Film Guide: Back Story
The Sinulog Film Festival is one of the most anticipated events for filmmakers in Cebu. Participants are recognized and award-winning directors. Yet, until now, I still can’t believe that out of 16 participants, I was one of the major award winners. This award is memorable because it was my first written and directed film and my first win in my first film competition.
At that time, I realized that while coming up with a good film idea may seem easy, in reality, it is a huge responsibility and requires a lot of hard work. To share a meaningful story, I gave 100% of my effort toward my goal and dream of seeing my craft on the big screen while conquering my own giants of procrastination.
One of the most challenging parts was writing the film guide. But every story is made from strong emotion and inspiration to share experiences and unforgettable experiences.
This is not just a film guide but a journey to great friendship and purpose.
Aster, 2024
Logline
Behind every celebrations, lies an unseen journey of a flower and a hand of hopeful father.
Short Synopsis
This 10-minute film portrays the life of an actual flower farmer. It highlights the hard work that goes into the entire process, from harvesting to transportation, selling the flowers at the market, and finally returning home to their family bringing with them the reward of their hard work.
The film aims to emphasize the importance of recognizing the contributions of flower farmers and reminds us that these flowers are not just mere decorations or ornaments, but they also serve as a source of livelihood for the farmers we often forget to appreciate.
Director’s Statement
The Garden of Emotions:
FLOWERS are naturally beautiful and meaningful gifts that we commonly give. It expresses our deep affection in various situations, it can represent emotions, such as love, gratitude, or sympathy. It is an essential element in every cultural and religious ceremonies, such as weddings, funerals, and festivals like the grand religious, Sinulog Festival, their value goes beyond its aesthetic beauty. Flowers are used to decorate chariots and altars, adding color, life and spirit to the festivity. For the faithful devotees, flowers acts as their visual representation to signify their full bloom devotion to Sr. Sto. Nino.
The Sprouting Questions:
“BEAUTIFUL” has always been a way to describe flowers, especially when they are combined with different colors and shapes. Just by looking at them, I can feel their magical beauty that draws my attention. As I raised and waived my hands in praise during the novena mass, I paused, and wondered where these blooming beauties come from. I was curious about the hands behind this bunch of creations. Were the people responsible for these flowers as charismatic, graceful, and fragrant as the flowers themselves? Or perhaps, pure and pristine like the ivory petals of a lily? These random thoughts sparked a mischievous question in my mind.
The farmer:
EXPLORATION is the answer to every question. Being a traveler and a hiker, I often listen to or hear different types of stories and meet new faces with different life statuses and experiences along the trail. In an unexpected opportunity, I eventually cultivated an answer as I met this farmer named Val.
Val was born and raised in Zamboanga and went to the vast land of Cebu to seek a greener opportunity with his wife, Jeanny, where they learned to grow vegetables and flowers.
“Kuya Val”
I met Val and his family two years ago, who welcomed me to their home with open arms. He was never a stranger to all the hikers. We became friends, and from there, I witnessed the life they had as flower and vegetable farmers. I ate what they ate, slept where they slept, and lived where they lived. I stay with them for more than a week whenever I write something. I became one of his apprentices, selling buko to all the exhausted hikers.
The Flower:
‘’ASTER’’ was his answer when I asked him the name of this tiny flowers. I did a little research about Aster and Google says, ‘’this fall-blooming herb with daisy-like flowers stands for wisdom, faith, and virtue. It became a symbol of love in Greek mythology, it was placed on the altars for the gods, named after the Greek word for “star” due to its blooms resembling a star; Asters symbolize love, wisdom, faith, and color.’’ From there. I slowly understand every bits of it. Aster has always been a beautiful layer to flower arrangements, such as bouquets, altars, and even funerals, regardless of its size.
The Growing Opportunity:
GROWING FLOWERS takes time and effort as I witnessed the entire process of Val taking care of the Aster flower at 2 am giving enough amount of fertilizer until it was ready to harvest, and the incomparable joy he felt whenever he was able to sell it to the middle-men in Barangay Malubog.
It made me realize the struggle of growing such a simple flower. While some may see it as an ornament on an altar, for Val, it is a source of daily sustenance for his family. After witnessing his struggles, I promised myself that one day I would showcase his story and journey to give meaning and value to what we have forgotten to acknowledge and this will be my appreciation to the hardworking hands of our farmers.
As a filmmaker and storyteller, I was curious about filming the process to educate about Aster’s journey from farm to altar and so I asked Val’s permission as well as his wife but during filming, I discovered something unexpected.
The Harvest:
FOR FIVE YEARS Val used to send his harvest to the middlemen from Barangay Malubog going to Carbon Market and just wait for them to sell it but a new opportunity sprouted from the filming of the project.
On the first day of the shoot, Val went to Carbon Market personally to sell his flowers as part of the theme of this film, ‘’Aster”, and then met the florist/ flower vendor, Josephine for the first time, who eventually became the first and only direct buyer of his Aster flowers. The whole dialogue of negotiation was spontaneous, as if they had known each other for a very long time.
Fast forward to today: Val regularly visits Josephine to deliver his harvest along with his son, Jeval, the real Jeval, who happened to back out of his role, replaced by his younger brother, Vincent.
This unexpected chance brought a fresh chapter in Val’s life as a farmer. It was a cause for celebration and served as a blessing for him, providing hope to sustain the needs of his family while waiting for his next harvest.
Director’s Note:
“DAOG NA NI’ as a Cebuana, these are the words that came out of my mouth after I finished the writings and accomplished the whole film. The same phrase I said in the last draft to submit my second story—a story based on the real lives of the people who have been a part of my journey. Having and producing this film genre is never a bed of roses. We had to worked with limited resources like the absence of electricity, distance of the location, transportation, make up with the actor to pull off every scenes, and the weather condition.
Prior to filming, I searched for a flower vendor in the market and negotiated with them to purchase the flowers that Val would bring from his garden.
Fortunately, I came across Josephine, who agreed to be a part of the film, and that’s how the story started.
The most challenging thing for a new director is directing non-actors.
Due to the limited time we had for shooting, every scene had to be perfect by the grace of God, we managed to complete the shoot in just two days.
Even though the original actor Jeval burst out crying and refuse to continue with the shoot. However, he was replaced by his younger brother Vincent.
Technically speaking, using only one camera and a power bank, it successfully captured all the footage without any “kakulian” aside from walking in the middle of the dark back to Val’s house from Carbon Market, where we had to protect our stuff from getting wet or slammed.
Upon completion of the entire film, I feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment for conquering my own giants of self-doubt. This experience has taught me the value of hard work and determination. I am grateful for the opportunity and guidance that God has given me all throughout my journey, as well as the knowledge and support of the people who always believe in me and my craft.