Hernando Watson
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Speaker 1 [00:00:00] His fifth wife. His fifth wife. It's kind of hard. He's been married a lot. My dad. I'm recording. I'm recording, by the way. Yeah. Well, she's. She's. She's. She's dead. That's. That's the. Yeah. No, no, no. That's okay. That's. That's the whole issue. She's dead, but her death is kind of a an impetus for a lot of things. And that's why I was inspired to tell this story. Or if I do share it today about what happened to her. Basically, it's not. It's not to. Heavy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How many? Like how? How many? I was very curious about the film itself. How many people do you think would be part of this? How many stories you think will be told in total? Okay. Awesome. Yeah, that's. I'm always kind of, like, curious about, like, how what because this in terms of this is this is a narrative. I should obviously have read about this a while back, but this is a narrative, but also a website as well. Mm hmm. I see. Yeah. That's and it's also what's great about it is that it's a resource that people will go back to even after the movie's released. Right. Yeah, that makes sense to me. Yeah. I'm good. I'm to me, I'm 2 minutes in, so I've got in my pocket. I did the thing. Should I put it on my desk? Okay, So I took it out of my pocket. It's on my desk in front of me now. Oh. See. Yeah, I pod since I took the pods out. Is that better?
Speaker 2 [00:03:20] Oh, yeah, that's a lot better. Okay. Is that okay?
Speaker 1 [00:03:23] Yeah, that's okay. I just. Yeah, I was just getting a little more privacy, but it's okay. I'll have the time. It's okay.
Speaker 2 [00:03:29] Are you sure? Yeah, it's. It's like. It's more important than we recorded on your side.
Speaker 1 [00:03:33] But if it sounds better, I mean, yeah, I don't. Again, I don't know. It'll be this long thing, so I'm just. Yeah, I'm okay. I'm okay. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 2 [00:03:40] Okay. Okay. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. Um, yeah. So we can get started. Sure. Yeah. So we just wanted to know more about you. Also would like. If ever you feel like you don't want us to use it or release it, you can send us an email. These are all things that you can tell us as well. We don't want you to confine to be confined and we should release this. And what, you don't feel comfortable with it?
Speaker 1 [00:04:11] Yeah, I I'm actually in I made my first documentary feature. It's in post right now. Oh, cool. So I, I've definitely But in that movie, I revealed everything I think about my life and my family. And so it's been very interesting to see how kind of in order for me to continue on, honestly, as a better filmmaker and storyteller, I think I had to tell the truth about my life. I think that's the only way.
Speaker 2 [00:04:47] Yeah, that's really interesting to hear.
Speaker 1 [00:04:49] And your and your movie is a featured a short.
Speaker 2 [00:04:53] It's a short.
Speaker 1 [00:04:54] Okay, cool. Well, you're young. You're in film school. I mean, you're supposed to. That's how it goes. I've made when I was in film school, I made short. That's what you do. Yeah.
Speaker 2 [00:05:02] And then you decided to make features?
Speaker 1 [00:05:04] Yeah. And then you will make a feature soon. Yeah. Within. You know, that's why you're working on this one, right?
Speaker 2 [00:05:11] Yeah.
Speaker 1 [00:05:13] You're going to have this credit and you're going to make another movie. You're going to see how movies are made and then you're going to make you're gonna be inspired to make another make your own.
Speaker 2 [00:05:20] Yeah. I mean, like, that is something that, like, I think like documentaries or something that I'm really I haven't really, like, adapted, but I want to focus on more or I want to figure out like my style documentary.
Speaker 1 [00:05:36] Well, in Canada, do they they have subsidies, right? So that, like the government helps you make if you if you pitch to them, obviously something that they want to help you with, they can give you the financing.
Speaker 2 [00:05:47] Yeah.
Speaker 1 [00:05:48] Yeah. America, they don't do that. So you have to find wealthy individuals or or grants and stuff like that. But it's it's different all told, a whole different beast.
Speaker 2 [00:05:59] Yeah, that's interesting to hear. I didn't know really too much about the differences between.
Speaker 1 [00:06:04] Really.
Speaker 2 [00:06:05] And America. Yeah.
Speaker 1 [00:06:07] Oh, okay. I see. I, I don't even know what's in the most films in Canada, are they? There is a fund that can. Are most movies in Canada I've noticed about. Kind of assumed there is. I know there's a lot of government funding, but there are a lot of independent films made there, but that are financed by, you know, your family or friends. Anybody, right?
Speaker 2 [00:06:30] Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah. Um, yeah. So I just wanted to know more about. You mean, what? What's your name?
Speaker 1 [00:06:43] [00:06:43]I'm Hernando Cortez Watson. I'm 38 years old, and I was born in Pasadena, California, and raised outside New York City. And now I live in Los Angeles, California. [13.1s]
Speaker 2 [00:06:58] [00:06:58]Okay. So what is your current occupation? [3.1s]
Speaker 1 [00:07:02] [00:07:02]I'm actually a post-production quarter. I'm working on a documentary right now from the Post. I'm a post producer. It's on South Africa and apartheid, but also [11.0s] where I'm sure you know or you should know, [00:07:17]there is a writers strike in Hollywood and an actress strike. And so I have also worked in television the last almost five years. Six years. [9.5s]
Speaker 2 [00:07:29] So is that something that you always wanted to be when you were younger?
