“Text Find Dad”, winner of the Puregold Film Festival, receives a ticket to the SG Festival for young directors

MANILA, Philippines – Kent Michael Cadungog has been submitting his films to the Singapore International Film Festival since 2018, but faced numerous rejections. It became so routine that it no longer played a major role in his thinking, so much so that he completely missed submitting to this year’s edition.

One afternoon in September, while trying to find a job after completing his business studies at UP Diliman, he received an email from SGIFF with the news that his latest film Text find dad and send it to 2366 made it to the 2024 selection and competed alongside 23 other Southeast Asian short films. The festival takes place from November 28th to December 8th.

Cadungog initially told Leonard Billones, his co-writer and assistant director, that the film had been nominated for the festival, and both were in complete disbelief.

“SGIFF is known for curating almost exclusively arthouse films, especially when it comes to short films,” the director tells me. “Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much that night.”

Before its international premiere, the Bisdak film began life as a contribution to the Puregold Cinepanalo Film Festival last year and was even written with the festival theme in mind. Around March of this year, it had its Puregold premiere, also the festival’s inaugural event, and ultimately won the Student Short Film Jury Prize.

Cadungog would like to thank the Puregold Cinepanalo team for their support not only in making the film a reality, but also in festival distribution and covering the costs necessary to participate in SGIFF.

Cadungog will be joined in the film’s Singapore debut by Billones and lead actress Jade Mary Cornelia (also nominated for Best Performance), as well as Puregold Cinepanalo festival director Chris Cahilig and festival representatives Archie Rivas and Harley Santos.

The film, explains Cadungog, draws insights into his childhood, particularly from his encounters as a singer who constantly auditioned for television talent competitions, while also serving as a tribute to his mother, who was by his side at that moment in his life.

As heartwarming and heartfelt as that provenance was, Cadungog felt at the time that the earlier iterations of the material didn’t fully reflect his voice as a filmmaker.

This was until he received feedback from Billones, who informed him that the material had parallels to the thematic concerns of Sonny Calvento Primetime Momabout a mother who tries a TV game show for her sick child. Then the concept was revised.

Find dadIn its biting commentary and absurdity, it situates its protagonist (Jade Mary Cornelia, in a searing turn) in precisely this state of dependence on difficult options due to government neglect, and questions our fascination with reality shows like Pinoy Big Brother and somehow turns this fascination on its head.

Cadungog says: “We asked ourselves, ‘What if Big Brother left the confines of his own house?’ and “What happens to a character who relies too much on the voice telling her what to do?” Both inquiries shaped the final script for Find dad.”

The director further shares that the film is a reaction to the political situation in the country. “(It’s) about how politicians often act as if their votes dictate the direction of our lives, when in reality many of their decisions only serve their own interests.”

When it comes to the film’s visual design, Cadungog cites influences such as those of Peter Weir The Truman Showparticularly for its worldbuilding, alongside Southeast Asian titles like Red Aninsri; Or tiptoe over the still shaking Berlin Wall, Edison’s conclusion, Basri & Salma in a never-ending comedy, Excuse me, Miss Miss Misssome early works by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit and Martika Ramirez Escobar as well as his “film god” Yorgos Lanthimos.

As with many local titles Find dad had to make do with limited resources. Despite the grant from Puregold Cinepanalo, the director stated that he and producer Mezy Kirsten Bustamante had several disputes over budget allocation and logistics during pre-production, forcing them to make necessary changes to the script to fit their existing resources to adapt.

“To be honest, a P100,000 grant barely covers the cost of paying the crew,” admits Cadungog.

They also had to forgo renting expensive cameras, lenses and lights and opt to shoot in a single location for two days, multitasking across roles from pre-production to release.

Time was another hurdle as pre-production for Find dad coincided with the post-production of HosannaCadungog’s other short film. This is in addition to working with a new group of employees.

“In hindsight, it’s almost unbelievable: we completed pre-production in just a week, cast our lead actress three days before filming, ran her workshop the day after, decided on the script four hours before filming began, and only met everyone at home on the first Day.”

This impressive scale of producing a film on a tight budget no longer surprises Cadungog. He even says that the very first title he submitted to SGIFF was made on a budget of 35 pesos – for a McDonald’s burger to feed the actress.

There has been notable progress since then, but the director says it is still far from sufficient. “Unfortunately, making films in a small town like Dumaguete meant that we were at the mercy of the Manila-based funding bodies and were content to have our films screened in the city’s auditoriums and at the local Lutas film festival.”

That’s why he believes that the absurdity of his films is a direct reaction to such constraints. “For Find dad Sam in particular stands in a vegetable scale and bathes in one banyera For fish and talking to a non-existent character are all conscious decisions, but at the same time the most cost-effective,” he says.

“Humor and absurdity give small-budget filmmakers like us the opportunity to be more flexible in our stories while maintaining the same intent,” he continues. – Rappler.com