With Sunshine (review) the experienced Filipina film maker Antoinette Jadaone presents a film that addresses the stigma surrounding abortion in her deeply Christian country. I had the opportunity to meet her and the male lead Elijah Canlas at Berlinale Palast to ask them a few questions. We talked about the state of abortions in the Philippines, and what it means to create a film covering such a difficult topic.
Free Generation Reporters (fGR): What sparked your idea for the film?
Antoinette Jadaone: I don’t know if you have heard of the film Jojo Rabbit by Taika Waititi. It is a little bit of a weird connection, but in the film, the lead character had an imaginary friend who is Hitler. While watching it, I wasn’t able to focus on the film anymore. I had this light bulb idea of a teenage girl who got pregnant and had an imaginary friend as well.
I started writing it during the pandemic. I did a lot of research interviewing kids, interviewing teenagers, some parents, even religious groups. I was compelled to tell this story of Sunshine after hearing about all these stories of teenage Filipina girls who don’t know what to do about their situation. It was what a filmmaker would do when you are put in that situation where you are presented with all these perspectives: You just have to write it.
fGR: Considering that there is so much stigma around the topic of abortion, was it hard to find the girls to interview about their stories?
A: It was not hard to look for them. I made sure to only take notes in the interviews and not any other recordings. Some did not even turn on their video on Zoom, but they really wanted to share their stories, especially this one teenager, a college student, who had her pregnancy terminated. Now she is the go-to person of all her classmates who would get pregnant. She feels like it is her life purpose now to tell them that it is not the end of the world and you can choose what you want for yourself. She is young, she is only 19, but she has the maturity of an old person because of what she has gone through. She was one of the bigger voices that guided me to writing the story of Sunshine.
fGR: So all that is touched on in the film, it is actually true, right?
A: Especially the story of the other kid who was abused by a relative. During the pandemic, the number of teenagers who got pregnant in the Philippines got higher. For kids aged 14 and below it was mostly because of relatives, so it was incest. The kid’s age in the film was 14, but the youngest kids who got pregnant in the Philippines, there were two of them, were nine years old. It is really a very horrible statistic, but it has to be known. And the least we as filmmakers can do is bring it onto the screen. Maybe not at the front and center, but like I did in Sunshine, make it in a dreamy way, but with layers underneath. So that the audience comes for the dreaminess, but they stay for whatever the film is saying.
fGR: I can imagine that it was quite rough hearing all those horrible stories of the girls. How did you cope with that?
A: It was hard. It was very difficult. There were times where I would cry in front of them. Usually I’m really good at keeping my emotions to myself, but it is really a haunting process. When you do this kind of research, interview kids with those stories, you just decide to go on with it instead of abandoning it. There are a lot of stories that I have abandoned after doing research, as it was not what I wanted to do anymore. But with these stories, after researching and interviewing, it became something I really had to do. Maybe not just for Sunshine, the character, but for them.
fGR: Will they be able to see the film?
A: The girls, definitely. Regarding the Philippines: hopefully. The goal is to show it first on festivals, to create a buzz in the Philippines. When we premiered in Toronto they wanted to show it in the Philippines already. But, as you know, it is a very sensitive topic. We are very religious. There is a censorship board in the Philippines, so not all films get shown because of their rating system, but we are hopeful.
fGR: I can imagine that considering the stigma around abortions in the Philippines, it might have been quite hard to get funding for this film?
A: It definitely was hard to get funding. Even if the topic is not critical, it is still hard for a filmmaker to get funding. For this one we were close to giving up, because there was a big gap in financing. We then decided to turn to private investors. One of our executive producers is a big supporter of women’s sports in the Philippines. She didn’t know what this one was about. Initially she was just intrigued by having an athlete, a female athlete, as the lead character.
And when she read the script she said yes. Her decision was very easy. I was fortunate to have that private investment money, but with her also have an investor who believes in what the film is going to say, and be an ally and collaborator.
We also had a lot of help from the government, from the Film Council of the Philippines. We applied for a grant, and they gave us a big chunk of our full budget for the film. They also helped us come here to Berlinale, especially with my actor Elijah.
fGR: Was it also hard to get permissions to film in the Philippines?
A: Actually, that was easy for us. We gave them the synopsis and the script, but I don’t know if they have actually read it. But it is part of Filipino culture, it is an open secret. What was really hard for us during the shooting was that, since Maris, the lead actress, is very popular in the Philippines, it was hard to shoot in Manila without a lot of people looking at her.
It was easier when we told her to just come in without makeup on, just come in without her actress vibe, just mingle with people like a normal person, then it became easier for us to shoot in crowds like in Manila.
fGR: How did the part of being an athlete become part of the story?
A: I wanted to show an athlete in the story because I wanted to portray someone who has a goal. The sport was actually volleyball at the start, but I figured it wouldn’t have that much of an impact because it was a team sport. If one girl is pregnant in a volleyball team, they can easily replace her. So I decided to have gymnastics, because aside from gymnastics being more popular in the Philippines — we just had double gold in the last Olympics for gymnastics — rhythmic gymnastics is one of the few sports that does not have a male counterpart. The males cannot do rhythmic gymnastics, they can do artistic gymnastics, but not rhythmic. So it is something that we, as women, just own. It is our sport.
