MANILA – Screening this month, filmmaker Bianca Catbagan’s ‘Letters to the Future’ features perspectives from people in their twenties, on topics from selfies to success.
“It was initially an exercise on preserving my own idealism. Eventually, it became about discovering the idealism (or, maybe, lack of) of kids my age,” Catbagan, 26, told adobo.
Catbagan, who is on her way to film school at New York’s Columbia University, said the project was “the idealist in me trying to pass on (force?) my bright eyes to people my age.”
“We set goals when we’re young, and I know most of our goals get tainted by negativity when we start to realise things about the world. Sometimes, that’s our way of adjusting to reality. Sometimes, it’s the world’s way of making us compromise our dreams.
I want people to be reminded of their youthful goals and to create the most ideal future because of the goals they’ve set today,” she said.
The idea, which Catbahan pitched to Gung Ho Films’ Content Development Unit, was simple: “I wanted to ask people my age: What would you say to your future self? Eventually, we started asking questions that reflect how different our generation is from the generations that came before us. We asked about social media, selfies, about their views on slashers, success, and who they would like to be in the future. Then we combined their answers into a 30-minute film.”
The participants, although all in the same age bracket, were from different backgrounds, including students, creatives, parents, as well as some who are “successful” and some who are “lost.”
Asked how she feels about the film being called ‘the voice of a generation’, Catbagan said, “It’s flattering but I think that those are big shoes to fill. I do think that it’s a film with many voices that are worth listening to that have been drowned by social media stereotypes.”
Following ‘Letters to the Future’, Catbagan plans to shoot a New York version, this time talking to people of different backgrounds around the world. She also plans to talk to the first batch of interviewees in the distant future, to see if they’ve achieved the things they wanted as a kid.
This film is produced by !GUNG HO Films Manila and Fluidpost Ph in partnership with Young STAR.
Letters to the Future screens at 8 pm at the U-View Theater, Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street, on July 29, August 2, August 5, and August 9.
