how beautiful the sun angled itself. She always managed to walk away.
Tamawos have no pupils. I am learning from this young Ilongga.
This is a tamawo film; my film is another tamawo, borne out of found characters.
No money was spent during production. I made friends: man’s nature.
(Man vs. nature: Footage captured as interlaced frames, always in between. I long to store progressive stills instead.)
But my heart is still with the girl on the train.
We’re having a story now. But she’s away, studying language. And I am thinking of studying her language, new words Tagalogs don’t have. (Pero tama ka, paano ang Hapdi at Kirot?)
I’m tired. I’m old. Her youth rents spaces in faraway distances. I am tired of knowing and being left behind.
She arrives in a month but she leaves again. I have this card 722663251549 to say goodbye. 92 pesos left. Check if you want. Zero balance means I’ve called her and given up.
This is just 12 minutes worth to St. Petersburg. She arrives on Christmas Day.
If there’s load in this card on Christmas, give me credit. I have survived and promised to wait some more. Check on me. Dial 10-10-11.
Now, I must finish my film. And Manang Betty’s calling. It’s early, still.
