Foreign filmmakers tap Pinoy talents

MANILA, Philippines - Six foreign directors of short films, no doubt captivated by Asian (especially Filipino) talent in the performing arts, will be in town until December. They will cast Filipino actors in Philippine settings in their films, two of which have already won awards in international festivals.

The six are Thomas Wood from France; Cole Stamm and Robert Martin of the US; David Desoto and Enrique Miranda of Mexico; and Whitney Howard, an African-American.

The six directors are Master of Fine Arts (MFA)-Theater students of New York University (NYU)-Tisch in Singapore. One of their teachers in Tisch is Filipino director Carlitos Siguion-Reyna. They held two-day auditions recently at Myra Beltran Studio in West Ave., Quezon City. There are no plans for more auditions.

I watched the auditions during the first day and saw how Wood coached the young hopefuls in acting out a scene, while documenting this.  The other filmmakers sat in front of a table like panelists.

One girl, in tears, behaved like a heroine in a teleserye. “Itatakwil kita (I will reject you),” she screamed. She was good, very intense, although I found it a bit over the top. Maybe the directors wanted it this way?

A young man was then summoned, and the two were told to press their fingers together. “Feel the energy in your bodies,” Wood intoned.

Why, there was my compadre from our choir, the Andres Bonifacio Concert Choir of composer Jerry Dadap, tenor Romy Saba, who brought his good-looking son Loel Christian, 14 going on 15. And, fittingly, they were made to enact a father-and-son scene. What do you know? They were accepted!

Wood, 23, has an American name because his grandfather was an American, but he is really from Paris. He and his colleagues, based in Singapore, are making films in Asia, specifically the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Wood has worked in his native France and in Italy, and once was an assistant director to the Italian master Bernardo Bertolucci. The young director has made four short films thus far, three fictional and one docu. The Philippine film is his fifth.

”I want to work with Filipinos,” he says. The film he is doing now is about an old man who is terminally ill and his 45-year-old son. They have never had a relationship. They are now on the road but have run out of gas. So they have to endure each other.

The script was written by Wood in French, after which he will have it translated into Tagalog.

“Coming from a Latin country, I am attracted to the Philippines because of its interesting mix of Latin culture,” he says.  “I wanted to see the mix.” Like most Frenchmen, he didn’t know much about the country, but soon found it had many similarities to Europe.

“The Philippines is very different from other Asian countries,” Wood notes.  “I felt more in common here than in other Asian countries. I want to explore that.”

The reserved but likable filmmaker concludes: “I want to work with Filipinos. It’s a big challenge for me to stay true to the culture. I want to work on the Filipino psyche, very interesting. I think the Filipino people have been very professional.”

For details, e-mail at [email protected].