Pelikula Q&A: Mga Anino sa Tanghaling Tapat An...

Pelikula Q&A: Mga Anino sa Tanghaling Tapat
An interview with director Ivy Baldoza by Jansen Musico

Your film sounds like a coming-of-age story.

Yes, it’s a coming-of-age story of three young girls. Two of them are sisters. The other one, Ines, is their cousin who comes over to visit. The film plays around the themes of memory, love, loss, and desire in a setting very familiar to us: the barrio. Personally, I just wanted to breathe.

Why is the title Mga Anino sa Tanghaling Tapat?

It’s the shadows the girls make when they escape for their afternoon frolics.

The movie is powered by a group of heroines. Was that incidental or do you have something to say or have traits you want to highlight about rural Filipino women?

I wouldn’t go as far as calling them heroines. They are most likely not going to stand up for anything or champion a cause or represent something very positive. In fact, the characters are very ordinary and to a fault passive to their circumstances.

What made you cast your three actresses?

All of them exude a certain intensity which I think represents the characters of the girls quite well.

What similarities do you see yourself having with the girls in the film?

I grew up in the province. Life there can be cyclical and fatalistic. You can be subjected to rituals and beliefs that are beyond your control, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You may choose to embrace the cycle because it’s comforting, it’s home. Doon ka lumaki, naroon lahat ng kamag-anak mo, kadugo mo, yun ang kinamulatan mo—tama man o mali. Or you may choose to run away from it because you’re drawn to exploring what’s outside.

What was the most difficult part in making the film?

First, the script had undergone a lot of changes and versions. It’s a process. You grow with it and ride with the changes along the way. But I think the real challenge came after, getting a producer to pick it up into production.

The weather was also unforgiving, and then a sad thing happened, one of our actors died before he even got to see the film. Although he appeared briefly just to play dead, he died two weeks later. We really felt the loss of Mang Karding on our last day of filming.

The film has been called a “mystical journey.” Do you think it is?

I hope so. We have that goal in mind to evoke that mood. It’s easier to say, “Yeah. It’s mystical,” but executing that idea from paper to screen is a tricky process. We can end up with something that isn’t mystical, but the process of creating it is magical nonetheless.