Janella Lacson and the new normal

MANILA, Philippines - It is a truth universally acknowledged that a guy who sees two girls making out must be in want of a cold shower.

While it’s hard to make a case against the fetishism of women playing tonsil hockey with each other, you can’t deny that it does take us away from seeing lesbian relationships as something that exists beyond the realms of a Girls Gone Wild video.

When 21-year-old Janella Lacson came up with The First Date, she not only won the Outstanding Dramatic Short Film Audience Award at the 2012 Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, she also offered an offbeat perspective on modern lesbian relationships that is neither vulgar nor cliché.

And if that weren’t enough, it looks like more people are taking notice. Just recently, NBCUniversal’s Short Cuts Film Festival also chose the The First Date as one of the 9 short films (out of 15,000!) to be showcased in New York City. She’s now rearing to be one of the final festival selections at the Los Angeles screening.

Young Star catches up with the budding filmmaker to learn more about living on two continents, learning from a film school of the greats, and of course, loving whomever you want to regardless of gender.

YOUNG STAR: Tell us a little bit about your film.

JANELLA LACSON: Amanda carries her personal frustrations into the women’s restroom of her Los Angeles office building. Once [her best friend and co-worker] Jill arrives, Amanda narrates her hilariously traumatic blind date with a sous-chef named Kelly. Amanda starts to panic because she is convinced that Kelly would never go on another date with a “dork” like her. Amanda’s mood [eventually] takes a positive turn and she is finally ready to ask Kelly out on another date via text. Everything seems to be looking up for Amanda—until she presses send.

Have you always wanted to be a filmmaker?

Growing up, I’ve always loved to tell stories. So the short answer is yes, I’ve always wanted to be a filmmaker. But when I look back it now, it’s amazing to see how much I truly desired filmmaking all my life that I wouldn’t have accepted anything less than that.

What subjects do you usually tackle? Is there anything new you’d wish to discuss?

The First Date is categorized as a romantic comedy so people immediately put me in the romcom genre professionally, but I would like to break out of that niche and really expand my filmmaking capabilities.

How do you think spending time in both the Philippines and the US affected your artistic perspective?

I’ve always told people that I had the best of both worlds growing up — being born in Los Angeles and partly raised in Manila. Manila is and forever will be my most precious artistic refuge. Los Angeles on the other hand was the place where I really learned the craft of filmmaking.

Your film touches on LGBT interests. What can you say about attitudes towards the LGBT community in the Philippines?

LGBT attitudes in the Philippines, from my experience, are more of a hush-hush type of deal. I mean, I have met a few individuals that are openly out and proud, but then there are those select few who can’t sustain a relationship that makes them happy because of the stigma that they may face from family members and friends.

LGBT attitudes in Los Angeles are a bit more accepting. It’s Los Angeles, after all. LA is the home of Outfest Film Festival, which is the largest and oldest LGBT film festival in the nation.

How is life in film school treating you?

Film school is amazing to say the least! Tisch School of the Arts at New York University is undoubtedly one of the best film schools in the world, with alumni such as Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, and so many more amazing filmmakers! It’s such a great learning environment, especially for film students.

What other films do you dream of making?

Aside from my desire to create inspirational LGBT films, I hope one day to make movies that change people’s lives. It is also very important for me to be able to make people laugh! As Ellen Degeneres said, “Laughter is the best medicine.”