The brilliance of Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza

Gulf News

The brilliance of Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza. Award-winning Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza shares insights about his new movie Thy Womb. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00The Womb was a film about a childless couple and it was shot in Tawi-Tawi in the southernmost

00:11part of the Philippines.

00:12It's a Muslim island and this couple belongs to a minority tribe, they're called the Sama

00:18Bajau and the lead protagonist is a midwife but she's childless.

00:24So basically the story is about her looking for the woman to bear a child for her husband.

00:33Honestly I don't know anything about the island, I don't know anything about the people.

00:37The reason why we shot in Tawi-Tawi, only because we were given a grant by the Film

00:43Development Council of the Philippines for the post-production of this film.

00:47So I was asked to go there to discover what we can do about the island, about the people

00:55there.

00:56And for me it was really quite a discovery when we saw the island.

01:00For me it's a pity that, you know, not a lot of people, that a lot of Filipinos knew

01:05that we have such a beautiful country, that we have such a beautiful island with beautiful

01:09people like the Bajau.

01:12To most of us we knew this place only as a very violent place with aggressive people.

01:18We don't know that this island actually Christians and Muslims, they really coexist and they

01:23live a very harmonious life.

01:26And for me that's just what really attracted me to make a film about this island, about

01:32this people.

01:33So we started doing our research and the story was actually based on a real life story of

01:41this couple.

01:42So I thought that it was a perfect story to depict and to show the kind of people that

01:50lives here and at the same time showing their culture, their tradition and everything about them.

01:56For me, I'm really proud about this film.

02:00Not only because it turns out to be a lot of people are liking it and praising the performance

02:08but even more than that, it's like being proud of a Filipino filmmaker.

02:15Finally, I could share something to the world and to the Filipinos themselves about what

02:20we have in our country.

02:23For me, religion is just like secondary.

02:26A Christian can appreciate it as much as a Muslim can or other religion can.

02:31So it's the story of life, the story of human being, it's the story of people, it's the story

02:35of humanity.

02:36At the end of the day, it's a story of us, a story that we can all identify with, a story

02:42of unselfish love.

02:45In this time and age where we all think about commercialism and technology and to see something

02:53like this, a story that is so pure, a story that is not almost existing right now and

03:03we realize that it's time and age to see people like this.

03:06So for us, it's like an awakening, it's like an awakening, a reminder of our own humanity,

03:12of our own existence.

03:13So that's what I would like people to take in this film, regardless of race, regardless

03:19of religion, and regardless of nationality.

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