Get to know up-and-coming female filmmaker Aimee Apostol-Escasa, whose first feature film garnered the praise and recognition of independent film insiders.

 

In global industries dominated by men, women around the world go the extra mile to let their ideas take shape and make their voices heard. Such is the case in the local film industry, which has witnessed the immense talents of numerous female directors through the years. In the last two years, a female filmmaker by the name of Aimee Apostol-Escasa has made some waves with her first full-length feature film, the low-budget indie "Asin," a quiet thriller set in the mysterious mountains of Iloilo.

(Find out who are the other female filmmakers being celebrated by the Instituto Cervantes film festival this whole month of March.)

Coming from Iloilo, Apostol-Escasa has heard plenty of stories about the mountains during the time of the war. "My aunts were living in the mountains during wartime. They were old maids. And during that time, they say that when you run out of salt at home, it's a sign of bad luck. So one of them had to walk for hours to get to the town, and pass through a warzone," she says of her inspiration for the film’s story. Since making a war movie out of a 700,000-peso budget is out of the question, she needed a more creative way to execute the story, thus came the idea to infuse supernatural elements to the plot instead.

 

The entire film was shot with natural light, and Apostol-Escasa considers it an ode to one of her favourite filmmakers, Terrence Malick. However as a child, the director that first got her interested in films is none other than George Lucas. “When my father brought me to that first Star Wars film, I immediately wanted to be George Lucas,” she muses.

 

 

Apart from the usual financial issues and shooting schedules, being a woman in the industry comes with much graver challenges. But for Apostol-Escasa, with enough courage and faith, the rest should follow through. “I think women should be courageous enough to finish their script, and trust that whatever they’re passionate about, something good will come out of it… There are so many beautiful films made by women. Women are more sensitive to people, and sometimes we just have to put it on paper,” she advises.

As for what’s next, she hints at the subject of her recently completed script. “We finished a script about street children in Manila, but we’re still waiting for the grant to push through,” she explains. In the midst of crafting stories about children and their unharnessed powers, Apostol-Escasa continues her work through NGO documentaries.

Photos from the Film Development Council of the Philippines website.