Ang Pamana throbs with patriotism

I didn’t know what to expect of new filmmaker Romeo Candido during our first (and so far only) meeting. All I knew was that he was born and raised in Canada. But I had no idea if he was young or old, fat or thin, short or tall. Oh, but I knew he was talented. How did I know this? I’ve seen his film Ang Pamana (The Inheritance) during the Cinema Evaluation Board screening where it was given a grade of A (it gets a hundred percent tax rebate) and I was very impressed with it.

When I finally met Romeo (during a meeting arranged by line producer Jo-Ann Banaga) the first thing I noticed was his distinctly Pinoy features – brown as brown can be. But he spoke with a twang that was unmistakably North American.

During a press conference to promote Ang Pamana the day before my meeting with Romeo, I was told some members of media thought he came on "too strong."

No, I didn’t see him that way. I thought he was a well-mannered young man aching to find his Pinoy roots and be able to push for anything Filipino.

According to Romeo, his parents – both schoolteachers – migrated to Canada shortly after the declaration of martial law in 1972. He was born a year after that and, except for a short visit to the Philippines when he was three, he spent all his life in Canada.

As a child, he already started dabbling in the arts. He recalls that he had always been dancing and, in fact, did a lot of native Filipino dances – from Igorot to Muslim.

His father, who is from Bataan, and his Batangueña mother had always instilled the Pinoy culture among them kids. At the dinner table, pinakbet was present in most of their meals.

Everything was Filipino in the Candidos’ Canadian home – except for their tongue. Everyone had to speak English like everyone else in that English-speaking part of Canada. It was part of cultural shame, he sadly admits. While it was bad enough (for them Filipino kids) that they were brown growing up in an all-white community, they didn’t want to worsen their situation by speaking differently.

But deep inside, his heart was screaming Pinoy. When he had the chance to be the mover and shaker of the art community in Toronto, he again pushed for things Pinoy.

A couple of years back, when Miss Saigon was brought to Canada (the one with Ma-an Dionisio), he became part of the ensemble. (He also performed in his own one-man shows that toured America.) As soon as he was over that stint, he formed an all-Filipino singing group. They were all set to record their first CD. Sure, the record executives were impressed with their singing. But did the record companies actually want to invest in an all-Filipino singing group? The group disbanded soon after.

Romeo then went on to pursue his other interests – filmmaking among them (in lieu of a college degree he failed to complete, he took a three-month filmmaking course at the NYU) and you bet he still pushed for things Filipino in this field.

It was around this time that he made two documentaries: Dancers! Pick Up Your Bamboos and Kuya Medley. Somewhere along the way, he also completed Lolo’s Child, the first full-length Fil-Canadian film. Tikoy Aguiluz saw this at an international film festival and included it in Cinemanila where it won the Ishmael Bernal Award in 2002.

Two years before that, Romeo returned to the Philippines – his first visit since he was three – just to be able to trace his roots. It was a wish fulfilled for him because he had long wanted to visit the country, except that he didn’t have enough funds for that. "People think that just because we’re in Canada, we’re rich," he points out. To be able to fly to Manila from Toronto, he had to save for it after working as a busboy in restaurants.

Then three years ago, the people from McCann Erickson saw one of his documentaries and decided to hire him to direct commercials for this major advertising company. He had been living in the Philippines since and enjoying every minute of it.

And now his second film is finally showing in commercial theaters (Nov. 22). Ang Pamana (The Inheritance) is an excellently crafted movie. It is also interesting in the sense that it is a horror film that does not copy The Grudge or The Ring – unlike other local horror movies. It has aswangs, kapres, manananggals, but done differently – sleekly I should say.

It’s a patriotic horror film if you ask me. Very Pinoy.

(See related story on D-2).