Ma-an L. Asuncion-Dagñalan gets ready for her Cinemalaya debut

Cinemalaya is now a debutante! Its 18th edition is slated from Aug. 5 to 14 at cinemas and the Cultural Center of the Philippines. 

We take a look at one of the newest female filmmakers in the lineup, Ma-an L. Asuncion-Dagñalan who created Blue Room, about an indie rock band that rises to the limelight and whose members get involved in drugs. 

Blue Room took more than 10 years to materialize. “I started writing it in Mr. Armando Lao’s ‘found story’ workshop in 2010, and finished the screenplay in 2018 at Ricky Lee’s scriptwriting workshop.” Countless revisions occurred and Siege Ledesma came to complete the script.

Because it was shot during the pandemic, it was tough for the Blue Room team to make the film. Working hours were limited, the crew was smaller, and everyone had to do an RT-PCR test before going to a “lock-in” location.

Behind Ma-an is husband Mike, who was from the pioneering Cinemalaya batch who directed Isnats (2005). “Mike is ecstatic because he knows it has been my dream project,” says the 48-year-old Mass Communication graduate from St Paul’s College. “He’s my morale booster when things are challenging.”

How was it working with a young cast? “They are young adults with old souls,” says the former promo lead for a content production unit at ABS-CBN Global. “It was like a rollercoaster ride. We could work and play at the same time, on and off the set. Their power was their talent, and they would translate that through their music.”

Blue Room stars Juan Karlos, Elijah Canlas, Nourijune Hooshmand, Harvey Bautista, Keoni Nicolas, Soliman Cruz, and Bombi Plata. 

Ma-an is also into painting because her great, great grandfather is Kapitan Ting (Justiniano Asuncion), a 19th century painter. “His works are at the Ayala Museum, the New York Library, the Metropolitan Museum run by the Bangko Sentral Pilipinas, and also with private collectors,” she says. She got sidelined to cinema because her father would always bring her to the theater to watch movies like Bambi and Spider-Man in the late 1970s. Her tastes soon turned to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ films. 

‘My motivation in making films is to tell the truth. If we are true to ourselves, we can grow and mature, learning from our mistakes.’

“My motivation in making films is to tell the truth,” muses the Best Screenplay winner of the sixth Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival 2010. “If we are ‘true’ to ourselves, we can grow and mature, learning from our mistakes. We can create a social bond with society if we are true to them.” 

Among the Pampanga-born filmmaker goals is to make the audience realize how important relationships are, as well as how to respect other people, especially the less fortunate, and how to be responsible in using their “power.”

The other Cinemalaya full-length finalists are 12 Weeks by Anna Isabelle Matutina, Angkas by Rain Yamson, Bakit ‘Di Mo Sabihin? by Real S. Florido, Batsoy by Ronald Espinosa Batallones, Bula Sa Langit by Sheenly Gener, Ginhawa by Christian Paolo Lat, Kaluskos by Roman S. Perez Jr., Kargo by TM Malones, Retirada by Milo Alto Paz and Cynthia Cruz-Paz, and The Baseball Player by Carlo Obispo.