Celebrating the artistry of creative expression from Filipino LGBTQIA+ filmmakers, how can their stories push Philippine cinema forward to greater heights? Through the lens of a veteran screenwriter in the industry and a Benilde digital filmmaking alumnus, these stories are imprints of the community’s identity.
Wanggo Gallaga, 42, Benilde Film Department Instructor, Screenwriter, Resident film and theater critic (ClickTheCity)
Dynamic. Versatile. Vast. “The LGBTQIA+ community has been pigeon-holed and put in a box for such a long time. It’s so hard to limit what it means to be part of the community in just three words,” he shared in an interview with The Benildean.
Like most of us—screenwriter, ClickTheCity resident film and theater critic, and Benilde Digital Filmmaking Instructor Wanggo Gallaga initially thought that the lockdown in Manila wouldn’t last longer than two or three weeks. “In all my life, I’ve never experienced a worldwide pandemic so I had no basis to understand what was going on [...] I will say that my work was severely affected as I no longer reviewed two to three movies a week like I used to.”
“You cannot create in a vacuum.” As a creative individual, Gallaga gets his “material from engaging with life—commuting, meeting people, going through daily life—but all this was taken away by the lockdown.” With the means of survival and adjustments being made, our pre-pandemic plans ironically get the rewrite.
Moreover, Gallaga was fortunate enough to attend three Pride events in the country before the pandemic, with his first Pride event in 2017. “As I was there, the vibe was so different than going to a gay club or bar. I never felt any sort of judgment or criticism [...] Everyone was so happy and proud for everybody who was there also—being their true selves and expressing themselves freely without fear of abuse or hatred. It was liberating.”
“As the numbers grew every year, it was a sign to the people in power that we are bigger than they ever thought we were and we could be strong together,” he shared.
Being part of the LGBTQIA+ community isn't ever just one thing. In this day and age, especially in the Philippines, “you have to be a kind of warrior to constantly battle for your right to be treated like a human being.” As a Filipino filmmaker, “we always have to face the struggle of putting our stories out there for people to see.”
In fact, there’s more room for creative freedom in the realm of independent cinema. But when it comes to writing and directing for mainstream or commercial films, Gallaga said that “it’s always an uphill struggle to keep our narratives in our hands. There are always people who will fight for what it means to have our representation unfiltered by conservative ideals.”
On the other hand, actors and actresses still living in the closet are put in a difficult position. Career opportunities such as endorsements and acting roles are at stake, as they are cast in supporting roles because they “don’t have a draw with the public.”
“We have straight cisgender actors and actresses playing gay, lesbian, or bisexual roles, because they would bring in an audience, but when they speak up during interviews, they make it sound like playing a character that is part of the LGBTQIA+ community is a “challenge” or they make fun of it to reinforce their straightness,” he added.
LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and creatives are free to be who they are behind the cameras, yet they are still in the process of fighting for their stories to be told on screen as they truly intend.
“I remember a quote who said, ‘it’s not the job of any one film to represent the entire community’ because one film cannot do that. It is a stepping stone for more films of different perspectives of the community to be produced. This is the balancing act that we have to do everyday as a queer filmmaker,” he added.
Gallaga co-wrote the six-episode web series “Hanging Out,” which was released in December 2016. “It was the first time a series on the lives of gay men was released and the story was not about coming out. We wanted to make a series about gay people post-coming out. It was disguised as a love story but it was more about friendships in gay people.”
Lo and behold, people were clamoring for a second season. But the series was critcized about how the show “only focused on a certain variety/kind of gay barkada and we had to engage so much discussion about proper representation,” he explained.
As a screenwriter, Gallaga believes that “it’s important to create characters from the community without turning them and their ‘gayness’ into their sole character trait.” There’s a fine line between representation and fetishization.
“[Director and writer Rod Marmol] said that representation puts the focus on the character’s life—their goals, fears, desires—while fetishization puts the focus on what makes them ‘an other’ in the heteronormative world. Fetishization problematizes their “gayness” or their being a lesbian or the fact that the character is trans.”
LGBTQIA+ stories told on screen are constantly evolving. “Every day it is a struggle of constantly educating the public, other filmmakers, and institutions about how best to tell our stories and how best to receive them.
“They have to be seen as individual humans with their specific and distinct traits and not just as a composite to represent the whole community. That is proper representation, I believe, when these characters are fully-formed humans who are also members of the community.”
Looking forward to a brighter tomorrow, there is hope for queer actors and straight actors would be able to portray any role available to them with equity and equality [...] Having just as much as queer content as straight content truly is the dream, whilst featuring characters from the community “neither fetishized or reduced but just allowed to be seen as humans.”
