00:00Our book calls your films advocacy films. I don't know if you like that, but critic Joel David,
00:08who is my co-author and who has a PhD, I would like to emphasize, because I am an amateur
00:14beside
00:14him, specifically calls these advocacy films. And they are because they have a definite and strong
00:22idea, a cause, a history they put forward. Now, being advocacy films, Boses and Indigo Child
00:30make a statement. How do you, as director, do the tightrope act between sentimentality and
00:39moralizing? How do you consciously avoid these traps and still speak up?
00:49Serious talaga, eh? Okay. But that's true, you know. Advocacy filmmaking, sometimes that's
00:56a put down. Because it's like you're propagating something, it's like propaganda, you know.
01:02But it's said, all films are, all art is propaganda. Although not all propaganda is art. But it's
01:10nice, thank you, Samit, because she said it's the advocacy filmmaking at its finest.
01:16Thank you. But you know, I did not do those films because I had a cause in mind. Or I
01:26wasn't
01:26commissioned, no. But it's when I read those scripts, I cried when I saw the play of Indigo
01:34Child. I cried, I thought it was perfect for the times, which was also my period. And so I
01:43approach those films to tell stories. When you say there's very strong statements,
01:51hindi naman yung naiiba sa narrative voice na tinatawag ng mga writers at ng mga directors.
01:57That is very important. Maybe I'm really just very strong about those issues. I didn't
02:03even know, okay, for those who didn't see Bosses, no, it's about child abuse, no, using
02:10classical music for healing, no. I didn't even know that that issue is so prevalent. I didn't
02:19know. But as you study the material, then I realized, grabe pala to, no. And I think
02:25what it called for was to be responsible for such a topic. I even hired a psychologist on
02:32board, no. So there is no such thing as trying to navigate sentimentality or moralizing because
02:42I wasn't moralizing. I'm just telling the story. Okay. And maybe the difference is I'm
02:48very conscious about the audience. I wanted to tackle, I wanted the film to reach young
02:57people because that's their issue. But I cannot capture exactly what we find out from our research.
03:04So in that way, parang siguro advocacy kasi iniingatan mo, no. For example, R18 naman
03:11tayo dito, no. Okay. In our research, sa bantay bata, a child who is abused would so casually
03:21say, tatay pasok pepe. I cannot use that for my film. What did we use? Inaano ako ni tatay.
03:31Okay. And, you know, and that, I could not also explain it to the child actress. So it's
03:39not just for MTRCB or for the audience, but also for my actress, my child actress. I cannot
03:45explain to her what the line means, no. But that's it, no. I didn't realize it was so prevalent.
03:51I guess that's why 18 years now, it's still showing. In fact, it's going to be showing at
03:58the ASEAN Film Festival for the second time in Hong Kong next September after 18 years, no.
04:05So yon. And Indigo Child, I saw it. Those are very difficult times, no. I approached it because
04:14I think it was a metaphor for the times. My young interns didn't know what martial law was about,
04:24what happened, no. And the story of Indigo Child is about this woman who was an activist and she had
04:33to do therapy and she didn't want to tell her child, no. So, but in the film, but in the
04:39play,
04:40which I filmed, actually, in the end she had to say, because it was also destroying the whole
04:47relationship and everything, no. And I had to show what was happening outside the world also
04:53to make it more than just a film or more than just a play. That's why I want to thank
04:57Summit,
04:57no, because I've been scanning through the films. In fact, I just watched last night Susana de Guzman's
05:041949 Lupang Pangako. And what's so great is all these films that you chose, I think really records
05:12what's happening during their particular period. So parang historical records, archival footage.
05:22So, there's no such thing as sentimental or moralizing because I just approach it as storytelling.
05:31Thank you, Madame Joanne. I will ask Joel, why did he call it that?
05:50How does settled?
05:51Why do you know that?
05:51How do you know that?
05:51So that niemand has two tik canal one, a bag that holds lado's cách is trying to
05:51sellerme, and put me the solution in one of the things that looked at, and we tend to
05:51go first. So I would love to wrap that shit.
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