TRANSIT
93 min, Philippines, 2013
In English and in Tagalog and Hebrew with English subtitles
Cinemalaya Foundation, TEN17P
Distributed by Electric Entertainment
Written by Giancarlo Abrahan, Hannah Espia
Directed by Hannah Espia
Stars Irma Adlawan, Ping Medina, Mercedes Cabral, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Marc Justine Alvarez
Any appreciation of Hannah Espia's TRANSIT needs to be put in context of how the issue of immigration has been explored in Philippine film, a subject that resonates in a big majority of Filipino families considering that, based on studies, at least ten percent of Filipinos work and/or live outside of the archipelago.
TRANSIT, more than any other Filipino movie which may include Elwood Perez's PINAY, AMERICAN STYLE (1979), Gil Portes's 'MERIKA (1984), Olivia Lamasan's SANA MAULIT MULI (1995) and Rory Quintos's DUBAI (2005), has chosen not only to dramatize the dislocation, alienation and loneliness of migrant workers common to these films, but more importantly, by expanding its narrative to include their children, attempt to explore questions of citizenship and home.
A still from TRANSIT featuring Marc Justine Alvarez and Irma Adlawan
By utilizing a multiplanar/multi-character parallel narrative, wherein each of the five major characters is given his/her own subjectivity, a device that may have removed the film of its dramatic potency considering that it could have focused more cogently on the father, Moises (Ping Medina) and the four-year old son, Joshua (Marc Justine Alvarez) who is the one threatened by deportation, nonetheless, if affords a means through which the viewer can further understand the human cost of inhumane immigration laws, as well as reflect what "home" really means and what privilege does citizenship beget.
An auspicious debut film which is seen to be an important one when globalized labor has become an urgent concern of nations - be they, the extremely-haves or the extremely have-nots.
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TRANSIT swept the 2013 Cinemalaya, New Breed Awards: Best Film, directing, performances (Irma Adlawan, Jasmine Curtis-Smith), cinematography (Ben Cruz, Lyle Nemenzo Sacris). editing (Benjamin Tolentino, Hannah Espia), musical score (Nora Espia); was chosen as the Philippine entry to the Oscars Best Foreign Language Film.
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SINE! says:
XO (crossover appeal): ***
A+ (arthouse potential): **
C> (cult film fav): -
H! (hometown prime): **
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Hannah Espia
I read somewhere that the subject of TRANSIT is close to home. If so, why, please elucidate further?
A lot of people mistake Transit as something that was based from my personal experiences. No, I'm not half-Israeli, nor did I grow up there. No, my parents weren't OFWs. I lived in the Philippines my entire life, but I have always questioned national and cultural identity. I am also into fish-out-of-water stories. I just strongly felt that the deportation of foreign worker's children in Israel was a story that I needed to tell.
With regards to the structure of the narrative, I am struck by the way you chose to divide the film into five parts, each representing a character. Why did you do it?
When my co-writer Gian Abrahan and I wrote the script, we wrote it in linear form, but being an editor as well, I had always had it in mind to restructure the film in editing. I collaborated very well with my co-editor Benjamin Tolentino, and we made the film episodic per character. I wanted to take something that was very big and give it a more personal approach. By telling the story in different perspectives, we get to see how such immigration laws affect people.
One of the impressive aspects of the film production is how seamless you shot you your scenes, especially the exteriors, in Israel. Is it really easy, or if you can describe further the production in Israel that will be wonderful.
Because we had such a small crew (there were 12 of us), the whole film was "lit" and shot by our 2 cinematographers Lyle Sacris and Ber Cruz. They only had 2 Canon C100s, 3 DSLRs - which were operated by members of our crew: sometimes me, sometimes Paul (Soriano, our producer), sometimes by our production designer, or assistant director - 2 LED lights and 2 reflectors. We would've wanted to shoot in better conditions, but we definitely made the most of what we had.
Among the 5 characters, who did you empathize the most, and why?
Yael (Jasmine Curtis-Smith's character). Her character is conflicted because she is going through a lot of changes in her life. Also, I was quite rebellious growing up.
Will you tell me more how you decided to make this as your full-length debut film? What were you doing prior to this project? Or shall I say, what has been your background in film?
I studied filmmaking at the University of the Philippines Film Institute. While doing that, I was working for our family business - a tour company which specializes in Holy Land tours. I went to Israel a couple of times and during one of my trips, I encountered an OFW who was bringing his baby to the Philippines because of the deportation law in Israel. That encounter inspired me to make Transit.
The film won major awards at Cinemalaya last year, then selected as the Philippine entry to the Oscars, in quite a controversial way. How did these affect you and what have you learned from the experience? Did you have any inkling on how the Oscars would respond to the film?
At first, I felt really bad when people started bashing Transit on Twitter and Facebook and saying bad things about the film (and sometimes, me). But I learned that I can never please everyone, and I started to not take things personally. I have a really strong support system from family and friends who keep me grounded. I was happy enough that I was able to make a film. Everything that came after that was a bonus.
On the whole, were you satisfied with how TRANSIT turn out to be? If not so, what would you have done to make it better?
I promised myself to make films that as an audience, I would like to watch. So I guess I can say that I'm satisfied with how Transit turned out to be. But with that said, it's funny how I can't bear to watch the film from start to finish anymore. Whenever my film screens in festivals, I watch the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes. I always see the mistakes. If I could have done something differently, it would be that I would have wanted to have more time developing the film.
Any new project? Any new plan for the year, for the next few years?
I am currently producing a New Breed entry for Cinemalaya - Dagitab (Sparks), which is written and directed by Gian Abrahan (who was my co-writer in Transit). I am also developing my next feature film project. My next film would be a love story.
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