To persevere is to “keep pushing for our right to be represented correctly in our films and series.” The decades-long fight of the LGBTQIA+ community has gone through significant improvements in the last 15 years alone. “We may not see the results we want to see right away but that doesn’t mean we aren’t pushing the boundaries with every film and series. The conversation is ongoing. We just have to keep going.”
Robin Estargo, 22, Film and Advertising Director, ID 115 Digital Filmmaking alumnus
For ID 115 Digital Filmmaking alumnus Robin Estargo, the LGBTQIA+ community cannot be described in just three words. “You really cannot contain how expressive, inclusive, and diverse we are even in just a couple of words. I think we’re more than that.”
Like the colors of the rainbow pride flag, the LGBTQIA+ community is more than just six or seven colors. Estargo described the community as an “abstract painting filled with a million colors scattered all over the place” in an interview with The Benildean.
Starting out in the film industry as a production assistant, “the pandemic showed me how small our industry really is and how jobs have become so limited and competitive.” With the productions put on a halt, the Philippine entertainment industry experienced a drastic turn of events.
“Especially after a network’s shutdown, most of the people I knew who were laid off couldn’t find work and had to find other ways to earn. I remember I was hurt and stunned when two projectless utility men I knew, who offered me coffee every time on set and helped me carry box after box of heavy production supplies before and after 24-hour shoots every single day, with no break, posted these notes on Facebook that almost looked like their suicide notes,” he shared.
As a freelancer, there’s no luxury of knowing when or what a next project would be knocking at Estargo’s door, thus, “every single project we received during the pandemic was a gamble.”
There’s the feeling of powerlessness as a director in advertising during these pandemic times. Creativity has been boxed and confined inside the four walls of a locked-in shoot. “Technically, these limitations on creativity always mean that there should be things that you need to sacrifice as a director, more so as a producer; you have to fit everything within your budget, and hence, you have to cut things off, prominently an extensive crew list,” he added.
On the other hand, Estargo said that being part of the community in the film industry is a responsibility. “I am very inspired by this quote from Oprah when she said that there is a difference between a career and a career that feeds you and pays the bills.”
The LGBTQIA+ community is more diverse as how society perceives them and cement their unique and true colors in society’s canvas. There is a call to represent the people in the community who shared the same feelings as him when he was young, “I think it’s a responsibility as a filmmaker to show these people that it is the norm and it shouldn’t be vilified and these people shouldn’t be persecuted because of their sexuality. People need to realize that love is love and everyone is equal, everyone is human,” he explained.
Recently, Estargo collaborated with Filipino rock band Sponge Cola for a music video of their single “Labis-Labis.” The video follows two dogs falling in love with one another. “The dogs are named Alex and Jamie. I don’t want the audience to limit these dogs into certain characters or certain stereotypes that we have seen in films for so long that the guy always chases after the girl who’s stereotypically is helpless,” Estargo said on representing the LGBTQIA+ identity in his work.
There truly is a need for sexuality to be normalized in films. An LGBTQIA+ character’s sexuality doesn’t have to define them. “I want my characters to embrace who they are and be proud of who they are and what they identify with,” he added.
Striving for the normalization of LGBTQIA+ stories about the community’s issues, problems, experiences, and things seen as taboo in society, “It’s very important that we are striving towards exposing the stories and showing it to an audience, educating them, and showing it especially to a Filipino audience.”
Moreover, with the recent explosive wave of Boy’s Love (BL) stories told in the media, there is hope towards diversifying the content. There is the goal “to eradicate the LGBTQIA+ genre and make it not even look like a genre, make it a normal genre inserted in the mainstream genres of horror and rom-com and mystery and thriller.”
But while LGBTQIA+ filmmakers strive for normalization, there’s still an ongoing battle against producers who perceive that LGBTQIA+ characters and stories won’t attract enough audience.
“We try to fight this misconception that LGBTQIA+ characters cannot carry a mainstream audience or a market. That’s why I’m really proud of recent films that are being released in the mainstream where they talk about the LGBTQIA+ experience,” he shared.
As a message to his fellow artists in the industry, “Keep on writing, keep on creating content about us because it's very important that we keep a constant voice and to represent ourselves in [the] media [...] It’s kind of like a gateway to people who are still questioning their sexuality and finding a hard time seeing themselves on screen.”
As a message to aspiring directors writing about the community and one’s sexuality, Estargo says that one shouldn’t be afraid “to write stories that are personal because it’s the personal that is unique and it’s the personal that is you. In order to stand out in this industry as a gay filmmaker, you have to know who you really are and you have to represent yourself through the stories that you tell. That’s what makes you unique.”