Speaker 1 [00:07:33] Uh, yeah. No, absolutely. I it's funny that how we find inspiration from people, but Ang Lee, you know, Ang Lee, you should direct her. But I remember reading a novel that he adapted into a film called The Ice Storm in 1997. And I, you know, he's the first Asian filmmaker that I saw had made something that wasn't, like, completely foreign. And he'd also made three Taiwanese films. He was on a foreign language film, foreign language Oscars twice, but was his first like second English language film. And he did Sense and Sensibility. That was his first English language film, but he was the first Asian filmmaker that whose work I thought, um, transcended borders and boundaries. And he jumped into different genres and did them really, really well. And so I was kind of obsessed with him, and that's what made me wanted to be a filmmaker. And so, yeah, I went to. He studied the University of Illinois. He left Taiwan and came to Illinois to study theater directing. And then he went to NYU for film school. And I said, I'm going to do the same thing. So it's usually for theater directing. And then I went to USC for film school for a master's.
Speaker 2 [00:08:53] [00:08:53]What's this like? Something that like like your parents, like, supported you on? [4.2s] Did they not like Trump that they like? [00:09:01]When did they come to Canada or the U.S.? [2.2s]
Speaker 1 [00:09:05] [00:09:05]My mom came here when she was 24 years old in 1980. [3.5s] And, you know, my grandfather was in the Army. And so that's how he. How did so my grandmother, [00:09:21]my grandfather first immigrated here to California and he joined the army as a Filipino. And through that got his wife, my grandmother and the rest of my mom's siblings to immigrate here because he became a U.S. citizen but joined the army. And from there, my mom. My mom was like the last sibling to come. And she is a nurse [23.3s] and so is a nurse. [00:09:45]She became a registered nurse and still does that to this day and where she's a nurse for 35 years. And yeah, it was kind of crazy. It was like that's, you know, there is no arts in my family. Everyone was a nurse mechanic, very blue collar. You know, either people fix things or help people. And that was pretty much it. [17.4s] So there was no art, I felt, but there were so many. When I grew up in the nineties, my cousin, my older cousins started like joining gangs and sort of mimicking, I guess, what environment we were in, which was not great. It wasn't the ghetto, but it wasn't like we weren't living in Beverly Hills, you know? I mean, so it was kind of like great world class neighborhood, very tough. And I script I fell in love with books. I think the books were my first love. And I loved novelists. Those were my first storytellers. I was obsessed with Shakespeare and like Stephen King and John Grisham and airport novels till I just read so much. I think reading was my first gateway drug into the movies, and that's when I found out that movies were based on books that I like. I started loving adaptations and just sort of reading anything I could read. Like just last night I watched Get Shorty, I've seen Get Shorty like 5 million times, but I'm reading all of Elmore Leonard's books because he wrote Get Shorty and, you know, Jackie Brown and all these books. And so that was my entree way in to that, knowing that people told stories from books to movies. And yeah, that that was my first love books.
Speaker 2 [00:11:19] Yeah, that's cool. That's really nice to hear. Um, did you did, like, could you expand more on, like, what your parents felt about you going into, like, filmmaking and, like.
Speaker 1 [00:11:31] Yeah. Yes. You know, it's funny that my [00:11:37]my mom didn't. Wasn't, like, negative. She just kind of just didn't understand it. She's like, Oh, he just likes reading a lot. He likes in the movies, like, who did it and like those things. But I definitely felt like the obsession kicked in when I started making little movies with my cousins. And I was always filming things. I think I was always I started around seven, eight, got a camcorder and just was obsessed with making little movies [22.5s] and like Jackass videos and the skater thing and like, sort of like slice of Life movies. I didn't even know I was just filming things that I was in my neighborhood. My cousins all were starring in films, and I am. [00:12:10]Yeah. I think then they started taking a little seriously when I got into not an arts academy, but I went to USC during high school for the summer program and I got into a little short film. They were like, Oh, okay. So there is in a way, then they were kind of like, you know, they don't. The only director they knew was Steven Spielberg. So it wasn't like they had a concept of what a director did. [19.8s] I still don't think they do. I think, you know, entertainment is such a it's a thing you just watch on the couch after a long days of work. So it's very different for them. [00:12:41]But I would say that my dad, who I'm not really close with, was always supportive. He was just very, you know, I think he had so many kids that when one was at like a ne'er do well or one wasn't knocking up his girlfriend or, you know, their girlfriend, you know, I had two older brothers I'd never met who all had a kind of kids already, and they were like 21, 22. So it was like the fact that I wasn't while also I was gay, but also that I wasn't was popping out. Kids at an early age was very I was I was favored upon I honestly my parents was very supportive. They just never they couldn't help me financially, but they definitely were never against my aspirations. [38.2s]
Speaker 2 [00:13:22] So we're like siblings. Have you read all of them? And like, are they part of them through that? Some of them still live in the Philippines.