However, it can also feel very oppressive to women, especially if you live in a third world country that won’t support you when you get pregnant. Especially considering that gymnastics is a ticking time bomb. You have to go to the Olympics by the age of 20 or 22 latest.
Aside from that, it is a graceful sport. I chose the ribbon out of the four apparatuses. The ribbon is a good symbolism of being free. The girl controls where the ribbon will go, and if you throw it, it should come back to you. It is a symbolic representation of who Sunshine is, not just an athlete, but as a woman.
fGR: The little girl in the film is quite rough on Sunshine. While caring about her she also reproduces all the societal stigma. Can you tell me more about that imaginary friend?
A: When I interviewed these girls, a common thread would be that some of them would be talking to an imaginary person. They don’t know who that person is, because they can’t talk to anyone about their situation, they can’t talk to their mom, or best friend, or a teacher.
So the idea of it becoming like a personification of the horrors inside the head of a pregnant teenage girl stuck with me. And it is not black and white. By making what is happening in her head a physicalized version, it gives us more of an emphatic look into the situation of Sunshine.
fGR: I loved the relationship with her sister. I think it was super strong, how she supported her. Can you give a little more insight on that?
A: I wanted Sunshine to have a support system within her family, because in reality it is not always the case. But at least in this film, in a make-believe situation, Sunshine has that. She didn’t know that she had that kind of a sister. At the beginning we do not know if she is for it or against it, but whether or not she was for or against it, the clear thing was that she was for her sister.
fGR: Can you give us a little background on the lead actress, Maris Racal, and lead actor, Elijah Canlas?
A: The lead girl Maris Racal is not an Olympian, not a gymnast, but she is a really great actress who can also dance so she is already graceful and flexible. One of the national team coaches of gymnastics in the Philippines trained her. She developed the routine and also did sessions with me for the character study and the scene study.
To prepare Maris for her role in terms of the abortion, she was actually part of some interviews. I asked her to come to some of the interviews with the girls‘ permission. They would always say yes. She had sessions with a kid who terminated their pregnancy. I wasn’t there because they wanted to have it one-on-one. Maris wanted to know what goes on in their head, what happened, step-by-step, etc. She was very into the character in a sense that she did not want to do things half-baked. As it is a very sensitive topic, one wrong smile can turn the narrative into a different direction. And then when we were on set, it was just me and her collaborating on the emotions, the goal of the scene. When it was her time to act the scene, I just let her be, because we have done all the preparations. As a director, it still surprises me when I work with actors like that who are just willing to let go and just be the character that they’re in.
With Elijah, the other lead actor, I have worked in another project, so it was easy for me to choose him for the role. With Maris I have worked on other projects too, but in comedy and not in a full-length film yet. She is a close friend, so I know her capacities as an actress, and before we finally decided to get her, I asked her if she believed in what Sunshine says, because if she did not, it would have been a no-go for me. But she said yes and I think she is the perfect casting for Sunshine.
fGR: Speaking of you and your role, Elijah, how was it for you shooting such a feminist topic?
Elijah: It was lovely for me. It was something I really believed in. I’m a big fan of her (Antoinette) ever since our first production, so it was just a blessing to be part of it. I know actors who would be scared to do projects like this, but it was very much an easy yes for me.
I feel like artists should support more projects like this, especially women’s voices, and female filmmakers. I have worked with Maris, the lead actress, before, so the collaboration was not mysterious to me. It was really easy going into set for the couple of days. It was very much open and collaborative. That’s why, despite the heaviness of the topic, it was really fun to work on it, honestly.
fGR: How was it for you, then, to portray such a difficult character?
E: It is definitely something that I am familiar with. As an actor, you observe and listen to different types of characters in real life. And characters like Miggy are people that I know, and I’m sure that everybody knows here as well: manipulative, gaslighting assholes, you know. And that is why it was easier for me to tap into that, empathize with it, even though I do not agree with it.
fGR: Do you fear that there will be some negative buzz as well, maybe targeting you considering you’re more visible as an actor?
E: Oh yeah, and I’m ready for it. I feel like as an actor you should be ready for it, portraying different types of characters, good or bad, or even in the grey area. I am very much ready for whatever they throw my side, but even with this film, there are a lot of challenges that we still need to face in terms of screening it in the Philippines, so I feel like it’s more going to be towards her (pointing towards Antoinette) than it will be towards me.
fGR: In the film it is also very much the younger people, the teenagers, that stigmatize abortions. Would you say this is reflective of how it is in the Philippines?
E: Oh yes. I can attest that even in my generation, even in the younger generation, this is the case. It doesn’t really matter what generation in the Philippines, because our country is predominantly a Catholic country, and it is very strict. Even a lot of my family and friends do not agree with it. That is why I feel that there is the need for a conversation. There needs to be a discourse. There need to be films like Sunshine that these people get exposed to, so maybe they can realize things that they have not before, being very, I don’t know how to say it, maybe self-centric with their beliefs.
fGR: How did they react then when they heard you are part of such a film?
E: I am lucky because I’m known to be the type of actor who does films like this. Films that challenge people’s thoughts. And characters that a lot of other actors do not want to portray. So I guess they were not surprised when I did it, and they know my stand as a person, politically and socially, so there was a lot of support that I got.
fGR: Thank you so much for the interview, and for your film in general!
