BULA SA LANGIT
*an official entry to the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival 2022
After a 5-month siege, a young soldier comes home and faces a different war.
DIRECTOR: Sheenly Gener
WRITER: Andrian Legaspi
CATEGORY: Full-length feature
GENRE: Drama
WINNER: Best Sound, Cinemalaya 2022
WINNER: Best Sound and Aural Orchestration, Young Critics Circle 2022
WINNER: Best First Feature, Young Critics Circle 2022
CAST
Gio Gahol. Kate Alejandrino. AIR
Shamaine Buencamino. Soliman Cruz
Easy Ferrer. Tess Antonio. Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo
Acey Aguilar. Ross Pesigan
Pfc John Paolo Atanis. Pfc Junelle Satuito.
Paolo O'hara. Joel Saracho. Gie Onida
Joshua Cabiladas. DMs Boongaling
Ainah Remonte. Carlos Lising. Herald Habin
Cristian Clarito. John Lexter Sebugan
June Veras. Zeus Bunyi. Yanni Buenaventura
Michelle Castro. Lily Aldana. Felicia Fran Aldana
Kathleen Thea Aldana. Hiraya Liwanag.
John Henzo Emberga
SYNOPSIS:
Acting as if coming home from a vacation, young Marawi War veteran Wesley is excited to bring his girlfriend Ritz home to meet his family. Showered with unsolicited hero worship upon his homecoming, Wesley struggles to reconnect with his present relationships with his family and lover all while celebrating the town fiesta. Overwhelmed, the young soldier finds himself haunted by one of his traumatic kills, and in this internal war he is alone. Compounded and triggered, his frustration shoots up in one of his conversations with Ritz. He impulsively goes to the carnival to confront his trauma.
CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION TEAM
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Dix Buhay
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Michael Bayot
COSTUME DESIGN: Eivy Rose Lavalle
EDITOR: Chuck Gutierrez
COLORIST: Mikhail Von Asmuth
SOUND DESIGN AND SCORE: Pepe Manikan
VFX: E0+
CREATIVE CONSULTANTS: Zig Dulay, Herbie Go
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Max Celada, Maki Liwanag
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Maxine Sacris
ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER: Don Melvin Boongaling
1st ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Antonette Go-Yadao
2nd ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Joshua Tayco
PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE: Trixia Magdaraog
PHOTOGRAPHER: Jojit Lorenzo
ARMORER and MILITARY TECHNICAL ADVISER: Tuhon Harry D. Caramat
BEHIND THE SCENES: Trixia Magdaraog, Arby Larano, Jav Velasco
SUBTITLES Ruth Gadia
ARTWORK AND POSTER DESIGNER: Rommel Joson
SCREENING AND PARTNERSHIPS
We are open for fundraising and bulk screenings and for possible collaborations or tie-ups for advocacy platforms. If you have any questions or concerns or if there are other partnership options that you would like to explore, please feel free to contact: s.v.gener@gmail.com
DIRECTOR’s STATEMENT:
BULA SA LANGIT is about Wesley, a young soldier’s homecoming. Passively tending to unseen wounds as he adjusts to life and his relationships, an unseen post-war. It explores the different scenarios of reintegration, unintentional exoticization of tragedy, and alienation. The story covers the shifting realities and secrets - how he moves and attempts to cope with changes.
War changes everything. It changes everyone.
I was seven years old when I first saw an army uniform, my cousin visited our house, told me about his profession. I liked the way it looked on him, it made me proud. Another soldier relative visited when I was about 10 – my uncle. He came home with a girl. That’s when I first heard about AWOL. I met soldiers during the filming of Buybust. We shot in their camp before the Marawi siege and after the war.
Andrian’s inspiration was his grandfather, a veteran of World War 2. During the Bataan March, he pretended to have passed out and threw himself in a murky canal. He played dead and survived. Years later, Andrian saw his grandfather deep in the murky waters of the rice field, pretending to be floating in the rice paddies. Andrian later learned about the tendencies of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The idea of soldiering on has always been a description of me as a woman-artist. I was 12 when I left home and started living on my own as a scholar. I was a single mom at the age of 18, juggling college scholarship, freelance work and an acting scholarship residency, fighting battles no one knew about. We all have these stories – things we keep to ourselves, battles we choose and wounds we would tend to on our own.
There is no denying the reality of war. But the bigger, more aggressive reality - begins once the war is over - going back to our families and loved ones. How does one deal with the shifting of these realities?
Soldiers are trained to be void of emotions. Become weapons of war. How does this affect them and their relationships as they shift between the realities during periods of turmoil and peace? After being deeply immersed in a setting where home means togetherness in triumph, which means bloodshed, how do you return to a home you were built to set aside?
Not all wounds bleed. Not all wounds are visible, but in war, all wounds run deep.
CLICK THE LINK TO READ SELECTED REVIEWS:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gs51wZg9aHLT3vwi1QA2Wi7KUCsgZYVy/view?usp=sharing
" A brave work."
-Loy Arcenas, Film and Theater Director
"While many war films focus on the post-traumatic stress disorders of soldiers, Sheenly Gener’s BULA SA LANGIT also has the female lead (Kate Alejandrino) shining as counterpoint, realizing there is something worth saving in her relationship with the man she cares for. This is a commendable, moving, and important work that astutely shares a usually sidelined point of view."
-Carlos Siguion-Reyna, filmmaker
"I love how Bula feels like a ghost story where the specter of war permanently haunts soldiers and the victims of war. There is a sharp contrast between Wesley's two lives, revealing an insurmountable gap in understanding and empathy."
-Kip Oebanda, filmmaker
"A very compelling and confident debut from an actor who can now call herself one of the exciting new voices of Philippine cinema."
-Arden Rod Condez, filmmaker
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