Speaker 1 [00:13:30] But in.
Speaker 2 [00:13:31] The world.
Speaker 1 [00:13:32] I have a younger sister who I think just moved to Texas. But I think they're they're all in America now. And they I don't really I don't really have relationships with any of them. Honestly, I have a half sister who I grew up with. And she lives in New Jersey. And that's it. [00:13:53]You know, it's very interesting that I sort of. Had to. Just now. I'm sort of the pandemic unleashed a lot in terms of, you know, hey, we're all going to die. So what is your life about? What are you what are you. What if we if it ended tomorrow, what's your legacy going to be? What do you try to pursue? What would story you trying to tell? [22.0s] So I then I had a lot of shame growing up. So I think when the pandemic hit, I felt like I had to face my fears of where I came from and who I was and all that stuff. And it's not uncommon. That's kind of I think it happened to everybody. Or maybe did I don't know, that happened to me. And so I definitely felt like I had to embrace where I was from and explore it. And that's the that's the documentary I made was as a result of that. It's a true result of Hello.
Speaker 2 [00:14:43] I think I cut off, though. Hello. Hello. For a little.
Speaker 1 [00:14:50] Bit. You got me.
Speaker 2 [00:14:50] I think you're, you know, you could use. Like, What are you getting? I think you caught up. I'm so sorry about that.
Speaker 1 [00:14:59] No, I said [00:15:00]I definitely felt like the pandemic unleashed a need to reconnect to my past and where I was from and all the things I was afraid to address. You know, there's a lot of shame growing up. You know, your parents are immigrants and they can barely speak English. It's very difficult for you either assimilate or you die [18.1s] right where you are. And most of the kids I was growing up were, you know, kids of color. I had every my best friend was Mexican. I had a black friend. I raised Fred. But you still feel like you always feel like this ultimate outsider. Do you know what I mean? Especially when you don't come to America first.
Speaker 2 [00:15:37] Yeah, I do. I do. See what you mean with that.
Speaker 1 [00:15:40] Right. You're always sort of like even though you come from you are born in a country that speaks English. You, I, [00:15:48]you know, I never had friends come over to my parents house is kind of like, not embarrassing, because I think that we never stopped being Filipino. It was like we sort of just mimic the life they had there. You know, everything we ate there, all of our family was always there. It was a away it's a it's very common to a lot of, I think, Mexican culture as well, where you sort of recreate the life you had in your previous country. [22.5s] I mean, if you watch like if you go to Little Italy in New York, you see, you know, literally they're recreating Italy, right? Everyone who came in who immigrated there is recreate the country that people did. [00:16:23]And I feel like we did the same thing. [1.1s]
Speaker 2 [00:16:26] Yeah, that's something that I think that like I see a lot of Filipino communities trying to do that and in the Western world, but I think it's not the same like it wasn't. It's like never going to be the same as if you went to the Balkans. That's the one thing I noticed because I grew up in the Balkans.
Speaker 1 [00:16:48] You did?
Speaker 2 [00:16:49] Yeah, I moved here for university.
Speaker 1 [00:16:53] So you. You. Wow. So how old are you? You must be. What are you? You're an undergrad right now. You're not in a master's program. You're in a, like, undergraduate.
Speaker 2 [00:17:02] I'm an.
Speaker 1 [00:17:02] Undergrad. So you came. You you knew you applied to Canada? Straight from the Philippines?
Speaker 2 [00:17:08] Yes. Wow.
Speaker 1 [00:17:09] Interesting.
Speaker 2 [00:17:11] And yeah, like, that's interesting to hear that because, I mean, I, I understand why it can be like. Like what kind of like, obsessive words. Like, I want this to be the culture here, but sometimes it just can't be.
Speaker 1 [00:17:26] What? Yeah, that's very fascinating. So what made you what drew you to Canada?
Speaker 2 [00:17:32] My sister actually is studying at UBC, so. Oh, that's one of the options. I, I didn't want to go to the U.S. just because of like, I had a lot of friends that went to the U.S. of government. Really hard to, like, maintain in that. Like, there's a lot of complications.
Speaker 1 [00:17:50] Tell me about it.
Speaker 2 [00:17:52] Yeah.
Speaker 1 [00:17:53] I know there is.
Speaker 2 [00:17:56] Yeah, I can imagine. So I just thought of UBC, like I didn't go into it really fully knowing exactly what I wanted. But then I came to, like, really go to like, this place. Mhm. Um, yeah, it was like kind of not really charged with much like, information and much like motivation work. Like I ended up finding like there's a really good community here.
