Directing
Amid stifling heat, Isabel, a 17-year-old Ilocana, works at a posh country club outside Manila. New to the job, she wanders its immaculate grounds, sampling its luxuries. But beneath the pristine fairways, something is rotting. When Isabel tries to return a mislaid golf club to the club’s president, Dr. Palanca, she discovers the violent truths of her workplace, her country, and her own past.
A mother, trapped in the comfort of memory and mourning, confronts her grief when she is invited to the wedding of her late son’s childhood sweetheart.
Xuan (8) is struggling to find the perfect outfit for her school’s upcoming Children’s Day celebration. Her sisters are mean, her father authoritarian, her mother busy with the new baby. Xuan tentatively approaches a classmate and makes a new friend.
With her family on the cusp of change and separation, a filmmaker questions the meaning of her given name, her place among her four sisters, and their stories.
Using the imagery of gossamer threads and their fragility, I reflect on the things that have scarred me, the things that have hurt me, and the things that have made me.
