Take Me To Banaue director-co-writer-producer Danny Aguilar shared on March 3, his thoughts on why Filipino filmmakers haven’t broken into the Academy Awards.
During the media conference for his first Filipino film, Take Me To Banaue, Aguilar said that Filipinos need maturity in storytelling and focus on representation.
“You know, in the U.S., it’s all about the timing, but also how–being able to showcase your story ability. I think over there if the story is there and there are social issues you’re tackling. I /think we need to mature now in storytelling, and I think that’s something we have to learn. I’m still learning about that.
“Filipinos are very talented. It’s just we don’t have any representation. And kind of pain me a little bit, kasi we can do it, we are very, very talented, but we don’t have the representation. It’s just a matter of time, and I can feel it. It’s going to be our year.”
He also revealed that he plans to release the movie in the Philippines and the United States.
“We’ve waited for one year and almost gave up. Kasi, I don’t know when the pandemic will be over, but I had a really great plan for the film. Luckily in the U.S, distribution is really much easy in this year.
“We plan to have a premiere here, and premiere doon sa U.S.–theatrical premiere. And hopefully, some film festival–I’ll submit it for Sundance and some other festivals. And hopefully, we’re going to HBO.”
He also noted his hopes of showcasing the Philippines through his movie, Take Me to Banaue.
“I’m really proud of the team, I’m really proud of the story itself, you know we want to showcase the Philippines, right? So that’s my goal, that’s my advocacy.
“I really believe that the Philippine Cinema and representation in Hollywood is really lacking at this point. The Koreans did it, the Indians did it, but not the Filipinos.”
He also wanted to promote underrated tourist spots and locations in the Philippines through his international film.
“I really felt that Banaue is underrated, we felt that the Cordillera region is underrated, plus I’m a little bit biased because I spent seven years in Baguio and there’s always this in my mind, this is so underrated, under-promoted, so that’s why I created the character of Grace, which is from Banaue who lives in Baguio.”
Aguilar then detailed how he balanced the script to cater to the Filipino and American audience.
“The script is written in a way that we can get viewers that are Filipino and American. It’s 90% English–well 80% English, 10% Tagalog, and 10% Tuwali. So that’s how the script did. But when we locked the script, we had to go through [several] iterations because we submitted it for a lot of review from writers, critics, and things like that.”
He then admitted feeling intimidated in doing his first Filipino film.
“This is my first Filipino movie, all my movies are in English, so I’m so intimidated to make a movie in the Philippines. But I also would like to share whatever I have. To share whatever I heard, and in return, also, I can also learn something from the industry.”
He went through the Sundance Director Mentorship program, wherein Aguilar received tutelage from international directors.
As for his movie, Take Me To Banaue, their team has begun filming the movie. The cast includes a mix of International actors Brandon Melo and Dylan Rogers alongside local artists Maureen Wroblewitz, Thea Tolentino, and Boobay.
