Photos by Leo Velasco
“Born in Tondo. Raised in San Andres Bukid. Went to elementary school in Vito Cruz Extension. Studied high school in Malate. Took up college in Recto. Marched in Mendiola. Became part of Ricky Lee’s Trip to Quiapo. Educated himself in filmmaking and shot films in the different nooks and alleys in Manila.”
This was how my late brother, independent filmmaker, actor, TV and commercial director Sigfreid Barros-Sanchez used to describe himself in his blogs, profiles, and social media posts. At the age of 46, Sigfreid or Direk Sig to many, Sig to some, and Pidoy or Impe to his childhood friends and relatives, died of stroke, kidney disease, and other complications at the Philippine Heart Center last January 3.
As a filmmaker, he directed 10 independent projects including his trilogy of films about films, namely “Lasponggols” for the first Cinemalaya Film Festival in 2005, and “Ang Mga Kidnaper ni Ronnie Lazaro” and “Huling Biyahe,” which both won awards at the Sineng Pambansa National Film Festival in 2012.
He also helmed “Ang Anak ni Brocka” for the first Cinema One Originals in 2005, and documentaries “Ang Gitaristang Hindi Marunong Magskala” for the Cine Totoo Documentary Festival in 2014 and “We Will Never Play in Manila Again!” for CineFilipino in 2016. His last directorial job for a full-length film was also in 2016 for “Magtanggol” starring Tom Rodriguez and Ejay Falcon. After that, he wrote “Baklad” directed by his good friend Topel Lee for ToFarm Film Festival and went back to advertising in 2017.
As writer Marra Lanot described his filmography, “Sigfreid Barros Sanchez produced films which are raw and rich, celebrating those in the ‘laylayan’ of the movie industry. He didn’t follow acceptable aesthetics to impress and win awards. He followed his heart, blending harsh reality with wit and the comic, something only a genius can do. His untimely demise is a huge loss to Philippine cinema.”
“These films, Barros-Sanchez, making references to aspects of Filipino popular culture, taking note also that in his fiction films, he portrayed the lives of the lowly workers in the industry – the clapper, the utility driver, the reporter, the dubber – have afforded him a unique voice in Philippine independent cinema, no one can come close. This is the source of my deep grief,” Filipino Arts and Cinema International or FACINE founder and artistic director Mauro Feria Tumbocon Jr. shared in his tribute.
Sigfreid and I grew up in a family of artists and writers. We were born at the Mary Johnston Hospital where our grandmother used to work as a nurse. We graduated at the nearby Rafael Palma Elementary School where we became part of the school publication. He and our eldest brother later studied at the PCU Union High School of Manila where he continued writing articles and started drawing comic strips.
He almost did not end up as a professional writer when he grew to more than six feet. At 6’4”, he thought that being a writer would make him a geek. That time, he was taking up Political Science at the University of the East-Recto campus. And because of his height, he tried out for a basketball varsity slot.
Back then, Sigfreid saw himself having a future at the Philippine Basketball Association. One day, while he was at the UE gym, someone left a copy of the student publication, UE Dawn, which had a short story entitled “Ang Pluma” written by Prestoline Suyat. He was inspired by the story, so he went back to writing. He later became part of the school paper and the cultural organization Pinsel Sining. Although his dreams of playing in the PBA did not materialize, he would end up directing segments for the league.
At 16, Sigfreid was already writing articles for the now-defunct Rock N’ Rhythm magazine where he would further develop his appreciation for bands and artists who tackled “more meaningful and more truthful themes than what the local media fed
him.” We were roommates when we were younger. I remember I would wake up in the morning while he just slept after a night of covering events. I would check out his bag for cassette tapes of the latest bands during the height of the Pinoy alternative music scene that time—back when Club DREDD in Cubao and Mayrics Bar in España were still in existence.
As a staunch supporter of Pinoy punk rock, he incorporated elements of it into his films. He attributed his love for cinema to black and white movies from LVN and Sampaguita Pictures shown in the early ‘90s on RPN 9 and Piling-Piling Pelikula on IBC 13. “I was kicked out of the library in second year high school for courting schoolmates inside instead of reading and for being one of the most ‘makulit’ students. I was banned from entering its premises for the rest of my high school days,” he narrated in interviews.
