Motherland, by veteran Filipino auteur Brillante Mendoza, had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).
Mendoza told Deadline about his motivation to make Motherland, shooting his next film Chameleon and the challenges that the Filipino film industry is currently facing.
The making of Motherland
The film follows the story of Dao-ayen, a member of the Philippines‘ Special Action Force (SAF), from the Ifugao tribe in northern Luzon. Dao-ayen was part of the 2015 Mamasapano raid that resulted in the deaths of 44 members of the Philippines’ Special Action Force (SAF).
“What really affected me about this incident was actually the story of the foot soldiers,” Mendoza said. “They are the ones who were affected by the miscommunication from their superiors and the president himself, and these soldiers suffered and gave their lives for their country. At the end of the day, there is a question of whether their sacrifices were worth it.”
Motherland stars Rocco Nacino in the leading role of Tom Dao-ayen. Offscreen, through the production of the film, Nacino ended up discovering a family connection to the story. When the production team flashed up a list of names of the 44 deceased SAF members, Nacino saw that he shared the same last name as one of them. After doing some research into his family’s history, he managed to confirm that he was related.
Produced by Krisma Maclang Fajardo, the film also stars Cesar Montano, Ricky Davao and Vince Rillon.
The 2015 Mamasapano clash has been the subject of numerous works besides Mendoza’s Motherland. The clash was narrated in two special episodes of the anthology series Maalaala Mo Kaya and also retold in works like Wish Ko Lang and Mamasapano: Now It Can Be Told.
Mendoza said that while preparing for his film, his team conducted research on the clash based on documents released by the Philippines’ senate and also interviewed special forces members who were involved as well as the families of the deceased.
While he chose to refrain from using the full real names of the special forces members in Motherland, the film uses the soldiers’ mothers’ last names for its characters.
Mendoza highlighted that Motherland was one of the most challenging films he has directed due to the physical conditions they had to work in. Filmed in the boiling summer season in the Philippines, the team also shot in heavily forested areas in Luzon, which made access for logistics, equipment, electricity and washrooms also very difficult.
However, he praised his actors and crew for staying resilient and giving their best throughout the production.
“You can really feel the energy from the actors and the shooting conditions made everyone more inspired,” Mendoza said. “The actors were very cooperative.”
He added that the actors also went through training to learn how to use the guns that the special forces members would have used, as well as the way that SAF units move and speak.
Next projects and the Philippine film industry
After Busan, Mendoza will continue filming Chameleon, which tells the story of a Filipino transgender woman working in Japan in the 90s.
After making films for 40 years, Mendoza said that there are still many stories he is looking forward to telling and wants to push himself to work in other genres — beyond the sociopolitical films that define most of his oeuvre. He cited horror and crime as two genres he would like to make films in.
On the current state of the film industry in the Philippines where he sees rising production costs and less avenues for funding, just like many film industries around the world, Mendoza said: “I think filmmaking now is as difficult as when I started. The most difficult and challenging part is looking for money, especially now.”
He added that another thing he is concerned about is the volume of unreleased films this year in the Philippines.
“A lot of filmmakers are making films and it makes me wonder where they are going to show these films and how they are going to get their money back,” Mendoza said. “Now, there are about 40 to 50 finished films and there will be another 50 films by the end of the year. I keep thinking: where will these 100 films go? What is their plan?”
Beyond the film industry, Mendoza said that the Philippines must also continue to nurture the domestic television industry.
“What makes the industry survive in the Philippines, like many other parts of the world, even Korea, is television. The Philippines is not really just about the movie industry. The movie industry, even looking at Hollywood, is very challenging,” he added.