Since its inception in 2005, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival has steadily shaped a following, warranting coverage from mainstream news outlets and independent critics alike. “Loyal” may well be a conservative word to describe this level of support, especially when one considers the torrential rains and the soul-sapping transportation woes that, unfortunately, have become part and parcel of the Cinemalaya experience.
For the first time in the festival’s history, this year’s edition will feature an animated film and a documentary in the feature-length category. 10 short films are also in competition. Meanwhile, Gawad Alternatibo, Cinemalaya’s older sibling and major programming component, will show more than 80 short films scattered across five categories. Considering the rest of the lineup, the festival’s 19th edition is quite stacked and overwhelming. But what towers over this sheer volume of content are two short film entries created by queer filmmakers, starred by transgender actors, and informed by the lived experiences of the trans community — a scarcity not only in our local cinema, but in any art form at large.
Historically, when trans narratives are depicted on screen by creators who only share a superficial understanding of the community’s plight, these depictions often lead to stereotypical, if not terminal, trajectories that put trans folx in more peril.
Yet there are works that challenge these notions and, in the process, offer a beacon of hope and possibilities. One of these cinematic gems is Diokko Manuel Dionisio’s “Kokuryo: The Untold Story of Bb. Undas 2019,” a finalist in the main short film category. The film centers around two transgender women whose friendship is put to the test following an unwanted incident at a gay pageant. Prior to its Cinemalaya premiere, “Kokuryo” already won best film, among other awards, in this year’s Piling Obrang Vidyo organized by UP Cinema. It also screened at Sinepiyu 2023, where it was named second best film. Shelved for more than two years due largely to the pandemic, the film will have its Malaysian premiere this September at the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival.
The idea for the film, according to Dionisio, was shaped by a story he came across in 2019. “Mula sa nakawan, suguran ng bahay, hanggang sa barangayan, lahat ito ay found story,” the director tells CNN Philippines Life. “‘Yung goal naman ni Mindy [Jane Castillo] about her transition ay dinagdag ko after I interviewed her and other trans pageant queens dahil si Mindy mismo ay pangarap ito kaya malapit at personal din ang kwentong ito [sa kanya].”
‘ ‘4’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:4eb08a73-6a3d-4312-a4bc-aadd847c2d3b’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘Actresses Mindy Jane Castillo and Thalia Nagaño offer complex and interesting work, precisely because they have the comparable lived experience from which they can draw the emotional palette it requires to deliver the
The first time I saw “Kokuryo” at UP Cine Adarna, there was this wave of sadness that charged at me by the time the film reached its closing frame; a sadness so profound and clear that I actually didn’t know where to place it. Perhaps it had something to do with the feeling of finally being seen on screen; to resonate with an experience that I know like the back of my hand. The final image sees Mindy Jane, the lead character, sitting in silence at the back of a jeepney ride after a long, exhausting night — the moment where it dawns on her how this world will always find countless ways to erase trans people like her (like us, if I may add).
This endnote and, by extension, the rest of the film would not have fared well had the director not cast trans actors in the key roles. Dionisio shares that he met Castillo at a campaign rally of former Vice President Leni Robredo. “We were both volunteers for the Youth for Leni-Kiko in our hometowns in Gapan City and San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija,” he says. “Si Thalia [Nagaño] naman ay nakilala ko during our casting call in Gapan. Mindy brought her trans friends to us para sa audition for the role of Diding and other supporting characters.”
“Seeing another trans woman on set really just made me happy. Madalang ang ganitong klaseng representation sa pelikula, and dalawa pa kami.”
Despite being first-time film actors, Castillo and Nagaño (who plays Diding, the best friend) offer complex and interesting work, precisely because they have the comparable lived experience from which they can draw the emotional palette it requires to deliver the film’s lucid message — something that straight cisgender talents, who usually portray these parts, lack. “Seeing another trans woman on set really just made me happy,” Castillo says of her fellow actor. “Madalang ang ganitong klaseng representation sa pelikula, and dalawa pa kami.”
“The themes in the film are also very similar to the experiences I and a lot of [trans] people in my area had,” adds Castillo. “I also work very hard for what I want. I want to be independent and help my parents out. I use my earnings to improve myself and some of that goes to my transition. So the Mindy on screen is not as different from the Mindy in real life.”
This question of representation and inclusivity is also shared by Serena Magiliw, one of two lead actors in Kukay Zinampan’s “Nang Maglublob Ako sa Isang Mangkok ng Liwanag,” an entry to the short feature category of this year’s Gawad Alternatibo. This matter, in fact, has always been “political” for her. “Hinahamon [nito] ang nakasanayang kalakaran sa TV at pelikula na ginagampanan ng mga cisgender actors ang mga trans o queer roles nang walang malalim na kamalayan sa bigat ng pakikibaka bilang bahagi ng komunidad ng LGBTQIA+ sa Pilipinas,” says Magiliw.
“Naisasantabi ang danas [natin] dahil nagagawang hubarin ng isang cisgender na aktor ang tauhan at mga hamon nito, at maaari nang magpatuloy sa kanyang buhay nang hindi nararanasan ang mga diskriminasyon at pang-aabuso,” she adds. “Napatitibay nito ang kultura ng toleration at hindi acceptance. Ally mang ituring ang ibang gumaganap, ang kawalan pa rin nila ng buhay na danas ng pagiging trans ang minsang nagdudulot ng mababaw at malabnaw na pakikiisa bilang hindi nila nararanasan ang parehong bigat ng mga hamong ibinibigay ng lipunan pagdating sa komunidad ng LGBTQIA+.”
