Singaporean director recalls fond memories of his Pinay nanny, reaches out to Iloilo

Chen with Auntie Terry (center) and ‘Ilo Ilo’ cast Koh Jia Ler, Angeli Bayani and Yeo Yann Yann

The super-typhoon that hit the country’s Visayas region and the devastation it brought has gripped the attention of both local and foreign media, but for Singaporean director Anthony Chen his thoughts immediately went to his former Pinay nanny, his Auntie Terry.

The filmmaker behind the Cannes-winning film “Ilo Ilo,” inspired by his story of having a Filipino household help, was in the country recently to attend the film’s premiere night as a special feature to this year’s Cinema One Originals Festival.

“Iloilo is affected but she’s safe. I haven’t spoken to her but my friend from Iloilo who checks on her – because Auntie Terry (real name: Teresa Sajunia) doesn’t know how to use a mobile phone – told me,” Chen told Bulletin Entertainment in a one-on-one interview on Wednesday.

The London-based director said he is making his own efforts to raise awareness that Iloilo, the hometown of her beloved Auntie Terry, also needs help.

“She’s fine, but I don’t know how safe they are – if ‘okay’ means they got water, electricity, food, or if ‘okay’ means ‘I survived but I’m very hungry.’ That’s what I haven’t found out yet. I plan to find out a bit more. I’m trying my best actually to try and raise awareness on the kind of help and support that Iloilo region actually needs. My friend told me that Iloilo needs help because there’s a lot of relief efforts in Visayas but in some areas, they are not reached.”

Surreal reunion

Chen shared that his Auntie Terry left them when he was just 12. He saw her again more than a decade later.

“It’s quite surreal when you haven’t seen someone for 16 years. You don’t expect to see her again. It was very emotional. She cried a lot. We were very moved. I came with my youngest brother and we spent time with one another for two days,” the 29-year-old director shared.

His reunion with Auntie Terry happened in Iloilo in July, months after “Ilo Ilo” won the Camera D’Or (Best First Feature Film) award at the 66th Cannes Film Festival.

According to Chen, many have been intrigued by a Singaporean film having a Filipino actress and title to it.

“People came to me after the film won in Cannes. There was a lot of buzz. People found out that it is inspired by real events and they really want to know who is Auntie Terry. I was approached by someone over Facebook who wanted to help us find her. I gave him three photographs of which had me and my brothers when we were young. It was hard because we can’t remember her full name. We only know that she came from Iloilo, no address, no contact number, nothing. I was thinking, ‘You have 90 million people, how possible will you be able to find her?’ I bet it will take six months or maybe they will never find her but you know, two weeks later, I got an e-mail and they found her,” he related.

It was Chen’s childhood memories that sparked the idea of putting his nanny’s life story on film.

He recalled, “I think in 2010, when I wanted to embark on my feature film, I didn’t know actually what film will I make. A lot of childhood memories came into my head. They just keep on flooding back and I remember the people, the events when I was growing up. I had a Filipino nanny as well who worked for us for eight years. She came when I was four, she left when I was 12. As we trace that, looking back, you start to see that life isn’t simple as it is. I thought that’s very interesting that I could actually make that into a film. I was trying to understand this relationship of having a stranger coming to your home, becoming a server and slowly becoming almost your friend and almost your mother. I wrote a script about it and three years later, I got a film.”

Chen first visited the Philippines in 2011 to cast a Filipino actress to play the role of Auntie Terry. He found Angeli Bayani, the last of about 30 to 40 actors that auditioned for the role.

“We tried a few scenes and she just gave her very natural and convincing performance,” he said, adding that he picked Bayani because “she was too tired that day, making her appear very relaxed and gave me a very natural, subtle act and I was thinking, that’s very interesting.”

Anthony Chen, director of the Cannes-winning film ‘Ilo Ilo’ (Photo by Jecelyn V. Macahindog)

Fond memories of Auntie Terry

Chen’s impression of the Filipinos has been always the “gentle, caring and motherly.” His memories of Auntie Terry were that “she cared for us, she cooked for us.”

Noting her to be “a very good cook” who actually “cooks a lot,” he shared, “She likes to watch cooking shows and we always watch (them) together. She likes to jot down recipes, try different things. She cooks really well and it’s not Filipino food but Chinese. She has never cooked it for us except a similar to that of the adobo.

“But you know, when we get really naughty, she disciplines us as well. I remember she caned us. Because in Singapore, my parents use cane (like a bamboo stick) a lot. Most families use it. She would chase us with the cane,” he laughingly shared.

Auntie Terry, at some point, spoiled them, said Chen. “I remember that during Christmas, she likes to buy us presents and even though she is not earning much, her presents are always quite substantial, they are not cheap, you know. I remember there was one Christmas, she bought us a pair walkie talkies from Fisher Price. We are so happy, I remember.”

A shot at the Oscars

While his film “Ilo Ilo” is Singapore’s submission to the 2014 Oscars for the Best Foreign Language Film category, Chen considers this “a good honor, of course, whether or not we will get the nomination.”

However, he said, “I’m really not thinking so much about it because it feels too far away, impossible. For me, if it happens, great. If it doesn’t, fine, because I think the film has already exceeded my expectations. The film won a huge award in Cannes. It went on to win other awards worldwide. It has been distributed in other countries. It did well in France, Singapore, and hopefully, it will do well in the Philippines.” Kidding, he added, “This is my first feature film and I think having more than one shot would be so greedy.”

After “Ilo Ilo,” Chen said he doesn’t plan a follow up so soon. “I’m quite a perfectionist but you cannot make a perfect film, you can only do your best… I’m still thinking about doing a second film. I’m still reading different scripts that are sent to me.”

“Ilo Ilo,” distributed locally by Origin8 Media, will hit theaters nationwide on Dec. 4.

Singaporean director recalls fond memories of his Pinay nanny, reaches out to Iloilo

Source: Mb.com.ph (November 15, 2013 at 06:02PM)

Continue...