‘Imbisibol’ has a face
‘Imbisibol’ has a face
Director Lawrence Fajardo
Sit down with Direk Lawrence Fajardo
By Rachelle Cruz
After nabbing seven awards, including Best Picture at the first Sinag Maynila Film Festival, Lawrence Fajardo’s “Imbisibol” (Invisible) is one of the three films from the Philippines featured in this year’s 40th Toronto International Film Festival.
Based on the one-act play written by Herlyn Gail Alegre for Virgin Labfest back in 2013, “Imbisibol” weaves several narratives about undocumented Filipino workers struggling to make ends meet to provide and support their families back home. Set in Fukuoka, Japan, the stark winter and grey scenes denote the isolation and loneliness that the characters endure. “Imbisibol” highlights themes about family, nationality and solidarity.
Steve Gravestock, Senior Programmer at TIFF, described Fajardo’s film as “one of the most finely crafted Filipino films in recent memory… full of moments whose emotional impact is connected to their technical precision.”
The Philippine Reporter sat down with Fajardo, and his wife Krisma Maclang Fajardo, producer, this week at the TIFF Bell Lightbox:
TPR: How did you feel about the film being part of TIFF? Were you surprised?
Lawrence Fajardo: Nagulat kami dito dahil hindi namin ini-expect, na magkaroon ng film festival tulad ng Toronto. So before, napasok naman din yung mga ibang films ko sa Korea, Japan, pero I think this is the pinakamalaking festival na napuntahan ng pelikula ko so far.
(We were surprised because we didn’t expect it, especially in a big film festival like this. Before, my other films have made it to film festivals in Korea and Japan, but I think that this is the biggest one yet so far.)
TPR: What is the core message of the film? You mentioned that it’s realism and it portrays what’s really happening over there. Can you elaborate about the core message that you wanted to reach to the larger audience?
LF: My father is also a seaman, so gusto ko bigyan ng mukha yung mga heroes natin, gusto namin bigyan ng boses yung mga sinasabing bagong bayani. Yun talaga ang gusto naming ipakita dito sa Imbisibol. Na kahit na sila kilala sa lugar na kung saan sila nagtratrabaho, pero backhome, importante silang tao.
(My father is also a seaman (Overseas Filipino Worker) so I wanted to give a face to our heroes. I wanted to give them a voice, to what people now call as our new heroes. That’s what we really wanted to show through Imbisibol. That even if they are not known in their workplace, back home, they are important people.)
TPR: Can you talk about the technique of the film, the treatment specifically. I noticed it’s very much like a theatre/stage set-up The film is stark, with clean lines, and very static but the turmoil, that the characters are experiencing surfaces through. And all of the major four characters in each story have a climactic scene that culminated and converged in the end.
LF: Isa sa treatment namin na pinagusapan namin sa grupo, gusto namin medyo, in a way, Zen ang dating ng pelikula. Gusto namin hindi siya magulo. Gusto namin static lang. Ready na yung lahat. Because nga gusto ko nakatutok lang yung camera and naka-focus sa problem, sa issue, and in a way, sa acting ng mga actors.
(One of the treatment that we talked about as a group, is that we wanted it to be Zen-like. We didn’t want it to be messy. We wanted it to be just static. Everything is ready. Because I wanted the camera to focus more on the problems and issues we are raising, and in a way, the acting of the actors.)
TPR: You mentioned that it took only 14 days to shoot the film and one day in the Philippines to shoot the bar scene. What were some of the other challenges you encountered?
LF: Isa sa mga challenges namin is ang time. Because napaka specific and napaka organized, well ng mga producers namin, yung mga Japanese, gusto nila kapag ganitong oras 9 o’clock to 10 o’clock matapos mo na yung shoot. Well in a way, mukhang mahirap because minsan kami, as Filipinos hindi pa kami sanay sa malamig at saka sa snow. So medyo mabagal pa kami kumilos. Ang situation talaga mahirap kasi ko-konti lang talaga kami. Hindi ito yung full crew. Siguro 15 lang kaming staff and mga five na Japanese na kinuha namin. Siguro 20 lang kami so mahirap ang set up. Like ako, I was director and production designer and after post-production editor. In a way, lahat kami multi-tasking. Yun ang tinatawag nating Bayanihan.
(One of the major challenges is time. Because the Japanese is very organized, it was hard to keep within the set timeframes because we were not used to winter. So we were moving slower than usual. Also, the situation was difficult because we didn’t have a full crew. We only had 15 staff and another five Japanese that we hired. So between 20 of us, it was a challenging set-up. I was the director and production designer, and also the post production editor. In a way, we all had to multi-task, and I that’s what they call ‘Bayanihan’.)
TPR: Can you describe some of the elements of the film and setting?
LF: Elemental yung setting. Kasi yung representation ng characters nila, may mga elements sila. So si Linda (Cess Quesada) yung element ay mist. Si Benjie (Bernardo Bernardo), water. Si Manuel (Allen Dizon), smoke. And then si Rodel (JM de Guzman), was fire. Parang yun ang feelings ng lahat ng characters na ito.
(The setting is elemental. Each character is represented by their own elements. For instance, Linda is mist. Benjie is water. Manuel is smoke, and Rodel was fire.)
TPR: The plight of OFWs and undocumented workers is not an isolated case in Japan. This is also prevalent elsewhere. Why did you choose Japan as the setting for this film?
Krisma Fajardo: Historically, I think it started in the 70s, up to the 90s that hundreds of thousands of Filipinos went to Japan in work. And at that time, I think they were given like a contract of three months and after that they had to come back to the Philippines and get another visa. So then it became six months. But you know Filipinos, maybe it’s expensive for them to be going back and forth so what they do, they overstay and become undocumented workers. This is all in their strive to give a better life for their families. So the story is also about Japan, and the intention was to shoot the movie entirely in Japan.
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