In “Mangkok,” the audience journeys with two trans folks Sunshine (Magiliw) and Frena (Jzár Tabilin) as they navigate life under the harrowing days of lockdown. “It is a film that grieves,” as Zinampan puts it, “not solely for another (often, violently represented) death, for a life ended once more, dishearteningly too soon, but for the radical feeling of grieving in solidarity.”
‘ ’13’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:99c4bda1-afa3-4aad-9da2-5472b9d0116e’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘”Nang Maglublob Ako sa Isang Mangkok ng Liwanag” follows Sunshine (Serena Magiliw) and Frena (Jzár Tabilin) as they navigate life under the
“Mangkok” debuted at the 2021 Pelikultura: Calabarzon Film Festival, where it won best film and best performance for Magiliw and Tabilin, and went on to participate in other local film fests, such as Cinema Rehiyon 14, Binisaya Film Festival, and Pelikulaya (where it won best short film). Internationally, the film competed in Brazil’s 15th For Rainbow Festival (where it was named best foreign short and best art direction), Vancouver Queer Film Festival, and in Romania’s Art200 International Queer Film Festival.
The film, says Zinampan, began as a suite of poems honed into a screenplay. “Mga tala ito ng mga maliliit na galak na nakikita at nararanasan ko, o mga everyday encounters with queerness, sa panahon ng isolasyon at ng mga patung-patong na balita. In a way, ito ‘yong mga kinakapitan ng umaalagwa kong sanity, at ng mga dambuhala kong pangungulila at pagluluksa.”Zinampan also admits that they “feel frustrated and tired” of the depiction of queer and trans lives in literary and filmic spaces that often present such lives “not on their living, multiple terms but only in their terminus.” “Attempt ko siya para i-reconcile ‘yong mga danas ko ng queer at trans na buhay, parehong sa totoong buhay at sa representasyon namin sa midya at panitikan na palaging nauuwi sa kamatayan, o ‘di kaya ay sa disintegrasyon ng mga relasyon,” they add. “Syempre, payag at kasabwat dito ang patriyarka at estado, na ikahon ang pagkaganda-gandang katawan ng mga queer at trans sa kamatayan. Ang tanong ko noon: Ito lang ba talaga kami? Hanggang dito na lamang ba at maraming salamat?” And so much of the film works because of its insistence to subvert that frame of mind, to assert an idiom of belonging captured through its poetic, nonlinear temporality, which the director considers as “a very queer” lens. Zinampan knows better than to compartmentalize the trans experience — one that is material as much as it is personal.’ ’19’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:f34beee5-db3f-4b01-bf28-8dc121f4a221’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘“Napakahalaga ng trans representation sa pelikula dahil nabibigyan tayo ng pagkakataon na ibahagi ang sarili nating mga buhay na danas,” says Serena Magiliw, star of “Nang Maglublob Ako sa Isang Mangkok ng Liwanag.
Magiliw, who plays another gender non-conforming character in Ryan Machado’s Cinemalaya feature-length entry “Huling Palabas,” also emphasizes the material value of films or cultural works like “Mangkok” that surface transhood that, like other queer identities, exists in a spectrum.
“Hindi man lubos na maunawaan ng macho at pyudal na lipunan, buhay at kamatayan ang kaakibat nito,” says Magiliw. “Napakahalaga ng trans representation sa pelikula dahil nabibigyan tayo ng pagkakataon na ibahagi ang sarili nating mga buhay na danas. At ang representasyon ay hindi lang sa kung sino ang mga gumaganap, kundi iyon ding mga nasa likod ng telon o kamera mula sa mga manunulat, direktor, mga taga-disenyo, at iba pa.”
This materiality, asserts Magiliw, becomes truer when one looks at the current state of the SOGIESC Equality Bill, which has been sitting in Congress for more than 20 years now. “Kung comic at support ang laging ginagampanan, ganon din ang nagiging trato sa lipunan,” she says. “Kung pinapatay, ‘yon din ang magiging tingin ng lipunan. Kung salot sa pelikula, ganon din sa totoong buhay. Ito ang nagluluwal ng diskriminasyon, transphobia, hate crime, at iba pang uri ng karahasan. Ito rin ang naghaharang na maipasa ang mahigit 20 taong nakabinbin na SOGIESC Equality Bill.”
“Aruga ‘yong pagkakataong makita mo ang sarili sa iskrin na hindi object ng katatawanan at muhi kundi bilang isang indibidwal na may ahensya at partisipasyon sa world-building at, sa malawakan, bilang isang komunidad na nariyan para sa isa’t isa.”
“[Sana] dumating ang panahon na isinasalaysay na natin ang ating mga naratibo hindi lamang bilang trans, kundi bilang tao,” she adds.Trans cinema, whether local or otherwise, has always been a cinema of assertion. And both “Kokuryo” and “Mangkok” make a strong case that it’s more than possible to create stories that actually mean something for marginalized sectors like the trans community, if and only if these stories are given adequate space, properly funded, and handled by the right, listening people. That this remains “a tall order” only proves that we should continue the struggle until it is no longer one.Zinampan shares that they are now working on their new film “Naka,” a documentary-fiction that follows three transgender teens in a suburban community in Antipolo. Asked about how long they will keep telling stories of this kind, the 24-year-old director has this to say: “Siguro lumilikha ako dahil mayroong gap o void o blot sa kasaysayan ng mga pelikula na hindi ko nasisilayan ‘yong sarili ko. Para bang lumilikha ako para isulat ‘yong kasaysayan ko, namin, at sa huli, ma-encounter ko ‘yong sarili ko finally. Masalimuot siyang proseso dahil ang queer at trans na katawan ay napakaraming mga sala-salabid na bagay. ‘Yong tanong na ‘until when?,’ hirap niyang sagutin. Pero gagawa at gagawa [tayo] ng paraan para magbukas ng mga mundo ng posibilidad para sa presents at futures na worth living.”