I recall him going home in the afternoon to watch the early films of Dolphy, Panchito, and his “long-time crush Bella Flores.” At night, we would watch Pinoy Westerns and action movies that featured the Lapids, Aristorenas, and Weng Weng, and even the comic antics of Chiquito, Tintoy, and Cachupoy.
In college, his Humanities professor, Henry Alvir, introduced their class to Filipino short films made by student filmmakers from Mowelfund. “My teacher appeared in one of the short films, Jon Red’s ‘Trip’ about a young boy who rides a jeepney to Manila but by encountering different characters inside the jeep, he feels he has seen the city already and has second thoughts of alighting from the vehicle when he reaches the metropolis. Rox Lee’s short film ‘Tito’s Wedding’ was also another hilarious experience.”
Sigfreid was already familiar with Rox’s works from his “Cesar Asar” comic strips and those he did for the song magazine Jingle. “I already had this ‘fan’ syndrome for his works. And I was not disappointed as it made me laugh all throughout the 15-minute short that also featured his brother Mon Lee as a priest and a very talented actor Georgie Boy as the nephew who is forced to marry by his uncle,” he recalled.
When he helmed “Lasponggols,” he made sure Jon and Rox would act in it. Fortunately, they obliged. He also worked with actors they usually cast in their films, who became his idols—Raul Morit and Soliman Cruz. The film also did not veer away from the dark comedy genre of “Trip” and “Tito’s Wedding.”
Sigfreid decided to leave UE to learn more about filmmaking in 1999 when he became part of Ricky Lee’s 11th Scriptwriting Workshop. He then studied directing at the Filipino Feature Filmmaking class of the late Marilou Diaz-Abaya in Ateneo and later signed up for the 10th Cinema-As-Art Filmmaking Workshop at the University of the Philippines Film Center where he further honed his craft under Tikoy Aguiluz and Raymond Red, among others. He would personally meet Topel here as one of his classmates who would later introduce him to directing music videos, where he would merge his love for films and music.
He served as assistant director to Topel for Bamboo’s “Hallelujah” music video and they co-directed Sugarfree’s “Hari ng Sablay” which won Best Music Video at the 18th Awit Awards. He would direct music videos on his own, among them were Hale’s “The Day You Said Goodnight” which became the most requested music video in 2005, Kyla’s “Till They Take My Heart Away,” Parokya ni Edgar’s “Gitara,” Stonefree’s “Anghel,” and “Aksyon Star,” a part of the omnibus film project “Imahe Nasyon” for Viva.
Sigfreid worked as a script reader for Viva in 2000. He was given an opportunity to write his first screenplay in “Alas Dose.” Erik Matti and Richard Somes were also just starting that time, whom he would later become close friends and learned the ropes from them. His indie stint later, he claimed, “has freed him as an artist and has helped him in making films that, hopefully, will free others as well.”
He paid it forward by offering his talents and equipment to aspiring filmmakers. He became a speaker in film workshops and other related events. He screened his films for free and opened his film sets to observers. He encouraged and inspired a lot of young filmmakers to take that extra bold step to reach and even surpass the feats that they have achieved. Despite his height and built, he was a gentle giant.
Josef De Guzman of Psoriasis Philippines shared that one of their organization’s campaigns was Sigfreid’s idea, “Perhaps the most successful campaign of PsorPhil to date is the Hug-Me-Campaign. It was so successful that it reached different parts of the globe and was used by other national Psoriasis organizations to prove that Psoriasis is NOT contagious. This campaign was a brainchild of a very dear friend Direk Sigfreid Barros-Sanchez who has helped patient organizations in their campaigns,” he said.
Sigfreid was a loving husband to Kaye, father to Basti, Kobe, Kubrick, and Seth, and older brother to us, Sylvester, Margaux, and Sean. A fundraising campaign was set up to help pay for his hospital bills: https://gofund.me/d30ebc9f Video messages and other tribute videos were also posted on the Para Kay Sig YouTube channel and Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/parakaysig
Image credits: Leo Velasco