Speaker 1 [00:18:22] Well, I think sometimes and I, and this is someone who's I'm older than you, I, not that I'm wiser by any, by any means, [00:18:30]but I'll say that. Sometimes being an outsider is good. [5.0s] It forces you to. Well, also, [00:18:40]I used to sort of put away like be afraid of my point of view because it was so alien. It felt so weird. And then honestly, I said, Fuck that. And I had to kick it. And I realized, well, my point of view is valid because it's mine. And that's all I know. [15.4s] So when you start looking for validation from the people, which is very difficult to do and very difficult especially in Hollywood, to not seek approval because you kind of need it to get things done. Right. But when you have it inside of you that you go, okay, well, well, I think what I make is valuable regardless of how people react to it. That is the greatest gift you can have. And that happens. That doesn't happen. Something that happens for a lot people early. It happens merely so. I think that the the benefit of having being an other or being an alien or just being not of the majority can be your superpower. And I think it can be a gift and being counted out and not people being the imposter, having the imposter syndrome being present. It can be one of thing things people don't expect things from you, and so you can then just blow them away with your work. And I think that is what I would say to anybody pursuing anything is that you really have to have balls of steel to. Just believe in yourself. It's it's it's a big job. That's half the job is just believing yourself. And I. I really wish I had when I was 21. And I thought I did, but I did it. And it's it takes I think if you've to really lose a lot. And that sounds really weird, but I think you have to lose a lot and you have to fail a lot. And then things sort of click and where all of a sudden you don't it doesn't bother you very much, much more. And so you can you can be more risk taking.
Speaker 2 [00:20:30] Yeah, that is really interesting advice. I think I like. I mean, I, I don't know, because I feel like I'm in a place where I'm like, or we're not supposed to be interviewing.
Speaker 1 [00:20:40] Me here, but it's too late. It's happened.
Speaker 2 [00:20:46] But I think I'm in a place where I feel like I don't feel like I, I am super, like, not listening to like, what I'm trying to say is I think that, um, I have a lot to learn. Uh huh. And I don't get I don't want to get ahead of myself and I want to be rescued and like, well, and take those risks so I can find, like, make mistakes and also, like, learn from them. But all I know is that I know I have so much to learn and so much to experience.
Speaker 1 [00:21:21] Right.
Speaker 2 [00:21:22] So I just like. Like I like to kind of just sit there and learn and observe rather than to pretend like I know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 [00:21:34] Well, by the way, that's you. You're following your instincts, which is the number one thing. So I'm speaking as someone who's, again, older than you. So that's I'm saying your perspective is the right you're doing the right thing. You do have a lot to learn. So do I. Everyone does. And I think that's the. But don't I don't I don't connect to who thinks that they know at all because I don't think anyone really does. I think that's the best mentality and your mentor investment. Time to go in as a novice. I still I'm learning every day. I want to make everything better every single day. Every script's better. I want to make better. Anything can be improved, right? Everything can be rewritten. Everything to be reality. That's how I feel. Because there's always this effort to make it the best work possible. That that's just me, though. And I don't. I don't really trust people, honestly, who think that they have all the answers or they did it all by themselves, which is another huge misnomer.
Speaker 2 [00:22:25] [00:22:25]Do you do you feel like you've learned like a lot of these like ways of like thinking and stuff, but do you think you've learned a lot from your family or is this like 000? [9.2s]
Speaker 1 [00:22:37] [00:22:37]I'm not in contact with them. That's that's in it sounds really shitty, but I raised my base and raised myself essentially. I think the poor I learned a lot from it sounds crazy, but like from books and movies and also have other mentors. [15.1s] I didn't. I didn't. It sounds crazy. [00:22:56]I had to disconnect very quickly when I was young. I just didn't feel like I was getting the education. And also, I'd say that there is a mentality and it's not any fault of their own. I think that when you are conditioned to believe you're less than you think smaller, right? And you see yourself as inferior. I never felt that way. I always wanted bigger things. And so I think my family has always sort of stayed in a bubble and like in a small huddle. And they they just wanted to get by and which I totally understand. It's a generational thing. It's conditioning. And I just never had that. I never had that feeling. I remember thinking, God, I remember like, I But you realize you can't make people ambitious and you can't make people dream bigger, that you have to be within them or not. [49.0s]
Speaker 2 [00:23:48] [00:23:48]That's super interesting. [0.6s] Is there like like right now and how you feel right now or like even in the past, you know, like [00:23:56]you don't feel like, [0.8s] like, like, like [00:24:00]getting closer to them or like, [2.0s] or that. Do they [00:24:05]do they reach out to you? [1.0s]
