The Lesson Plan

Thanks again to Auraeus for dropping by! Now he has something for everyone. This is an interview to be published in Yes Magazine in October, but he’s giving us an advanced look into it now.

There is so much to learn in this interview, but this is my favorite part: Pisay will be shown in the Toronto Film Festival as “Philippine Science”! Talk about Pisay Meets World! This is the real deal! Awesome!

Read the full interview after the cut.

1. How did the concept for Pisay come about? Did you write the screenplay?

I was inspired when I met my Pisay batchmate in the Rotterdam Film Festival when “Maximo” was shown there. She and her family left the Philippines in the 80s due to political reasons, that’s why she didn’t graduate with us. I then e-mailed our batch 86 yahoo group and received all these amazing stories and anecdotes.

I wrote the main story treatment for the film. I asked my batchmate Henry Grageda, who was in a Ricky Lee screenwriting workshop, to write the screenplay.

2.What is the film about?

It’s about 8 science scholars in Philippine Science High School, during the volatile 80s; the last stages of Marcos Dictatorship till the People Power revolution of 1986.

3. Did the thought of casting mainstream actors cross your mind since you were successful in Maximo? Why did you decide to cast non-mainstream actors?

I simply casted for talent at kung swak ang tao sa role (if a person is perfect for the role). I am very keen on casting for as I learned from Professor Tony Mabesa during my Theatre Arts major days “50% percent of a Director’s job is over, when one has a perfect cast.”

4. In an ANC interview with Twink Macaraeg, you said you wanted to depict students in a non- “iskul bukol, bokal, pasaway” way. What was it about the spirit of Pisay or Filipino students in general that you wanted to capture?

I wanted to show the Filipino’s potential and capacity for brilliance and humanity. For a change I portray students as intelligent yet sensitive, not the usual high school genre where they are uninterested in school and apathetic.

5. Was there a conscious effort from you to top the achievements of Maximo? What was your frame of mind before, during, and after the shoot?

Nope. I just want to be true to the material of each piece I make. I firmly believe in playwright Rabindranath Tagore’s saying that “Man has a need to exceed himself”. Another thing I learned from the Theatre is that a Director directs the audience. So that I really enjoy watcing my films with an audience, specially when my audience reacts the way I want them to or when they react in a special way that I didn’t even expect.

6. Despite the milieu of Maxi, it wasn’t too depressing. It wasn’t your typical indie na “langhiya, mahirap kami theme”. It was funny, heartwarming, and hopeful. Aside from depicting Pinoy students in a different light, what else did you hope to capture in the film?

I wanted to capture the Pisay spirit. It was a very special environment where all your classmates where the best in their former schools. I was a first honor student in San Beda College grade school, so when I went to Pisay, I realized that a lot of my classmates where a lot better than me. Finally, I was just your average joe. But even though the set-up seem competitive, it never felt that way. Since science is quantifiable, everyone accepted what the others can do, no matter if they where better than them. When I suddenly discovered my directing talent through my Filipino classes while directing scenes from Noli and Fili; my classmates and teachers appreciated what I could do. Everybody uplifted everyone, so we reached our full potential in Pisay. That perhaps, is the Pisay spirit.

Of course, after high school, one realizes that this is not so in the real world, sadly in our country, where what matters is who you know and if you are brilliant with what you do, people get jealous or antagonistic. This is one of those horrible traits we learned from 333 years of Spanish colonization which is so far from the real indigenous Filipino trait of sharing and acceptance.

7. Do you have any plans to do a mainstream film? Or do you prefer the control that making an indie film gives you?

Perhaps, I would make a mainstream film if I was given full artistic control and have a very well written script. But I believe in just a few years, indie will become mainstream and like the natural cycle of things, there will be a new generation that will redefine what indie will be.

8. You won Best Director for Pisay and the film won Best Production Design in the Cinemalaya Awards (plus Audience choice award). Is it a different feeling each time you receive an award or are you used to it?

Winning the Best Director for Pisay was very precious to me. For this film is perhaps my most personal to date. That recognition has inspired me to evolve more as a filmmaker, refine my art and create more personal works. Winning the audience prize is also very important for I value my audience. And specially, the Best Production Design award, when my sparing partner Endi “Hai” Balbuena accepted the award (since he literally did half of the PD work, when my 2 sets of PD s had to go due to budgetary and schedule problems).

9. Where else do you plan to show Pisay?

It will have a gala screening this coming August at the SM Block, just in time for the Philippine Science homecoming. We are also planning to distribute it in Cinemas locally and hopefully worldwide like Maximo (Pisay with its English title “Philippine Science” just got in the Toronto International Film Festival and Tuli (my 2nd feature film. which is making the rounds now in film festivals around the world).

10. What was the luxury that you didn’t have in Maximo that you had in making Pisay? Is it easier the second time around? Aren’t you afraid of the sophomore jinx?

I was given the whole school, the whole summer ! A touching support from the PSHS administration. Also, when the CineMalaya funds where not enough the PSHS foundation and my batchmates from Batch 86 shared what they can to realize this film. It was a touching experience.

And by the ways, this is my third film. “Tuli” was my 2nd film which has already had its sophomore jinx when it was Xed by the censors, cut to pieces by my producers and was not shown theatrically and went straight to DVD. That’s why I felt vindicated last week when the Director’s cut of “Tuli”(mind the pun:) won the Grand Jury Prize in Outfest festival, Los Angeles.

A festival friend from abroad told me that the third film is always the best. I am very happy with this film for I have faced the most critical audience of my life, the Philippine Science community, my alma mater which I love. When I received two standing ovations from the Pisay alumni in it’s premiere screening then the present Pisay students (Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors) in another screening, it was more than enough to make me happy that I have made my school proud of themselves.