Storytelling at its best
TYPICAL men and women in their twenties prefer to watch movies during their days off to de-stress or to spend some time with their loved ones.
Watching movies is indeed young people's way to be entertained whether on a big screen or illegally downloaded from the internet, with popcorn or a grumbling stomach. But the case is different for Raphael Meting or "Rap," as he is known to friends.
Rap is a young Davao-based photographer and filmmaker who not only watches film for entertainment, but also creates them to entertain and show the audience the beauty that is encompassed within film production and storytelling.
Before joining film making, Rap had been doing graphic design and photography.
He first tried filmmaking as one of Bagane Fiola's crew in his first full length film, "Way to the Sunset," in 2009. The film touched the lives of "Japinoys" or children born of mixed Japanese-Filipino parentage who are living in Davao City.
The said movie was first showcased as an exhibition-film at the 5th Mindanao Film Festival last December 19-20, 2009. It was also shown at the Cultural Center of the Philippines during the annual Cinemarehiyon as one of the four 2010 delegates coming from Davao City.
After being part of the makers of Way to the Sunset, Rap went on to join Graphika Manila 2010, a graphic design workshop.
"I was amazed by the presentation particularly the ads, short films, and motion graphics presentation. I think that was the time that I became more interested with motion picture. Right after that I started doing full length and short films, AVPs, and documentary projects," he said.
His most recent work was the movie Baboy Halas (Wailings in the Forest), still with the director Bagane Fiola where Rap was the cinematographer together with Mark Limbaga.
The movie talks about "an indigenous family, one of the last forest people of old, copes with the unusual changes in their ancient environment, pressured by the imposing lifestyle and customs of the tribes on the plains."
The movie was shot in Marilog District, Davao City, starring the lumads of Maharlika, Dawag, and Tabontabon.
The movie was shown at different film festivals in the country including the QCinema International Film Festival in Quezon City where Rap and Mark won the award for Best Artistic Contribution "for its bewitching, hyperrealist camera work that plays with the codes of documentary with poetic twists that cast a magical spell into forest hinterlands."
Just recently, Baboy Halas was officially selected to be screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in Rotterdam, Netherlands from January 25 to February 5.
Rap, together with the rest of the crew, went to the film festival in Netherlands and witnessed how the moviegoers of different nationalities were in awe upon seeing how beautiful they have created the movie and how they did justice with the way the story of the Matigsalog tribe was relayed.
"Saving money to invest on equipment is one way to sustain filmmaking. You really need to work hard to invest and shoot. I think it's similar to a business cycle. You earn, invest, and shoot. Maybe at this point, Mindanao filmmakers are hoping for the creation of grant-giving organizations or industries to help us make good quality films," he said.
Indeed, Rap's journey as a filmmaker which he started almost seven years ago had come a long way from just the typical movie-watching that we know the young adults of today are so fond of.