Speaker 1 [00:24:06] [00:24:06]Well, I'd say for my mom and my like, my immediate family, yes, I've made an effort to be closer as I get older. You know, as they get older, I want to be there. But, you know, I growing up, not at all growing up, I couldn't get the hook for the way fast enough. I couldn't wait to do my own thing. Just I just I feel like sometimes. The your mental state is the most important thing you can have. [30.9s] Besides, you know, it's all health, right? But like your mentality [00:24:41]and I feel like they never got off the were we're visitors here and so I think but again it's I don't I don't blame them. I think it's society. I think it's all conditioning that they felt like they were always others. Just be happy with what you get, take the scraps kind of thing. And I just was never like that. [19.5s] So I felt like I had to my journey leaving, you know, in my time as a teenager to now, [00:25:07]now I reflect back and think, God, I wish I was more compassionate. I wish I saw I now I see how hard they had it. I wish I was more reflective then. But how is it possible I was an idiot? You know, when you're young, you don't know anything. You're still learning. And now I think, Wow, I really wish I had a deeper bond with them. It's not too late, [22.8s] but I definitely feel like you don't know it. You don't know. You don't know what you don't know until later. And so now I feel like I can, as an adult, make a connection and connect. [00:25:44]But it still feels like we're very we're all very separate. I feel like I had to reinvent who I was in every possible. And I don't feel like I'm much different from a lot of people, like first generation, second generation even, who decided to, Well, I'm going to lean into the world I'm in as opposed to the world my family came from. [20.6s]
Speaker 2 [00:26:07] [00:26:07]Yeah. Do you ever like. How often do you go back to the Philippines, or when was the last time you went back? Have you gone back? [7.5s]
Speaker 1 [00:26:15] [00:26:15]I have. I went once. I went in 20. I made a short film, actually, about it called The Daddy Ang Today. And I made it again to the Sundance Short film Connection. Connection. [12.2s] I can send you a link. [00:26:31]That was my dad called me and he told me my. That I had a half sister I never knew about. And so he wanted me to meet her. And so that's why I went. And I maybe talked to him five times in 30 years. So we weren't very close. You know, he didn't take care of me or my mom at all. He kind of left and never saw him again. So it was very disconnected. So when you reached out [22.9s] and that's the story I'm telling you, is that he called you 60 years old. You know, he's he had a health problems and reached out to me and he was giving me a call, but kind of apologetic. And I listened and we had lunch. [00:27:08]And he told me [0.6s] and this story and [00:27:11]my stepmother, who she was a nurse for a very powerful family, like she was a Libyan registered nurse, a very powerful family, and she was battling cancer and she died. And they basically hid her body away. And so he never got to bury her or see her ever again. She died and they they just alerted him. And so I remember hearing that story. And, you know, I was very I was very distraught to hear that because it's very unbelievable. But also not, you know, and it sort of got me in this whole chain of motion of thinking about how people of color discarded like their garbage and also how women of color are brutalized and used and abused and left for dead. And that, you know, that set me off. You know, whenever I get emotional about something, I definitely get creative about something. So I end up writing a pilot about it and all that stuff. [61.5s] And so without that happening, triggering something very primal in me, I don't think I would have written what I consider my best work because [00:28:22]it was all very visceral for me in terms of imagining what that's like, putting myself in my dad's position. All these things kept flooding back and all the shame I had from what was coming from and and all the all the things I thought would happen if I didn't assimilate. Right. So you think, okay, you're on the chopping block, you are. You're worth nothing. And so her being. Her being just discarded in the dust and left for dead is really a change, a sea change for me. It made me a better filmmaker and maybe better if I was more empathetic. It made me think about everyone's path wherever they went. [44.4s]
Speaker 2 [00:29:11] [00:29:11]Yeah, that is like. Like, thank you for your authenticity. [4.3s] That was like. Like a lot of your life that you explained just now.
Speaker 1 [00:29:21] Well, that's what I'm here for, apparently.
Speaker 2 [00:29:24] [00:29:24]I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, that that happens. And I'm sure you've heard that multiple times when. I'm sorry. That. [5.3s]
Speaker 1 [00:29:30] [00:29:30]Yeah, but pain is something that I've grown accustomed to. It doesn't bother me, you know what I'm saying? Not to say that I'm not a human being, but I learned to channel it and I've learned to use it for good. And that is the key that I would impart on anyone on this earth that whatever the hell they're going through your troubles, you can just make. Tell a story. You know, it's not that it sounds complicated, but, like, just I mean, you're the oh, journaling. Whatever. It's important to articulate your feelings. I think everyone. It's not this complicated thing. Everyone has a pen and paper. You need a laptop. You have. You have a note memo on your iPhone. You can just articulate your feelings. I think that I now enjoy it. I like I look forward to putting words to paper and shaping and telling stories. I love it. It's defined my life. I'm very lucky that I can use the pain of the past. I'm glad I could transform my feelings into magical words. It's a true gift. I'm very, very, very lucky that I found this way to deal with trauma. [65.5s]
Speaker 2 [00:30:38] Well, I'd really love to see a link to this. I'd love to see it. I was more on like, how you feel. How did you feel when you went back there and how did you feel when you were filming or in the process of filming? How did the Philippines feel to you? Like more like the land?
