October 18 ------ 'Paco' is a short film about a Filipino immigrant who kept his struggles a secret from his family in the Philippines while making them believe that he has become successful in his new country.
The short film by Filipino Canadian documentary filmmaker Kent Donguines made its Canadian debut as part of the BC Spotlight selection of the recent Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). Donguines, who directed the film and jointly produced it with Canadian production outfit 'Boldly,' said he is honored to have been chosen by VIFF.
"This is my first time directing a film that's playing in VIFF so it’s really nice to just see the fruits of our hard-earned labor and seeing it and sharing it to people," he said. "I hope the audience would really resonate with Paco's character especially immigrants or any other under-represented communities. It’s really about hard work and perseverance of an individual and how that individual sometimes need to make sacrifices to make other people happy."
Writer Moira Tan, who moved to Canada three years ago, co-wrote 'Paco' with Donguines. Partly drawing from Donguines’ own experiences and challenges as a new immigrant in Canada, Tan said she wanted the audience to understand the difficulties of moving to an unfamiliar land. "I was there to kind of help him make that come into fruition, and make it work because the story he had is just so important and it’s just so moving and I just felt really honored to help bring that to the screen," Tan shared.
Edward Escobal stars as the immigrant Paco who worked as a janitor so he can send money to help his family in the Philippines. Meanwhile, Jason Asuncion is Jaime, Paco's fellow janitor. "Anybody can relate to this because it’s not only about immigration, it’s about love and sacrifice and family," Escobal pointed out. "I feel like everybody could love, everybody has family and in order to love, you should know how to sacrifice."
Before VIFF, 'Paco' won the grand prize at the Stage 32 Short Film Contest last July. The film then went on to have its world premiere at the Hollyshorts Film Festival in California. Boldly's executive producer Sebastien Galina said they are excited to share 'Paco' with a wider audience on the big screen.. "It really hits home because it’s a universal story. It’s about wanting to support your family and also wanting to have that freedom and independence of doing the things that you love to do. That's a great moment that anyone can relate to," Galina noted.
After VIFF, Donguines will bring 'Paco' to other film festivals in Canada and the US in the next two months. Donguines and Tan hope they will be able to create more stories about the immigrant experience in Canada as they stressed that these stories have to be told.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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