Film experts from around the world who attended the recently concluded FEST Film Lab shared their personal assessments of the Filipino film community, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, as well as offering insights on how the industry could be improved.
The inaugural six-day training program, held in the Philippines, was mounted in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and the FEST Film Lab headed by Filipe Pereira.
The 2025 FEST Film Lab featured five specialized workshops, such as, Film Editing Workshop with Alex Rodriguez, Auditioning for Film and TV with Nancy Bishop, Production Design with Andrew McAlpine and Gemma Jackson, Telling the Story with Sound: A Workshop with Mark Ulano and Patrushkha Mierzwa and Film Financing in an Entrepreneurial Age Workshop with Paul Miller.
The mentors imparted their knowledge and expertise to the Filipino filmmakers who participated in the workshop.
During the presscon, The STAR asked each of the global industry experts about their opinions on the Filipino film community and the recommendations they could offer to further strengthen the local industry.
Mark Ulano (right) and Patrushkha Mierzwa (below)are sound pros behind some of Hollywood’s biggest films. Over the past 40 years, they’ve worked behind the scenes in the sound department, as production sound mixer (Mark) and boom operator and utility sound technician (Patrushkha). They’ve done projects with top directors such as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron, Paul Thomas Anderson, JJ Abrams, among many others.
‘Commonality of cinema psychology’
Ulano noted that the “passion and dedication to the art form of telling stories” is present and is thriving.
As per the media release, Ulano has been recording sound for film professionally since 1976 and collaborated with Quentin Tarantino for 28 years. A four-time Oscar nominee, most recently for “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood,” “Ad Astra” and “Inglorious Basterds,” he earned an Academy Award for Sound Mixing for “Titanic” and the Cinema Audio Society Award for Best Sound Mixing for a Feature Film. His work can also be heard in “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Ulano observed the “commonality of cinema psychology” among the diverse group of attendees during the program. “That is universal internationally. So, there was a lot of commonality in that regard. And that was great because it allowed us to kind of get to the meat of things quickly.”
He also recognized the “self-evident talent base” of the Filipino filmmakers. “I think you have really committed and talented, dedicated professionals here. The challenges they’re facing in terms of economics and workflow and other things mirror most of what’s happening in other parts of the world,” he said.
“As the film industry is substantive, and it always has been, transition in terms of its method of monetizing, its method of distribution and its methods of production. But that’s well known in here and in play. One of the things that we try to bring when we come to a regional film community is to demystify some of the aspects of what we do creatively and professionally.
“But to also encourage confidence in the value and capabilities that you have because often in a regional film community, there’s this idea, ‘We’re small, we’re not knowledgeable.’ None of that is actually true most of the time. It’s the opposite, that there’s a tendency to compensate for that sense of not being in the mainstream. In fact, there’s very mainstream ethics and mentality in the people that we engage with here.”
Ulano lauded the Philippines’ vibrant, talented community that they encountered during the workshop. “And they need your support. They need to be recognized and acknowledged both in terms of their craft level and their professional counsel to the productions they work on,” he went on.
“So, you have a great resource, and if you keep nurturing it, I think it’s going to produce even better results than we’ve seen so far. We learned that some of the international mainstream streamers, such as Netflix and others, are bringing production here. This is a really good sign. And when that happens, it’s not strictly about economics, it’s also about culture and the attraction of unique cultures and how those can be utilized to communicate to international audiences, the specialness of those things, and it’s all here.”
Strong sense of community
McAlpine, who was honored with the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design for “The Piano” with Jane Campion, remarked that there’s a “lot of maturity” in the Philippine cinema and industry.
He pointed out that the country has one of the oldest film histories in the world and this has to be remembered and celebrated.
“And that’s what we were doing. We were celebrating the history and the talent that goes with it,” he affirmed.
“And the art department itself has changed over the years. But it hasn’t changed so much because we still have to conceive the movie. We still have to think about, ‘What is the basis of the ethics behind the visuals in this movie? Where do we find storytelling? Is it a national story we’re telling or an international story? Is it sci-fi? Is it a documentary formatted with drama, etc.?’
“So, we talked a lot about the formations and how the demands for the art department vary with what the notion of the film is looking to do. We then talked about material costs. We talked about many, many things.”
He generally described the event as a “great experience” and expressed how “impressed” he was with the attendees during his session.
McAlpine likewise commended the strong sense of community among Filipino filmmakers. “And that is a great, great, great strength that you have. By nature, you’re people who love community, you love each other, you work together, and that is a fantastic foundation for you to expand and sell that.
“Sell it, because that is what is your strength, the artistry that you have, the history that you have, the culture that you have, the beauty that is around everywhere that you have and the variety within the city.”
McAlpine’s wife, Jackson, for her part, praised the Filipino moviemakers. “They were fabulous and they were very responsive. And I think if they had a few more pennies in their budget they could have even more fun. I think it’s all over the world, but particularly hard here, I think the budgets are really, really tough.
“But apart from that, we were talking about some more period work. And then the last thing we talked about was contemporary because it was also more affiliated (with) what they tend to be doing. But I was really impressed, a great bunch of people, really awake, really alert and it was fantastic, very good.”
Jackson is the production designer of the first three seasons of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Season 2. Her second Emmy was for the HBO miniseries “John Adams.” She was nominated for both an Academy Award and a BAFTA for “Finding Neverland.”
One of the presscons during the inaugural six-day training program mounted in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and FEST Film Lab.
Government, private sector collaboration
Miller stated that Filipino producers who participated in his session have the “same trials and tribulations as other independent producers in other countries.”
While recognizing the Philippines as having an amazing history of cinema, he was also struck by how the country has worked with the government and private sectors to grow and develop the film industry.
“We do a thing in my session where we pitch each other ideas and I was really struck again by the wonderful stories coming out of the Philippines that I think work, obviously, for a Philippine audience. But I really think they have the potential to be grown internationally. There were a couple stories in particular that I remember, but we’re still thinking about how welcome it would be to be seen by the rest of the world,” he added.
Miller is a producer, executive and consultant working in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. He is the current head of film at Madrid-based ISB Films. His recent movies are “Norah,” which premiered at Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2024, and “Scales,” which bagged the Verona Award for Innovation at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and was the Saudi submission for the 2021 Academy Awards.
Role of women behind the camera
Considered “one of the first women boom operators in Hollywood,” Mierzwa was amazed with the number of women who took part in her class. “Sound tends to scare a lot of people, especially above-the-line people, producers, directors, production managers. And a lot of times it’s because it’s not taught in school and so they don’t know what to do with us on the set and it feels intimidating. I was really glad to see the number of women who came.”
She admitted that being a boom operator required physical strength. “It just was, as everybody said, and I thought, what else can I add to that? I was really happy to see the producers, director, writers, whoever. They were above-the-line people and the women were not shy about asking questions and trying to understand.
“And as a director, sound is one of the colors of the palette that you have to tell stories, and it’s so important. It speaks to the emotional content of experiences we all have. That’s human. It doesn’t belong to one country. So, I’m really encouraged to see them reach out to understand what’s available to them to help tell their stories.”
Mierzwa, who is also the wife of Ulano, worked on more than 80 movies and television shows for major directors, including Robert Altman, James Gray, Tarantino and Scorsese.
She previously released the multiple award-winning best-selling book on sound, Behind the Sound Cart: A Veteran’s Guide to Sound on the Set, and is currently writing a book on boom operating.
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