We close this series of posts on Asian audiovisual productions with Filipino films, after having seen some of the best series and films from India, Korea, Japan and China.
Although not many, Filipino productions in sign language also deserve attention. Here are three of the most popular ones, but you might find others with shorter on-screen appearances by Deaf people.
Access to Filipino cinema in the West is really difficult. Sometimes it is available on a streaming platform, but very briefly, or it might be available in full on YouTube, but they are not usually published by official channels, so they could be taken down at any time.
It is striking that there seems to be a certain predilection in Philippine cinema for romantic plots. On the one hand, this is positive, it shows that Deaf people and sign languages can be used to make engaging stories and win over the general audience. But on the other hand, a challenge remains for the coming years: less whitewashing of Deaf characters would be desirable.
Many films portray Deaf people as almost angelic figures - not only in Philippine films - and their only difficulty in life seems to be their deafness. The reality is quite different and much more complex: for many Deaf people, deafness is not a ‘problem’ (or at least, in their case, not the main one), but the real barriers are social because of lack of accessibility and prejudice. Moreover, like any other person, many of them have much more complex lives, with lights and shadows, as reflected very well in the film Sound of Metal (2019), winner of two Oscars.
You might also be interested in:
- The Best Chinese Films and Series in Sign Language
- The Best South Korean Films and Series With Sign Language
- The Best Japanese Films and TV Series with Sign Language
- Sign language Also Inspires Bollywood
Dinig Sana Kita (2009)
The plot of this film is simple and familiar: a Deaf boy with a passion for dance lives immersed in a world of silence but full of rhythm. Nina, a rebellious rock singer who, although hearing, feels trapped in the noise of her fears and insecurities. Their paths cross at a camp where deaf and hearing young people live together to discover that, beyond their differences, they share dreams and emotions.
This was the first Filipino film to feature a real-life Deaf actor, Romalito Mallari , as well as other Deaf performers in the cast. Romalito's participation was a milestone in the history of Philippine cinema and the film received several awards.
The film's director, Mike Sandejas, wrote the script and based it on real experiences in Deaf and hearing youth camps in Baguio, Philippines. He spent a year and a half investigating Deaf culture in order to portray it authentically. The film was very well received by the Philippine Deaf community.
Isa Pa, With Feelings (2019)
In this romantic comedy, Mara is an architect in crisis who finds unexpected comfort and love in Gali, her Deaf neighbour and sign language teacher. Through his lessons, Mara not only learns to communicate, but to express emotions with real feeling. But their worlds collide and they must decide if their connection is enough to overcome the barriers that seem to separate them.
The character of Gali was played by Carlo Aquino, a real-life hearing actor. The production team put the fame of their performers before the authentic representation of Deaf people. To this end, they trained for several months with the help of Deaf consultants and were recognised for their efforts to seek the most authentic representation of sign language possible. It met with some criticism from the Filipino Deaf community, but overall the film was well received.
Bakit 'di Mo Sabihin? (2022)
This is the most recent film in Philippine cinema and the most contradictory, as it stars two real-life hearing people in the role of a Deaf married couple. The couple discover that their biggest challenge is not their deafness, but the emotional silences that fracture their relationship.
Again, here the production preferred to cast two film stars to play the Deaf people in the film, although some supporting roles were played by real-life Deaf actors and actresses. They prepared for several months intensively and with the help of Deaf consultants. The film had the merit of having most of its dialogue in Filipino Sign Language.
In the following video you can see the main characters and other secondary interpreters explaining some signs.
In case you're wondering, the film's title means ‘why don't you say it?’. Here is its official trailer:
