At Singapore Lab, Filipino Filmmakers Discuss Personal and Political Subjects

The Philippines is an exciting filmmaking region in Asia. This is evident by the brace projects from the Philippines that were selected at the Southeast Asia Film Lab. It is part of Singapore Media Festival.

Paul Rembert Patindol (sometimes known as PR Patindol), was originally trained to become a chemist, but he reached a point where he needed another kind of magic and decided to pursue filmmaking instead.

His shorts “Hilom”The Singapore International Film Festival’s youth jury prize was awarded to her in 2016. She also received awards from the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, and the FAMAS Awards.

His latest work “Rafael”It is a deeply personal and intimate project. The name can be passed down through four generations. ‘Rafael’Both his image and the father’s are passed from father to son and then carried on to cities on other islands.

“I wished I knew my grandparents well. I wish I talked to my father more. That’s how ‘Rafael’ started,”Patindol was told Variety. “I needed to know better where I come from. I started with an exploration of inheritance — a father’s image, his name and the wounds and ghosts that his legacy carries.”

“In ‘Rafael’, I wanted to navigate young people’s attempts to reconcile identity by means of a father and by means of a motherland, by following the diaspora of sons from one island to another—each son, aching for a home that he has lost,”Patindol stated. “Rafael”Currently in the script revision stage.

Austin Raniel Tan was like Patindol and he changed tracks to make it into film. After a time, he was studying materials engineering before realizing it wasn’t for him. In contrast, however, Tan’s lab project “RA 8491 or How we Recall Lost Memories in Transit”It is a political topic.

While at film school, Rodrigo Duterte became the country’s president and launched his brutal war against drugs. Tan saw a report in August 2017 about Kian Delo Santos, a 17 year old student, who was shot to death by two officers. Although Santos was not connected to any drug-related activities, it was later revealed that he was killed nonetheless.

“Every day on the television, you could see reports in the news of people being unjustly killed, teenagers and children being collateral damage, corrupt cops planting evidence and abusing their positions and power to kill innocent people. It really opened my eyes,”Tan told Variety.

In the aftermath of a drug war violent, “RA 8491”Three victims seek revenge and redemption in the wake unjustly killed.

“A number of films were made in the past five years, tackling these issues about the drug war, and yet it still continues to this day. I wanted it to stop. It feels like an obligation for me to use films as a platform for change and for the truth,”Tan. “As a country that dealt with countless wars, colonialism, a dictatorship, and now a drug war, I wanted my films to tackle the silent suffering, grief, and sense of loss that we still experience. ‘RA 8491 or How We Recall Lost Memories in Transit’ is a film that I wrote to tackle and show the consequences and effects of this bloody drug war.”

The script is currently being developed. It has also participated in the Philippines Full Circle Lab.

Previously, Tan’s 2023-set 2018 short “Happy Birthday Mylene! 2023 ka na,” about a security guard’s dream and reality experiences, played at the CineFilipino Film Festival.

Edwin, an Indonesian filmmaker (Locarno Winner) mentors the Southeast Asia Film Lab “Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash”), Thailand’s Taiki Sakpisit (Rotterdam winner “The Edge of Daybreak”) and Singapore’s Tan Chui Mui (Busan winner “Love Conquers All”).