Cinemalaya winner Januar Yap on the power of silent cinema

CEBU, Philippines — Last May, I attended a masterclass at Cebu Making Space, Mango Square Mall where Cebuano filmmakers Januar Yap, Ruel Antipuesto, and Jude Crisostomo shared their expertise. During the film lab program, they presented their latest projects and asked participants to give their thoughts.

One of the shorts shown was “Sibuyas ni Perfecto”, written and directed by Yap, with Antipuesto as cinematographer. It’s about an old farmer transporting a heavy basket of his crops to a trader so he could earn money to repair the roof of his house and buy school shoes for his daughter.

Three months later, it won in the Best Short Film category at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. Watching a short with an intimate audience for a masterclass that would later win at one of the country’s prestigious film festivals was almost like witnessing local film history unfolding.

Looking back at how he felt during awards night, Yap told The FREEMAN after the short’s post-Cinemalaya premiere at the University of the Philippines’ Lawak Sinehan last September 1 that he didn’t expect to win.

“It’s enough for us to be in the top 10 out of hundreds of submissions. I was reading the reviews and they would rank us around #6 or #7, which is okay for me since we are in the top ten anyway,” he recalled.

“Then the minor awards came and they were given to the other entries. But suddenly, we were announced Best Short. It was so surprising.”

Silent cinema more painful

“Sibuyas” was originally a short story he wrote during the nationwide onion crisis early this year when the price of a kilogram inflated to around P700. This received international coverage, including a Time Magazine headline saying that red meat in the Philippines was cheaper than onions. One month after writing it, he adapted it for the screen and began shooting immediately.

“I believe in the power of silent cinema,” Yap said of the subtle storytelling. “When we mention the language of God, it’s silence. When you watch ‘Sibuyas’, you can see why we treat our story with silence. It’s more painful that way.”

His favorite films are “Cinema Paradiso” from Italy, “Yi Yi” from Taiwan, “Departures” from Japan, and “Manchester by the Sea” (an American film starring Casey Affleck and directed by Kenneth Lonergan) – all of which influenced his style.

“Those films are very human. I like slow, quiet films that resonate with a lot of emotion,” he said.

“Sibuyas” has a villain, albeit invisible. Finally arriving at his destination, traders forcibly lower the expected price of P1,000 to P500, claiming that the quantity of produce he brought was lower than what was ordered. They also don’t allow the farmer to use their restroom after enduring a long walk.

Yap describes this invisible antagonist as “bossy”, stressing that’s how he grew as a businessman whose singular focus is profit. “He’s not necessarily evil. All he wants is to make a profit whatever it takes. That’s his nature,” he said.

Through “Sibuyas”, Yap wanted to “highlight the nature of the unjust trading system that always put farmers in a cycle of exploitation.”

Filmmaking journey

Yap became a filmmaker at a time when movies began transitioning from reels to mini-DV tapes. Back then, it was almost an impossible dream as the analog technology to create a movie was expensive.

“That transition [from analog to digital] was the start of filmmaking becoming a bit more democratic because it’s now cheaper to create films. You can do non-linear editing through computers. The development and the technology of filmmaking became very liberating as a storyteller.”

The technological limits of analog didn’t stop Yap from becoming a storyteller. As a novelist, he is a five-time Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature awardee – winning first prize in 2018 for “Baradero”, second prize in 2000 and 2019 for “Ang Suhito” and “Ang Haya ni Tasyo” respectively, and third prize in 2015 and 2022 for “Liboa’g Usa Ka Hugon-Hugon Kabahin sa Tagulilong” and “John Wayne ug ang Goldfish kong Inahan.” His latest novel, “Arkipelago”, was released early this year.

As a former columnist and opinion editor, being in media also allowed him to expand his perspective as a filmmaker. “Journalism exposed me to get outside of my comfort zone so I don’t live in a bubble. I get to witness other stories and they feed on my creativity with the stories I find. I was on a desk job for so many years and I have stories that end up on my desk for editing,” he said.

“What happens to your community lands on your desk so you have all these stories to read every night. There’s no way you cannot think of a complete fiction when you have all these stories at your desk.”

Aside from directing narrative films such as “Huwebes Huwebes” with Don Frasco and Kristoffer Villarino, he has also done documentaries such as “Masterpiece” (also with Villarino as co-director) which focused on a ceiling painting project in Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Bantayan Island, Cebu. He described his documentary work as a “spillover” from his journalism career.

“As a creative storyteller and a journalist, it’s like two of my worlds are feeding on each other. Some of my skills in storytelling and creative writing helped me as a journalist. At the same time, journalism helped me in stepping out of my bubble as a storyteller.”

For now, Yap is adapting one of his short stories into a feature-length film with Antipuesto and filmmaker Keith Deligero. They are currently looking for a financer as they plan to shoot it out of town.

After his Cinemalaya win, he has his eyes on making a movie with a mainstream studio.

“That’s actually where I want to head to. We have been submitting pitches in many places recently. We want to catch the moment of winning in Cinemalaya so we are taking the opportunity while it’s still hot.” — (FREEMAN)