Songs for what isn't there

Hearts and headphones: Main characters Gibson (Dominic Roco) and Enid (Annicka Dolonius) sharing songs.

If you’re like us, you’re looking forward to the showing of Ang Nawawala (What Isn’t There), the first full-length feature film by director Marie Jamora, known mostly — so far — for an exceptional slew of music videos she made with bands like Sandwich, Urbandub, Itchyworms and the Eraserheads. Co-written with Ramon de Veyra, the film is a finalist in the Cinemalaya Film Festival’s New Breed Full-Length Feature category, and tells a story about self-imposed silence, loss, family, friendship and first love, set “against the backdrop of the vibrant local music scene.”

Marie and Ramon, aside from co-writing the script, were the film’s Music Supervisors. “We’re still finalizing plans for the release of the soundtrack, as it’s looking like it’ll be two volumes,” Ramon said. “One of pre-existing music, the other a combination of exclusive songs (or songs composed for the film) and the complete score from geniuses Mikey Amistoso, Jazz Nicolas, and Diego Mapa.” We asked Ramon some more questions about the movie and its music:

YOUNG STAR: Music is a very, very important part of the film Ang Nawawala. In fact it’s so important that I want to ask: What came first, the scenes or the songs?

RAMON DE VEYRA: There’s two sides to its story: the family dynamic and main character Gibson’s romance with Enid. What we originally wanted to do with the love story half was do it over a span of several gigs. We chose bands we currently love. At the time I was obsessed with Tarsius’s “Primate,” which hadn’t come out yet but which I had a copy of thanks to Diego. I also really love Ang Bandang Shirley. Marie wanted to feature The Strangeness and Flying Ipis. We both love Hannah+Gabi... So to make a long answer short, it wasn’t actually the scenes or the songs that came first, it was the bands/artists.

Every track has its merits, but which are the ones that particularly make you want to grab random passersby and make them listen?

I’m quite fond of Ang Bandang Shirley’s live version of Di Na Babalik in the film (from their forthcoming second album “Tama Na Ang Drama”), and Frances Feranil’s Masaya. Fran’s someone we worked with before on the first season of Project Runway Philippines and during post-production I found her iTunes library and realized we liked some of the same bands. Then I found she made her own music on her blog and they were great, so I used the movie as an excuse to force her to make (and record) some new stuff. Mikey Amistoso produced it.

Ang Nawawala is something of a rarity among music-centric films, in that the main characters neither make music nor are in professions directly related to music. Was there ever a point when you intended to tell this story of a lost twin and a strange girl without embedding it in the local music scene as much? (If so, what made you realize that this was necessary to the story?)

Nope, never. It’s not necessary per se, but it’s about young people, and maybe we’re biased but don’t all young people (who are interesting) love music? Some even define themselves based on what they listen to. I wouldn’t go that far, but I see it happening.

What can you tell us about the score, and working with Mikey Amistoso, Jazz Nicolas and Diego Mapa on it?

Marie was the one who really worked with the composers, but what she reported from the experience was that the score was more than the sum of its parts. Meaning, she liked it when all three composers were working together at the same time because something emerged that was a real blend of their already-singular talents. Another thing she mentioned was that it sounded at times like there was a Flaming Lips influence, because all three are big Lips fans and that intersection of their Venn diagrams seemed to make its presence felt.

Aside from Tarsius’ Deathless Gods, can we expect more music videos to spin off from Ang Nawawala?

Yes, there’s at least one more, which should be online this weekend, for Ciudad’s There’s a Lonely Road to Sunday Night, off their brilliant new album “Follow The Leader.” When I first heard the song I thought it was written for the movie because the lyrics seemed to match so well. I later learned that it was for their new album, but I’d already started on the video by then (I directed it). That was a great experience because I got the cast involved and it’s been a dream of mine to make a Ciudad music video, so I can scratch that off my bucket list.

The movie is, among other things, an ode to the ways we absorb and enjoy music now (vinyl hunting, gigs at Route 196 and SaGuijo, etc.). What are your hopes and fears for the future, regarding these venues and outlets for our pop music culture?

I just hope they survive. There are few enough venues for live music as it is. We feel there’s nothing like live music and hope that gets celebrated a little bit in the film. I belong to a generation that still enjoys a certain tactile association with their music, whether from CD packaging or the renewed interest in collecting vinyl. OPM’s so rich in material but distribution channels are sparse; hopefully with iTunes finally available locally (among other services) that’ll change.

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Ramon adds: “Just wanted to point out something Marie and Co. did that I think is pretty cool. She took special care in making sure that the live performances of songs in the movie would sound good. It’s a peeve of hers when live performances in movies sound bad, so a separate team dedicated just to getting the best recording of the band was on set for ‘gig’ shooting days, mixed separately, etc. so those scenes sound as good as they do.”

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Screenings start tomorrow, Saturday, July 21. Visit http://angnawawala.com for more info.