Speaker 1 [00:30:57] Yes. Interesting. When I show you this thing, it's like it was like a blur. It was like being in Run, Lola, run. You should see it. Time to like 1999. And it's great. It felt like a bunch of energy. It felt like being, like, in a ping pong game. It was just so electric and dazzling and. And amazing. You know, it's funny. My mom never wanted me to go my whole life. She'd say, You'll get killed there. It's for gangs. It's violent, it's terrible. Don't ever go. And you know, my mom's so scared to drive on the freeway. So that says a lot about her. But, like, she's like, don't ever go there. I'll never let you go there. And so I resisted my whole life because I always wanted to go. And she said, Don't go. You always said, you know, food back. And we said, You know, the box of my letter, all that stuff back all the time. And and so when I got invited to go, you know, I made my dad send me the ticket and I wasn't going to OP to go. So I took it. I went. I thought it was incredible. I was really humbled and it was dazzling and it was very poetic for me. I but see, I like being an outsider. I like going to foreign lands. I love traveling. I'm designed to be on the move. And so I like being a foreigner. It's fun for me. I enjoy it very much. I it's it's a thrill for me to see people in places I've never seen before. I'm not like a lot of people, you know, I think most people are, but some people aren't. And I just love I love being humbled and I love being always on the outside looking in because I like being that stranger. It's fun. It's exciting for me as a writer that I can see things I haven't seen before and. Articulate those things. That's exciting to me. It's I'm not again, I'm in a long line of people who do this and love it. And so it's part of it was invigorating. The answer is it was very invigorating. I loved every minute of it, and I can't wait to go back, honestly. But I saw it. I was hiding. I was hiding in camera. I was filming the entire time. So maybe there was a disconnection. But for me it was important for me to sort of create a point of view. And so that's what the movie's about. When I said you're like, you took it out.
Speaker 2 [00:33:04] Thank you. Thank you for that. I'm just curious to see to hear about what birthdays and celebrations were like for you then.
Speaker 1 [00:33:14] Oh, wow. That's interesting question. Not not very celebratory. You know, I was kind of like told they weren't very important and they were just any day of the week. So I never I'm not a big birthday person. I think that we no one was really celebratory where I grew up. So it was very much a.
Unidentified [00:33:37] What's the word?
Speaker 1 [00:33:41] Oh, it was. It's still I don't remember that, but it's definitely not a big deal.
Speaker 2 [00:33:47] Yeah, I agree. I am like also not really huge for third person, but like I think when I came to Canada, all my friends were so kind of like in the mix of like how I like what it is. But like with my family, it wasn't really they were really big on celebrations.
Speaker 1 [00:34:05] Yeah, it's not a big for me. It wasn't. It's like I want to be friends. Like, Oh, are you guys? You went all out for your birthday. You guys spent, like, a shitload of money, but I'm like, I didn't. I never had that. I do like little things for myself, but again, I. I don't put that much importance on it, honestly. But maybe that's because I was raised that way.
Speaker 2 [00:34:25] Yeah. What was their, like, community Like? Like when you came to the USA, what was the what was it like? Like making friends, Like meeting people. What was that?
Speaker 1 [00:34:39] Well, I didn't it was encouraged. I have a lot of friends. I would say it was mostly like I hung out my cousins, you know, it was mostly family members. Like friends never came to my house. I didn't really have a lot of friends in probably till high school. I had one buddy or maybe I'd like one. I always had one good friend. We were like nerds or whatever. But like high school was when I like had a much more variety of friends. I don't know why we all connected. It was I don't know. I was very I was like a weirdo. So I felt like I didn't really get I was always filming things. So maybe I kind of distract my camera with my best friend, you know, That was my pal. And I didn't I wasn't really encouraged to have a lot of friends. So I was I was in the library, bookstores, the movie theater, in school, at home. So I didn't I wasn't really encouraged. I have a lot friends. I think friends were discouraged because they were bad or they did drugs or whatever, or they just it was an unknown element to my family. Like, who are these people? They can introduce you to things, right? They can show you bad things. And so I definitely was discouraged from that.
Speaker 2 [00:35:47] Is there any like family member that like your closest to like a sibling that you're closest to, like, compared to everyone else?
Speaker 1 [00:35:56] Um, I had my cousin. Oh, I mean, I'd say my little sister, but she's, you know, she's almost 30. But she's we were very close. And, you know, I think we kind of just apart just because we she lives in the East Coast and I'm in L.A., but we were very close. We were 16. She's always starring in my little movies and stuff like that. So we always she was like my little muse. I loved having her. I didn't I was an only child for a long time, so she's like, I'm much older than her, so she's kind of like my little daughter. I was very close to her. But my other, you know, I didn't really again, you'd be shocked how boring my childhood was, was for a lot of But reading books and watching movies, it's really.
Speaker 2 [00:36:39] Is your sister also like an actor?
Speaker 1 [00:36:41] No, not at all. No, not at all. She's not an actor at all. She I mean, she. She does. Yeah. She like the hair and makeup. She went to, like, cosmetology. She likes that kind of stuff. She's very into beauty, all that stuff.
Speaker 2 [00:36:57] [00:36:57]Well, what do you think? I'm curious to know what your opinion is on like Filipinos going abroad. [5.9s]
Speaker 1 [00:37:04] To different countries.
