By Ruben M. Cruz Jr. / Online Editor
The Metro Manila Film Festival is no stranger to actors, producers and Philippine celebrities of all kinds, but it can be somewhat of a “fish out of water” experience for first-time film producers Peter and Gilie Sing of IOptions Ventures Corp., the couple whose movie Culion made it as one of the festival’s 2019 entries.
“We’re both excited and overwhelmed,” Gilie said in a recent press conference, as she reflected on the rarity of the experience. “For us, this is more than just a movie, it’s our passion project. It’s a story that’s very special to us. Something my husband and I wanted to share with fellow Filipinos.”
The genesis of Culion, one of the most highly-anticipated MMFF entries, did not begin in director Alvin Yapan’s chair or from the desk of its award-winning writer Ricky Lee. It began with a typical tourist visit to the northern Palawan island many years ago.
“My husband (Peter) went to Culion…I cannot even remember how many years ago…it’s been that long. He toured the island. He went to the Culion Museum and Archives, which contains the relics and artifacts and tells the history of the island, when it was a leper colony, isolated from the rest of the world. And ever since he has been asking me, why is it that no one has ever written a story or made a film about it?” Gilie recalled.
The segregation of people with leprosy in Culion was the only solution to curb the spread of the disease during the American colonial period, a program that was started in 1904 when the American Governor General Luke Wright declared Culion a leper colony under Executive Order No. 35.
“Culion is so rich in history. There are so many stories to tell about it. Our people, especially students, our youth, should know that it is part of world history,” she said. “For instance, did you know that Culion had its own government and administration? That it even had its own currency? That the people of the island practically lived in a different world because of their segregation? Very few people seemed to know this.”
Gilie said that is how they decided to make a movie about Culion’s history. They came to Ricky Lee knowing that their first film, their passion project, should have a solid foundation, a script for which only Lee’s prose would be perfect.
Lee recalled meeting the couple and being emotionally carried away by their stories about the island, which they told all teary-eyed. This made him sign on to the project right there and then, he said, because he believed there is, indeed, a film that needed to be made and a story that needed to be told about Culion.
‘I think it’s a very relevant subject matter even if this happened long ago. It’s a universal story. Kuwento siya ng galit, at ng lungkot at ng saya, at ng panganib, at ng stigma. Lahat ng mga sangkap na dapat nandoon sa isang kumpletong buhay. Kapag nawala ang lungkot o ang saya hindi na kumpleto ang buhay,” Lee said.
More importantly, Lee said they wanted the film to highlight the courage and resilience of the lepers of Culion, because they kept on living with hope, even if they were practically condemned and doomed because of their affliction and segregation, because there was no cure for leprosy at the time.
Although cases of leprosy began to decline when a multidrug therapy was developed in the 1980s to cure leprosy, it was only in 2006 when Culion was declared leprosy-free by the World Health Organization.
Alvin Yapan said that while he and producer Mark Shandii Bacolod were very thankful that Culion was chosen for MMFF 2019, they were more concerned with transforming Ricky Lee’s script into a good production, by working side-by-side with a good crew and good actors and other artists to fulfill a shared vision.
Yapan admitted feeling more pressure because it was Lee who wrote the screenplay.
Lee has worked with the greats, like Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal, and is best known for writing classics like Himala, Jaguar, Moral, Brutal, Karnal and Salome. He has a Natatanging Gawad Urian Lifetime Achievement Award from the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino Film Critics).
Lee’s story revolves around the lives of three women—Anna (Iza Calzado), Ditas (Meryll Soriano) and Doris (Jasmine Curtis-Smith)—who are all patients in the island’s leprosarium in the 1940s, the largest and best-equipped leprosarium in the world during the American colonial period.
The film follows them past transcendent scenery and spectacular vistas, with Culion’s pristine beauty somehow providing a counterpoint to the horrible conditions the lepers had to suffer because of their forced segregation, a credit to Neil Daza’s cinematography.
National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera, who heads the MMFF selection committee, said he was moved to tears after watching Culion.
He told Bacolod that it had been a long time since he cried while watching a film but he found Culion so touching.
“Pumalakpak ako. Pinaiyak niyo ako. Tell Ricky and Alvin, why do they keep making films na napakasakit!” Lumbera said.
Lumbera also told Bacolod that he ranked Culion 1st among the four finished entries he had seen for this year’s festival run.
The first four films chosen by the MMFF selection committee are based on script submissions while the other four are chosen under the finished films category, completing the so-called Magic 8.
Gilie, said she got goosebumps after hearing Lumbera, the eminent poet, critic and dramatist, heap praises on their film.
“I felt it in my heart that we did something good for him to have felt that way. I felt very proud,” she said. “We always believed we could do it, because of the creative people behind our film, and our cast, all of whom are award winners.”
Aside from the three female leads Calzado, Soriano and Curtis-Smith, Culion also stars Joem Bascon, as Calzado’s lover, a fisherman also afflicted with leprosy, Suzette Ranillo and a 150-strong cast of film and theatre mainstays.
John Lloyd Cruz has a special appearance in the film. He makes the most of his one scene with a landmark performance, which he does sans dialogue and just iconic eye acting, but enough to remind audiences why he is sorely missed in the industry.
Cruz has the luxury of picking and choosing what movies he will perform in nowadays. Why he went all the way to Culion to shoot just one scene perhaps speaks volumes about the film.
Cast member Nico Locco, an Italian-Canadian actor who plays an American soldier afflicted with leprosy in Culion related how he realized very quickly that he signed on to something more than just a well-hyped vehicle of entertainment.
“When I met the people of Culion and learned about their story, I realized we were not just making a movie. I have had the opportunity to promote Culion for the past weeks…and I realize I am not just representing a film, or a production, or a cast. We are representing the people of Culion, and that is something that is much larger and much more meaningful,” he said. “Learning the story of Culion and learning that there is much more to this industry than creating a movie for entertainment value, creating something that is memorable and would tell the story of a people who went through a struggle at a particular time.”
Gilie said they are just praying that all the good things that have been said about Culion would translate to more people watching it.
“Because as an advocacy film, that is really our end goal, to reach as many people as possible and help remove the stigma on Culion as a leper colony,” she said. “If you go to Culion, you would see how beautiful it is. And yet it is so underdeveloped, precisely because of that stigma. People still stay away from the island. They are still afraid.”
For most producers, bringing their film to the MMFF is a stepping stone to recoup expenses, perhaps even make some serious money. For others, their first foray in the local film industry and initiation in the film festival circuit might mean something more than making a commercial spectacle but offering a historically faithful account of an island and its people, the opportunity to bring a world long forgotten to life onscreen.
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