DOHA QATAR-BASED Filipino filmmaker Jan Xavier ‘Janix’ Pacle happily lends his precious time and huge talent to the Philippine School Doha (PSD) for its fundraising initiatives.
This time it is a movie project.
Each year, the non-stock, non-profit Filipino school holds different activities to raise funds for the construction of their new campus. Instead of the usual programme, this year PSD tapped Janix to realise its ambitious film project titled Hiyaw: A Shout From Within. The film, written by PSD students Elshene Cabunilas, Ranica Casipit and Diana De Asis, is a story about Filipino students who are trying to cope with living and studying abroad.
“PSD is the main production house for this film. All funding and paperwork came from the school and the screening date is to be decided by it. I was approached by PSD last August to direct the film. My task is to convert the story into a filmable screenplay and flesh out the scenes and add what is needed to make the whole thing more interesting.
For first-timers in film industry, I think they have done well. Although there are kinks here and there, when you look at the bigger picture, they were able to produce a proper feature film,” said Janix.
The young filmmaker is among the pride of the Filipino community in Qatar. He is best known for being the first Filipino filmmaker in the country’s Southeast Asian community to have an entry to the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) through his 24-minute romantic comedy I Love You Ma’am. In the last edition of the DTFF, it was his first full-length movie titled Angel in June that made it to the list of the event’s local entries.
According to Janix, the 102 minute-long movie is the product of a collaboration of the entire PSD community and its supporters.
From the actors to the crew members, everyone is somehow connected to the school either as faculty members, students, parents or alumni. “It was a great experience for everyone. They have seen and experienced filmmaking first-hand and hopefully they have learned something about it. It’s completely different from what I normally do. I usually do deep and profound storylines that look into the different meanings of life, but this one is a very light film. It is a feel-good film. So, I had to forget everything I knew about making my own films and develop new techniques that would fit the theme of the project. Because of time constraints I wasn’t able to do everything that I wanted to do. I had to adapt to whatever the situation called for.
Nevertheless, we had a great crew. So, in the end, it still turned out great,” said Janix.
Hiyaw: A Shout From Within is produced by PSD Principal Alexander Acosta and Gerardo Macasa Jr together with Lorina Villanueva. Among the lead actors of the film are Joyce Sison as Hannah, Sarakiel Tandingan as Andrea, Jaya San Jose as Alex, Ella Rodriguez as Jacque, Mardrin Quimba as Derek, Daryl Chavez as Mark, Nad Abu Jahal as JC, Jay Somera as Anthony and Mary Micah Cervania as Jaira.
Meanwhile, talking about the recent announcement of Doha Film Institute (DFI) on the end of its partnership with Tribeca Enterprises, Janix admitted that the news came as a big surprise for him. “Knowing that the festival is “Doha-Tribeca,” I knew that it’s not going to last forever, but I was surprised that it happened all too soon. It didn’t even reach five years. But that’s not such a bad thing. Tribeca helped DFI build a strong foundation in the film industry and now DFI can proudly stand on its own and move forward. Now, they’re hosting two festivals, which is definitely a move forward.
I’m quite excited to see what will be the difference between the new festival and the old festival. I’m definitely looking forward to taking part in the new festival. DTFF was one of the reasons why I pursued a career in films. Having a change of name doesn’t mean it’s different. It’s the same festival with the same purpose – to showcase promising films and promote culture through them. I still support it all the way. And I do hope that Hiyaw gets into the festival.” According to the director, he is currently working on a new project which is an epic film that spans two generations. “We are in the pre-production phase of breaking down the script and securing funding. I have high hopes for this film,” he said in parting shot.
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