Speaker 2 [00:37:06] Yeah, like everywhere. Like this is kind of like with this, like documentaries about and like, also like, I'm like even my in my perspective, there's a lot of us everywhere. Mhm. I just wanted to know what your, what you thought of that.
Speaker 1 [00:37:26] [00:37:26]I think it's great. I mean what's, what's, what's, why would it be a problem for you to live in Canada and be exposed to the culture. I mean, I mean what. Ah well with that logic should everyone stay in there where they're born? I mean most people, by the way, die within five miles from where they're born, most of on the earth. So it's like they don't leave. So I think I'm a big fan of adventure and travel and exploring the world. [23.9s] I mean, hell, you know, Willem Dafoe interview today and he's like, I live and live in Rome. He met and he met an Italian lady or wife, and they live in Rome now. And he's like, He's from Wisconsin. Like, like how would you be defined? He's a guy who is from Wisconsin. But I live in Rome now. I love it. [00:38:05]So it's like I just say the answer is this Go where you are, love. Then go with the doors open. [5.1s]
Speaker 2 [00:38:12] [00:38:12]Yeah. I mean, that is a mindset that I think everyone should follow. Right. There's also like, like there's something about the Philippines where it's like as if they're being pushed out. [11.8s]
Speaker 1 [00:38:25] [00:38:25]Really? [0.0s]
Speaker 2 [00:38:26] [00:38:26]Yeah. [0.0s]
Speaker 1 [00:38:27] [00:38:27]Why? How? What are you talking about? [1.0s]
Speaker 2 [00:38:29] [00:38:29]Um, well, like the. The thing we're both bothered by on in, like, the Philippines not being able to, like, find and, like, have an economy for everyone. It's kind of like a, like a movement to push them out. [17.8s]
Speaker 1 [00:38:48] [00:38:48]Really? [0.0s]
Speaker 2 [00:38:50] [00:38:50]And that's what we've noticed. That's what I think is is being seen recently. Like we see like a lot of young Filipinos who whose parents have like moved because they're like, you know, w they're like, we were taken to another country to be a worker there. Mhm. Mhm. So there's this is like. [22.5s]
Speaker 1 [00:39:13] [00:39:13]I wrote a, I wrote a script about that, that displacement. Yeah. So that's interesting because that, that's what my stepmother did. Who, the one who died. And so that is very um. Again, and it's like it's, it's a very sci fi movie to me. Very interesting concept. But yes, I think that people leave there because of just opportunities, right? I mean, so anyone leaves any third world countries because the dollar goes further, you make more money in a different country. It's it's. But you're saying people, their countries pushing people out because of economics. [35.8s]
Speaker 2 [00:39:51] [00:39:51]Yeah. No, I mean, like, that's the thing because the, like it's, it's a weird, it's a weird place to be in because obviously you want to stay in your country and stay with your family. But a lot of people get separated because they have to make money. Sure. And that is still like an issue happening, but like, it's totally understandable that you leave your country. Because you have to make more money. [28.3s] That's it. That's kind of like the perspective that we don't want to focus on. [00:40:24]And I totally agree with you that people need to like find what they love and find work. Go wherever they want to go. Mm hmm. And make more money. Because in the Philippines, it's, like, hard to do that. [14.3s]
Speaker 1 [00:40:38] Yeah. What? But why? So why is the system why isn't there infrastructure in the system there? How? The last question. What is the highest paid profession in the Philippines?
Speaker 2 [00:40:51] I don't think I could answer that.
Speaker 1 [00:40:54] I'm curious. A doctor. So a look at like, well, not any more in America, but let's say use doctors, make a lot of money in America, but not anymore. So a doctor and there's no business there. There's no like investments. There's no real estate there. None of that. Like in America. I mean, real estate, you could be you could be a millionaire just buying houses and flipping them, you know? I'm saying.
Speaker 2 [00:41:13] So the thing about the Philippines is like it's very the government is very corrupt.
Speaker 1 [00:41:20] God is.
Speaker 2 [00:41:21] Corrupt. So their the money that they're directed to is never accurate to like how it should be.
Speaker 1 [00:41:27] I see. So.
Speaker 2 [00:41:28] So whole class system that I think also exists in like Mexico as well.
Speaker 1 [00:41:33] So it's truly like an author and tourism regime. You would say that the bongbong or whatever, the guy who's that's who the current president is, right? My mother is Marcos's son.
Speaker 2 [00:41:46] Yes. Yes.
Speaker 1 [00:41:46] And he is sort of like a not a Trump figure, but he's like sort of a Cesar Chavez. He runs everything. If you don't follow his party, you or you're broken, dad, basically.
Speaker 2 [00:41:58] Exactly.
