San Diego Filipino American filmmakers showcase short films at CineLibre event

If you missed the San Diego Filipino Film Festival (SDFFF), you have one more chance to see some of its short films for free this Thursday night.

San Diego Filipino Cinema (SDFC) is celebrating its sixth anniversary with a special CineLibre event at the Chula Vista Public Library.

Benito Bautista, co-founder of both SDFC and SDFFF, said, "SDFFF was founded as a platform for the global Filipino artists and collaborators to engage with audiences through storytelling, discourse and the shared experience of cinema. Co-founder Emma Francisco and I believe that all of us have the capacity to continually evolve if we remain open, curious and willing to engage in spaces where we can learn from diverse perspectives and form emotional connections. The CineLibre program extends beyond the SDFFF setting, offering the diverse community an opportunity to experience films they may have seen or missed at the film festival — free of charge."

SDFC sponsors SDFFF each October. For CineLibre, it is showcasing seven short films from the festival including "Fidel" from Southeast San Diego filmmaker Luke Lace.

"My film is about a teenage boy who has to take care of his abusive grandmother," Lace explained. "He grows into this caregiving role, only to find out that she's lost her memory and thinks that he's her old lover. It's definitely inspired by my teenage experience of caregiving for my grandma, who suffered a stroke and sadly lost her memory. My memories of her are pretty intense, but I think what guided me through the film was knowing that she was absolutely adored by my grandpa. I wanted to paint her in this light of who she could be as a loving person. And she definitely flirts with the grandson, and it's awful and amazing at the same time."

He shot the film at his mother's house, his childhood home in Southeast San Diego. The film screened at SDFFF in October.

Courtesy of Luke Lace

"I feel like I only have amazing things to say about SDFFF and what Benito and Emma are doing," Lace said. "I didn't really know how important my Filipino identity was to myself, and so having that support from SDFFF was one of those things that I didn't know I needed. I literally did not know that I needed this community. Writing something so personal was super challenging. I've never written a story about myself, so I feel like it's another one of those things where, because of SDFFF, I felt more agency to write about my own experiences."

Courtesy of Marissa Roxas

Fellow San Diego filmmaker Marissa Roxas will also screen her short, "You + Me Will Always Be Back Then." The film is a star-crossed romance about two Filipinas in their late 20s as their relationship comes to an end.

"It's a very personal story," Roxas said. "It was born out of heartbreak. I wrote it after I got out of a relationship and made a film."

Both Lace and Roxas studied film at San Diego State University, but Lace's passion for film began years earlier.

"I started making skate videos as a kid," Lace recalled. "My mom had hid her camcorder — it was expensive — with some other things, like the video games that she would keep locked up until the weekend. And then when I started skating, I noticed that instead of taking the video games out, I could take the camera out. I didn't ask her, and that was my start. I got in trouble and had to buy my own."

Roxas initially considered going into graphic design but became hooked on film.

"I realized how important it was for me to tell my story as a queer Filipina," Roxas said. "I think a huge part of why I make films and tell stories is because representation is very powerful to see yourself on the screen. I think what it comes down to for representation, it shows you what is possible for yourself. And when you can see yourself in a character and see people who look like you, it's like, 'OK, now, I can do this.' It becomes more real."

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You can meet both filmmakers and see their films Thursday night at the Chula Vista Public Library and with support from the library's Performing and Visual Arts Grant.

Lace added, "San Diego State is going to be building a new film facility in Chula Vista. So this is a precursor to what the future of film in that area is going to be."

The CineLibre program is an ongoing outreach initiative that Bautista said, "encourages the community to evolve by becoming more understanding, reflective and empathetic. With the support of meaningful partners and supporters, we aim to make the CineLibre program available year-round, featuring invited filmmakers for engaging discussions."

Marissa Roxas