Ilo Ilo director proves the naysayers wrong

MANILA, Philippines - Singaporean director Anthony Chen is still surprised at how his debut feature film Ilo Ilo has been embraced by Filipinos as their own.

“I realized that. To me, it’s all very bizarre,” a smiling Anthony told The STAR in an exclusive interview.

Ilo Ilo, which explores the relationship of a Singaporean family with their Filipino nanny (played by stage actress Angeli Bayani) amidst the Asian financial crisis in the ’90s, has won more than a dozen awards, including Best Picture at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards, also known as the “Chinese Oscars,” since it received Cannes Film Festival’s Camera d’Or (Best First Feature Film) in France last May.

It’s also performing very well in terms of sales, had a strong box-office run in France, is the highest-grossing art house film in Singapore, has been sold to different countries and is set for distribution in Hong Kong, Taiwan, US, UK, Australia, Korea and Sweden. US magazine Variety also proclaimed Anthony as one of the 10 Directors To Watch in its annual series that honors emerging names in the film industry.

Ilo Ilo likewise created so much buzz here that led to the finding of the real-life Auntie Terry (Anthony’s Filipino nanny when he was a young boy that inspired the film) in — where else but — the province the film was named after.

Anthony recalled that people were surprised he picked such a story for his first film. “My idea for my film was just this, I’m not a man with a lot of ideas. I wish I was,” but he went ahead with it despite the discouragement because of a “gut feeling” and “I’m also very stubborn. When people say don’t do it, I’d go and do it.”

“When I was making the film, a lot of people in Singapore were telling me like, ‘Who wants to watch a movie about a Filipina maid and a kid? It sounds boring, cheesy, very soap opera.’ There were so many naysayers, so it’s completely a huge surprise how the journey of this film has gone. Could I have predicted all that? No. I’m just very grateful.”

Fresh from the film’s exploits at the 50th Golden Horse Awards, wherein the 29-year-old Anthony was named Best Director by a jury led by Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, beating heavyweight Asian filmmakers Wong Kar Wai and Johnnie To, Ilo Ilo is now screening in Philippine theaters. A charity screening was also held last Dec. 1 in Iloilo, attended by Anthony and the film’s child actor Jia Ler, to benefit Typhoon Yolanda victims. 

Anthony said, “I’ve been traveling around the world for the past months with the film in different festivals. And in every screening I go, whether in Sweden or Milan or Toronto, there will be Pinoys coming to the screening, and they connect with the film. But I’m very interested to see the Filipinos who are here, who are not working abroad, how they will receive the film.”

He shared that in his interactions with Filipinos, he is often told that they had initially expected a film that might cast a negative light on the Filipino migrant worker.

“You know what’s interesting, even the critics in Singapore, before they saw the film, they were expecting a grim, dark portrait of that relationship of that story of a migrant worker... which is why, people will be pleasantly surprised. It’s so stereotypical isn’t it to make a film about a foreign worker struggling, gritty and dark, all about big problems. I think there are big problems in the film, the characters feel problems, but these are everyday, genuine problems. I think this film, why it’s doing very well, it’s because there’s a certain sincerity in the film, a certain honesty and people connect with that. The film wasn’t made like we want to make a lot of money or do well at the box-office, I just wanted to make it a very, very sincere film.”

The film also reconnected Anthony with Auntie Terry, thanks to the efforts of the Philippines-based Singaporean Charles Lim of Selrahco Management who was able to locate her last July in an Iloilo town, selling fruits and vegetables. He didn’t expect he would meet her, whose real name is Teresa Sajonia, again because “I could no longer remember her full name, her address, her exact age.” “But I was sure she’s the one when they found her because when they asked for a private information to confirm her identity, my mom remembered her birthday — the 30th of April. She remembered it very well. Auntie Terry was with us for eight years, that’s a long time. (When she was brought to Singapore for the Ilo Ilo premiere there) my mom was pleased to see her again. She stayed at our home for a few days with my parents, which was very nice.”

Told that his film has spotlighted the overseas Filipino worker without him really meaning to, he said, “Which is why, for me, it’s very surprising, all of a sudden Auntie Terry is the face of OFWs in the world. I really, really hope that because I’m so busy with the traveling for the film, there’s not much I can do, I really hope that people here, whether the governor of Iloilo or even the (national) government itself in Manila, how they could actually help to make her life more sustainable, improve her life... because there’s not much I can do at this time. I really think that is one issue that should be explored. It is not so much of the kind of income the OFWs bring back home to the Philippines because that’s a lot of income coming in because they’re working overseas, but it’s also about after they’ve returned, how they can settle back into their lives, and I’m not only referring to Auntie Terry but all OFWs, how do they ensure they can have financial sustainability, how they are able to live decently until retirement. I think it’s something worth looking into because a lot of times we only think of them going, we don’t think what happens after they come back.”

After the Manila screenings, next stop for the film is the 56th Asia-Pacific Film Festival this Dec. 13 to 15, wherein the film copped nominations for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for Angeli.

Angeli was praised by recent Manila visitor Ang Lee “as very good in this film, you have a national treasure right here.”

Then there’s the much-awaited Oscars. Ilo Ilo is Singapore’s official entry to the Best Foreign Language Film category. A shortlist will be released this month while the final five will be unveiled early next year.

“It’s my first film... a small, humble film. For me, I’m just grateful it has gone so far,” said the director, who has no idea where his creative streak comes from (“My mom is in accounting, my father is a salesperson, the arts doesn’t run in the family, my mom cannot even sing, she’s tone deaf”). Anthony started out as a movie fan in his teens, with his fascination and passion eventually taking him all the way to the UK (where he also met his wife who’s doing a Ph.D in Economics) for further film studies. He did shorts for a decade that fared well in international festivals prior to his impressive full-length debut via Ilo Ilo.

“I didn’t ask for so much, but I got more than I asked for. To be honest, there are days when I’d be thinking like, ‘Oh God, I think I might have used the good luck I need for the rest of my life in one year. How can one be so lucky for the whole year?’ I’m no longer competitive with this film. I have zero expectations. Oscar nomination or not, I’m still very grateful.”