Speaker 1 [00:41:59] That's what I think. Just keeping track. You know, I. I mean, I know that, but I did not understand, like, why the average person. Now you make that. Well, that's why people leave. Because if you live living, let's say I have a friend who's from Russia, right? He. Russia. Russia's an awful place to live if you don't want to be. There's no the rich people. There are either Putin's people or they're very poor. There's no middle right either either literally, literally very poor or a corrupt government official. So that's why the emigrate. So now I have a better understand why people leave. They have to leave. Who wants to live like that?
Speaker 2 [00:42:37] Yeah, that's exactly where there's no in between. It's either you're poor or you're super rich. Exactly.
Speaker 1 [00:42:45] And they do that for a reason. So. But let's say you are born today in the Philippines. Today's your birthday. You're born How? What half of you, If you wanted to be not poor and you wanted you blessed to you middle class to have a good life, how would you go about that in today's Philippines? How would you go about that?
Speaker 2 [00:43:05] I think it is getting better, but like very slowly. But like, I think if you want to make proper income and do what you want to do, because I think in the Philippines, if you want to pursue filmmaking, for example, right there.
Speaker 1 [00:43:19] Right.
Speaker 2 [00:43:19] And I would pursue filmmaking. I don't think I would have the career as I would if I went to Canada.
Speaker 1 [00:43:25] Well, there's no doubt about that. Well, but no, but I would say but they're making films in the Philippines. They're just not making the films you probably want to make. Correct.
Speaker 2 [00:43:34] I remember being told that if I want to pursue filmmaking in the Philippines and I want to be part of that process, I should be in advertising. And I think that it's like it's also like that where you make a lot of money. You're in advertising.
Speaker 1 [00:43:47] You mean doing commercials? Making commercials? Yes. Got it. I mean, listen, you can make commercials here, too. It is good living. It's a short amount of work. But you're not making movies, you know? I mean, you're you're selling soap or you're selling UberX, you know what I'm saying? It's commercial commercials are ads, right? That's all. You're selling a dream, right? You're selling a product. And there's only a lot of filmmakers have starred in commercials, and so they make commercials to make a living. There's nothing wrong with it. It's great. I'd love to fucking direct a commercial. Hello? Because I would just commercial tomorrow. But I think that there is definitely there's an avenue for you. There's a lot of filmmakers. There's again, it's all storytelling. So just how it is, perspective, how you see it, you know?
Speaker 2 [00:44:29] Yeah, I agree. I think I would also like to direct the.
Speaker 1 [00:44:32] Advertise with their son. You know, I have friends who do it three days. They're like ten days of work. You can make a really good living. It's very competitive. But there's a reason why a lot of people do it, because you can do it and do it between, you know, the movies to survive, you know, because movies take a long time to make or get made.
Speaker 2 [00:44:51] I think it also comes down to like finding like getting started because I think, um, the resources, like just to compare the resources, like, I haven't been to film school in the Philippines, but like, like, like, like Facebook groups where you can find actors, you can find people in Canada. I mean, we don't have the same thing in the Philippines, like the community. I don't think it's like was like open and easy to find it inclusive.
Speaker 1 [00:45:23] Well, I'm sure that's reflective of the government they don't want. Artists are dangerous to authoritarian regimes, Right. They're dangerous. No one there because most artists will respond negatively to corrupt people. Most people, you know, I'm saying they don't go, oh, that sounds great. Control mean lie to me that no one's into that. So I don't think that is uncommon that they would want to leave. So yeah, but it's a shame because I'm sure there's a lot of talented people, you know, I'm sure that's why a lot of actors can get good work there, make a living, because they're there's more variety in your work. An actor is always going to be is will make more movies a success of one of these more movies than a director will because they can they have more time. You know, there's less commitment.
Speaker 2 [00:46:10] Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1 [00:46:13] But I.
Speaker 2 [00:46:14] Thought about. Sorry. You going to.
Speaker 1 [00:46:16] Do. Do you have any other questions for me?
Speaker 2 [00:46:18] [00:46:18]I just wanted to ask you. Have you ever thought about, if you like, what your life would be like if you lived in the Philippines? [6.9s]
Speaker 1 [00:46:26] [00:46:26]Oh, boy. Probably not very freeing. There is probably no way that I could live happily and free as doing what I love. I think that would be a very it's very restrictive. I think I could have a wonderful vacation there. You know, I could have a great time going around Manila and island hopping and, you know, being absorbed in that world. I could make a movie there. I could hang out there for months. I couldn't live there, though, for for the rest of my life that there's no way. I think just because I like freedom and I like artistic freedom and I like the ability to walk out my door and do what I want and not have it tell my answer to anybody. These are things I just I've been used to. I mean, it's how I was raised, you know? [42.8s]
Speaker 2 [00:47:11] [00:47:11]Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Also, just like having this conversation with you, it just makes a lot of sense that you would want to kind of be in a place where you could be more free. And like, it is true that different cultures have that. Like, it's. That's true. [12.6s]
Speaker 1 [00:47:24] Exactly right. So I'm going to email you this recording.
Speaker 2 [00:47:29] Yes. Thank you.
Speaker 1 [00:47:30] I'll stop.
